Red Slider Turtles

Question
I have a tiny red slider turtle (grandma got it from a flea market).  Actually, got my daughter two of them for her bday in April.  Just about a 3 weeks or 4 weeks ago, one of them died.  Don't know how/why.  He was just sprawled out & floating.  We do have a 10 gallon tank, filter, 2 types of lamps, etc.  We feed them live plants (no pellets, etc) that we pick up from the pets store.  Larry, the survivor, has been so still since.  He just sits & I believe hasn't eaten since his buddy, Bob's death. I'm very concerned.  He moves here & there but not far at all!  Again, we have not seen him eat!  Is he sick, dying, dying of lonliness, or what? What can we do?
Thanks!

Answer
The first thing that comes to mind is that baby Red-ear Sliders are mostly meat eaters who cannot get enough nutrition from plants.

Great sites that describe the care is http://www.redearslider.com and http://www.austinsturtlepage.com

A good diet for baby turtles is 1/2 good quality, baby-sized or broken up pellets, and 1/2 live or frozen/thawed 'fish foods'- mostly small worms and blood worms for babies, but also things like small shrimp, krill, insects, small arthropods, small fish, and some cooked chicken and beef heart strips.

The portion is about the size of the head- or you can add food, then remove the uneaten portion after about 15-30 minutes. We feed babies and up to about a year old every day. You can increase portion size and skip a day or two a week after a couple years.

Give some good food a try and check out the cares at the sites listed and see if it helps!

Good luck!