I have a red eared slider/male and a painted turtle/female. Both are about 6" in length.
They have been outside in a pond all summer. I recently put them in a 55 gal aquarium for the winter. That was two weeks ago. I really enjoy watching them.

I have noticed, in the last two days, that the female seems to be having trouble floating. It just seems that if she stops swiming she sinks. The male can stop and float at any depth. It use to be that the female would just float around with her head out of the water with her back legs extended with no effort at all. Now it seems she is unable to stay afloat without treading water.

Is this anything to worry about?

Hank

it may or may not be. pneumonia can cause buoyancy problems. what was the lowest temp she was in outside? some just dont float that easy, but considering how fast this seems to have come on, that may not be the case. the safest thing to do is take her to a vet, best case scenario you find out you have a healthy turtle, worst case this is a problem and hopefully gets dealt with, another possibility this isnt a problem but the vet may find something else wrong that you didnt even realize or knew was a problem.

Hello reptileguy2727

I thank you for your fast reply. I really don't know how cold it was when I brought her inside. I do know that she was very slow moving. It was no problem catching her. I did let her warm up before putting her into the rubbermaid holding "tank".

She was looking good for the last week. The male has been running her around pretty much. Unless she is basking, the male is chasing her. I was thinking that might be the problem. The water temp of the tank is 74/75 deg. I was wondering if I should raise this, what is your opinion? Should I seperate them and give her some rest? I really don't know where I would find a 'turtle' vet. I will check into that.

Hank

a low temp could allow for pneumonia to develop, so i would raise it to about 80, but watch to see if she seems to be overheated, i wouldnt go over 80 though. yes i would separate her, at least until this is dealt with. she will still need all the care as him, including UVB and heat lighting, and good filtration. check the yellow pages and try calling each one to see if they have an exotic vet if they dont say it in the yellow pages. ask if any of their vets have experience in turtles.

I agree with Reptile Guy. She may just be tired from being chased and the changes going inside. It takes some effort to remain in the water. While it seems like they're not expending any energy, they usually have to tread water, at least very slowly to stay suspended in the water. The ability to float on the surface may be related to the levels of gases inside the turtle. For example, if it had a lot of gas, it might float more easily. Hopefully, she's just tired but a trip to the vet would be a good idea to check overall health.