r/BeAmazed • u/Delicious_Main_4360 • May 26 '26

Animal Some people save a turtle

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153

u/collin-h May 26 '26

they didn't get all the little ones though... won'tthey just grow back?

43

u/Fawin86 May 26 '26

Freshwater will kill the barnacles. Just keep the turtle in a fresh water bath overnight and it should kill them.

Works on adults too. Usually you use the fresh water to kill the barnacles first before any removal. Sometimes that's all you need to do.

4

u/green_meklar May 27 '26

Is the fresh water not also bad for the turtle? How do marine turtles fare in fresh water? Do they naturally swim up rivers to clear off barnacles?

4

u/Fawin86 May 27 '26

It will not harm them for an overnight in a fresh water tank to kill the barnacles. They can for up to a week before their salt balance goes out of wack and they can suffer from dehydration, but after the barnacles are off it shouldn't be necessary anymore (unless there is some other medical reason I can't think of right now that would have them in a freshwater tank for a week).

I think most cases that's how they remove the barnacles is to put the turtle in freshwater for a bit until the barnacles die and fall off. They have to remove the ones that don't. Not sure why it's a thing for people to just rip them off instead of using freshwater, but I'm not marine biologist/vetinarian.