Care library / Health

Health guide, not a diagnosis · Serious if left

Shell rot & soft shell

Also called shell rot, pyramiding

Signs

White, soft or pitted patches on the shell
Bad smell
Shell deforming into pyramids

Cause

Poor basking, no UVB, dirty water or low calcium.

What to do

Dry-dock the turtle daily, clean with iodine, fix basking and UVB; see a reptile vet for deep rot.

If a fish is badly ill, talk to an aquatic vet.

Prevention

UVB light, dry basking spot, calcium-rich diet.

Species often affected

34 species

Red-eared sliderTrachemys scripta elegans

Common musk turtleSternotherus odoratus

Eastern mud turtleKinosternon subrubrum

False map turtleGraptemys pseudogeographica

Painted turtleChrysemys picta

Reeves' turtleMauremys reevesii

Mata mata turtleChelus fimbriata

Loggerhead musk turtleSternotherus minor

Razor-backed musk turtleSternotherus carinatus

Striped mud turtleKinosternon baurii

Scorpion mud turtleKinosternon scorpioides

Mississippi map turtleGraptemys pseudogeographica kohnii

Ouachita map turtleGraptemys ouachitensis

Northern map turtleGraptemys geographica

River cooterPseudemys concinna

Florida red-bellied cooterPseudemys nelsoni

Yellow-bellied sliderTrachemys scripta scripta

Cumberland sliderTrachemys scripta troostii

Chicken turtleDeirochelys reticularia

African helmeted turtlePelomedusa subrufa

West African mud turtlePelusios castaneus

Red-bellied short-necked turtleEmydura subglobosa

Eastern snake-necked turtleChelodina longicollis

Spiny softshell turtleApalone spinifera

Florida softshell turtleApalone ferox

Pig-nosed turtleCarettochelys insculpta

Hard55 cm28–33 °C

Chinese stripe-necked turtleMauremys sinensis

Asian yellow pond turtleMauremys mutica

Southeast Asian box turtleCuora couro

Asian leaf turtleCyclemys dentata

Black marsh turtleSiebenrockiella crassicollis

Big-headed turtlePlatysternon megacephalum

Common snapping turtleChelydra serpentina

Diamondback terrapinMalaclemys terrapin