What to do when the golden coin turtle (Cuora trifasciata) contracts bacterial intestinal hemorrhagic disease

Bacterial intestinal hemorrhagic disease in the golden coin turtle is an intestinal disease caused by opportunistic pathogenic bacteria. It is usually triggered by unclean or contaminated water, or by eating spoiled and rotten leftover bait. In March 1997, golden coin turtles at an aquaculture farm in Mule Town developed cases characterized by reduced feeding, refusal to eat, listlessness, bleeding from the mouth and nose, and not even fleeing when grasped by hand; clinical and necropsy examination led to a diagnosis of bacterial intestinal hemorrhagic disease. The details are as follows:

1. Incidence situation

The aquaculture farm kept 57 golden coin turtles, each weighing between 250 g and 400 g, all living together in one pond. When the water in the pond ran low, water was merely added as appropriate, and the water was not changed for a long time. A considerable amount of whitish, rotting @#@254@#@, fish intestines and other matter had accumulated at the bottom of the turtle pond; stirring the pond water slightly made it turbid, and it gave off a fishy, foul odor. A total of 17 turtles fell ill one after another, of which 12 were mildly ill and 5 were severely ill.

2. Clinical symptoms

Listlessness, reduced appetite, reluctance to move; in severe cases, the turtle leaves the water and stays alone in one spot, neither eating nor moving, and when its head and limbs are grasped by hand it does not retract them or retracts them slowly, with bleeding from the nose, mouth and marginal scutes.

3. Necropsy examination

Necropsy of 2 severely ill turtles revealed densely packed hemorrhagic spots on the intestinal wall of both.

4 Prevention and control measures

4.1 Water change

Drain all the old water from the pond, thoroughly remove the leftover bait and turtle excrement, and refill with clean well water; collect all the turtles, wash them uniformly in clean water, and return them to the pond. Change in new water 2 times every day. Isolate the sick turtles.

4.2 Treatment

① Inject each sick turtle with 50,000 units of penicillin once a day for 2 consecutive days; then continue with 1 ml of 20% sulfadiazine sodium injection, once a day for each turtle, for 2 consecutive days. All injections are given intramuscularly at the base of the hind leg.

② Mix 0.1 g of oxytetracycline into the bait for each turtle, twice a day, for 7 consecutive days.

Results: of the severely ill turtles that could not eat, 4 were culled, and 13 recovered.

5 Summary

5.1 Based on clinical observation and necropsy examination, it was preliminarily judged that the intestinal hemorrhagic disease of the golden coin turtles at this farm was probably caused by bacterial infection.

5.2 Leftover bait and turtle excrement accumulated in large amounts in the pond water; after rotting they became foul and polluted the water body, causing large-scale bacterial proliferation and massive breeding of pathogens, and the pathogens entered the body through the mouth and caused disease.

5.3 An important measure for preventing bacterial intestinal hemorrhagic disease in the golden coin turtle is to pay attention to changing the water frequently and ensuring the water quality is fresh and good, so as to prevent deterioration of water quality from producing pathogens that contaminate the turtles; the rotting, spoiled and foul-smelling bait accumulated in the turtle pond often carries pathogens, and the accumulated material should be removed in good time to prevent the turtles from eating this contaminated leftover bait.

5.4 After the golden coin turtle contracts bacterial intestinal hemorrhagic disease, choosing the antibiotic drugs described in this article for treatment can achieve good results. However, cases that cannot eat are difficult to cure; therefore, early detection and early treatment are essential.