Bubblesmom
Member
I’ve had my Mississippi Map Turtle for about 8 month or so.. he is approximately 3 y/o…and about 5 inches long.. I have him in a 55 gallon tank.. running a Pen Plax 1200 Cascade canister filter.. which I’ve had about 2 months… his diet is Mazuri pellets ( which he really don’t like but I give them anyway), Fluckers pellets (which he loves), sometimes the Hikari wheat germ pellets, reptosticks(again he doesn’t really like, but I offer), dried shrimp and mealworms every other feeding day. I always drop in a cube of Mazuri aquatic turtle gel which I made up..again, they usually just melt cause he turns his nose up at that also! Will not touch a green leaf vegetable so I stopped floating any! Needless to say that he is a picky little thing! I also drop in a pink calcium block every few days and he does nibble on that. He has always had a slight reddish/ pinkish tent to a spit between his eyes. So, today, I’m doing a partial water change, about 90%, which I faithfully do weekly…I do a complete and rock cleaning about every 3 weeks….and as I’m slightly scrubbing his shell I notice his plastron has a small bit of a pinkish tint, not all over but in the middle area. So, I’m worrying myself sick! Is this septicemia??? And why if so! He has no injuries ever… nothing else live in his tank! He’s active all day, he basks a good amount of time.. but he does not ever sit inside his shell. His water temp is between 74 and 76… above tank basking area is approximately 86-88… I built an above tank area with a basking stone in it. He eats good.. always begging! Could the pinkish plastron be from the pink calcium block or the pin and red Fluckers pellets? Or do I need to see a vet? I’m so worried!… he was not in ideal conditions when I took him… although I know they did weekly water changes and provided uvb and heat and basking area, he was kept in a 10 gallon tank and fed nothing but “Turtle Delight” flakes from Walmart! I do notice that he has a bit of a hard time when he grabs his pellets or mealworms… it’s as tho he has a hard time holding on to them… help please! What do I do?