My Reeves turtle

Question
i have had my reeves turtle for about 6 months while i am here in Japan, but recently i have noticed that he has a few small dark green spots on his shell that do not seem normal.  I also noticed that there was some green growing on one of the shells in his habitat and i quickly removed it.  Is there any suggestions that you can offer?  He still seems as active as i have seen him but i believe in being preventive.

Thank you for your time

Sincerely
Brian

Answer
If it is just algae growth, that is normal to an extent- warm, clean, sunny water is a good home for it, and it is normal for turtles to have some on their shells. In captivity, we want to keep this to a thin layer that is easily removed.

You can deal with it in several ways. Most keepers of Reeves and other turtles that naturally use this as camouflage, etc. generally just leave it alone nad scrub it off weekly before it gets too thick.

You can also go the scrub and disinfect the tank heavily- new gravel, new filter media, etc. and carefully quarantine everything.

Another technique is to use snails and algae eating fish- but understand that the turtles will eat them sometimes.

Some chemicals will treat algae, but be careful with them- some are harmful to turtles. Some people also have luck with a little salt in the water.