Help? (missing scute)

[samwu]

Hi, I am new here but I would like to have some help trying to find out what happened to my turtle and if I need to take it to the vet. I went on a vacation and left my turtle to my parents to take care of it but when I came home its shell was like this, so my question is what is the big white thing on the shell?

 

[wellington]

Looks like the whole scute is missing.
His he by himself in the aquarium?
Is his basking light too close where he possibly has been getting burned and the scute finally fell off?
Was there any sign of anything on the scute before this happened?
It should heal in its own, but be sure he is kept in very clean water.
Hopefully someone with more turtle experience can help.
@Yvonne G @Markw84

 

[samwu]

Looks like the whole scute is missing.
His he by himself in the aquarium?
Is his basking light too close where he possibly has been getting burned and the scute finally fell off?
Was there any sign of anything on the scute before this happened?
It should heal in its own, but be sure he is kept in very clean water.
Hopefully someone with more turtle experience can help.
@Yvonne G @Markw84

Hi, thanks for the reply, he is all by himself in the tank, the basking light is not too far or close to him but my parents did said they might have by accidentally ripped one when cleaning his shell. Should I
put any medicine on it and is the white thing normal when shedding?

 

[wellington]

You may want to dry dock him for a week or so and can put some antibiotic cream on the area daily for that week just in case. But wait to see what Yvonne and/or Mark suggest. I alerted them to this thread, but being the holiday, they may not be on until tomorrow.
Until they answer, you could dry dock him until tomorrow and put some antibiotic cream, any you have for humans, on that white area until they respond. Otherwise you can just be sure the tank is clean and leave him be until they answer.
The white is normal when a scute comes off.

 

[samwu]

Looks like the whole scute is missing.
His he by himself in the aquarium?
Is his basking light too close where he possibly has been getting burned and the scute finally fell off?
Was there any sign of anything on the scute before this happened?
It should heal in its own, but be sure he is kept in very clean water.
Hopefully someone with more turtle experience can help.
@Yvonne G @Markw84

You may want to dry dock him for a week or so and can put some antibiotic cream on the area daily for that week just in case. But wait to see what Yvonne and/or Mark suggest. I alerted them to this thread, but being the holiday, they may not be on until tomorrow.
Until they answer, you could dry dock him until tomorrow and put some antibiotic cream, any you have for humans, on that white area until they respond. Otherwise you can just be sure the tank is clean and leave him be until they answer.
The white is normal when a scute comes off.

Hi again, thank you again for replying again but I don’t think I have any antibiotic cream, I will try looking for it but I do remember I have some betadine at home. Will that work too?
Also this thing happened 1 month ago when I was gone as I forgot to put it in my main message.

 

[wellington]

Betadine can be used but once. Don't want to use it too much as it inhibits healing.

 

[samwu]

Thank you for the reply again, yesterday I found some antibiotic cream and put some on the shell but today when I decided to feed him, the shell was like this.
Is it supposed to be a bit black when I put the cream on it?
The picture is not the best but it has some blackish stuff on it.

 

[Yvonne G]

Water turtles shed the top layer of keratin on each individual scute as they grow. I'm thinking your parents saw one of the scutes lifting and "assisted" it off, and more than usual came off. I don't think there is anything to worry about. Just keep the water clean and pay attention to the area. If it looks worrisome you can always schedule a vet visit.

 

[Maggie3fan]

I keep water turtles in a very large aquarium and because it's right here in the house I really see what they do...and they shed scutes from time to time. Make sure the temp of the water is a little cooler so he wants to bask to get warm and that's what helps the shedding along. Don't ever pull one off, just allow the turtle to bask and shed normally.

 

[mark1]

a healthy scute doesn't just tear off accidentally , i would guess there was an existing infection underneath it ... my thought would be to use chlorhexidine and silver sulfadiazine cream, silver cream is a script ...... i've always used them together , but chlorhexidine by itself would , imo, be better than betadine and probably work ..... i'd leave them out the water until it was all dry/absorbed , a few hours under a mercury vapor lamp at an appropriate height to maintain a proper temperature ........ dry docking is stressful to a water turtle , and you can usually get by without it , at least i have , you could also lower the water level to where it doesn't cover his shell...... you can also soak him in an antifungal, antibiotic bath using fish medications like fluconazole , doxycycline , or ciprofloxacin ........ if he starts acting sick or it doesn't improve/gets worse , systemic antibiotics can be needed....jmo

 

[samwu]

Thank you to all off you guys that replied, so in summary this white thing is normal and should not worry about it and just keep the tank clean and watch out of it gets worser but should I keep putting medicine on it and what type of medicine?

 

[samwu]

Also I don’t have silver sulfadiazine cream right now but would polysporin work as an alternative?