I have a 6 month old river cooter had him for a couple of months now any info would be very helpful. like how often do i feed him/her, do i need uv lights? how do i tell if he/she has soft shell. any info you could give would be much appreciated

You've had it a couple of months and you don't have a UV lamp yet? Better get one quick, and a spotlamp for heat, do you have one of those yet?
Your turt requires three essential things, heat, UVB, clean water, and a good diet, what's the rest of your setup like, tank size and filter? What are you feeding it on?

hi

i have a heat lamp and he is in a 24 x 15 x 12 tank at the moment as he is only 4 inches big i have fluval 2plus water filter a 100watt heater i use slate to cover the bottom of the tank there is a couple of places where he can get fully out the water. i use reall plants. i do a half water change every week and a full clean and water change evary two weeks, i use reptomin, cichlid gold pellets, king british ultimate turtle and terrapin food, live crickets and some all in one frozen turtle food for a bit of variety.

You do need a UVB lamp asap, something like a 10% compact, unfortunately though your tank is far too small for a 4" turt. Even if you filled it right to the top it would only hold about 70 litres of water, at the size he is he requires a minimum 160 litres, and will of course need more as he continues to grow.
And I'm sorry to say but that little internal filter is next to useless, it has nowhere near the media capacity to deal with turt waste and is really just moving the water around and removing some of the solids, it's bio-filtration capacity is virtually zero and that's the most important thing. Do you test your water regularly?
With the setup you have I would be doing partial water changes every day, whilst looking for a much larger tank and a suitable external cannister filter.
The diet sounds great, pretty much spot on, does he eat the plants?
Oh and you can do without the heater now, he's big enough that he doesn't need it, a water temp of around 20°C will be fine and background heat from the room and the lights should be enough for that. What's the temp of the basking spot BTW?

okay sounds like i have alot to sort out, what sort of size will he reach? what sort of size tank and filter would you recommend? he destroys the plants he eats some of it but most of it floats around the tank not sure on the temp of the basking area its comfortable on the back of my hand when i put it where he would sit, in the pet shop they said that would be just fine but they also told me to use the setup i have got now lol i dont test the water what kit would i need to do that?

thanks for your time and info its most helpfull.

Size will depend on whether it's male or female, could be as much as 12"-13" if it's female, a bit less if it's male.
If you look at the stickies at the top of this section there's a post telling you how to measure your turt correctly and calculate tank and filter size.
You really need to check your temps with an accurate thermometer, it's important to get it right and you can't do that by guesswork.
Any testing kit that covers the main problem chemicals, ammonia, nitrate and nitrite will do.

what sort of temp should it be? do you know any helpfull website? with the uv lamp does it need to be over a basking area or just over the tank? thanks again for your time and help. what turts do you have?

Water 20°C, basking spot 32°C. The basking and UV lamps do most good over the basking spot, although UV does penetrate water to an extent cooters are aggressive baskers and will get all they need then.

I have four adult Southern Painted Turtles, one male and three females, a female Florida Red Belly (a species of cooter), and a young Cumberland Slider that I rescued which is waiting to go to a new permanent home.

i have now got a fluval 305 filter and a uvb lamp still looking at bigger tanks i have bought a water test kit just not sure what is the best water condition is for my turtle could you help me again lol cheers

That sounds much better, when you test the water basically the lower your levels get the better with zero being the best, it can be done.