ABSTRACTNo external injury was observed in early hatchlings of the loggerhead turtle (Caretta caretta) when they were bathed for 10 days in seawater containing either of the following chemicals: Potassium permanganate (0.1 to 0.4 ppm), Formalin (25 to 400 ppm), and malachite green (0.1 to 0.4 ppm). The following concentrations produced toxic or irritating effects: Potassium permanganate, 0.4 and 0.8 ppm; Formalin, 800 ppm; and malachite green, 0.8 ppm and 1.6 ppm.Thirty‐five‐day‐old loggerhead hatchlings survived subcutaneous injections (10 days) of penicillin G (2,500 to 20,000 units/100 g body wt/day) or gentamicin (0.5 to 0.4 mg/100 g/day). Gentamicin appeared toxic at dosages greater than 0.05 mg/100 g.Coupled with 7‐day Formalin bath treatments, subcutaneous injections of either ampicillin or chloramphenicol for 3 weeks produced survival rates of 87.5% and 62.5% in loggerhead hatchlings afflicted with papillary eruption disease and emaciation. Only 20% of the control (untreated) animals survived, and they were in very poor condition at the conclusion of the experiment. Although injection with chloramphenicol plus bath treatments with methylene blue resulted in a 70% survival of medicated turtles, the overall appearance of the animals was poor. The results indicate that among the 3 drug combinations tested, the ampicillin‐Formalin combination should be the preferred treatment of papillary eruption disease, chloramphenicol‐Formalin a second choice, and chloramphenicol‐methylene blue the last alternative.