Habitat - Indoor :: Any idea why this happened?

[jenaero]

I just did a 100% water change on Thursday. Now the water looks green, foggy and dirty. I know it's not because of the amount of water I replaced because I do a 100% change every 2 weeks. I have to because my fluval 4plus just isn't cutting it anymore. I'm looking into canister filters but it's a ways away yet. I did change the media but I've done it before and the water goes a little foggy for a day or so but never green or dirty. I just don't know what happened. 2 days after a complete cleaning, and the water looks like it's been sitting there for 2 weeks.

Input anyone?

[TexasJagsFan]

Hmm I've never seen that happen, water can't possibly go stagnant that fast. Was all the plants cleaned, rocks, etc?

I've used Jungle Clear Water before and like bang the water is clear. It's safe for tropical fish, but it doesn't say anything about reptiles?

Did you add some kind of chemical or something that reacted? My best guess is that it's possible you have a bacteria that bloomed.

[jenaero]

I did nothing out of the ordinary. I use ReptiSafe for the water. I tried Turtle Clean once but it left a messy white film all over everything so I threw it out. All plants and rocks were rinsed but I do that every time. That's why I'm kind of stumped. I wish I could do partial changes like most people do. Lord knows it'd save time, but it seems once I get the turts and dock out and get the python in there, it stirs up the crap so bad that all the water has to be drained. Ticks me off because it took me an hour and a half to clean and refill and I don't want to do it again today.

[Stacey]

That is exactly what happened to my tank a while back. I still have no clue why it went green so fast. I just did partial water changes, and completely cleaned out the filter. It lasted about 2 weeks or so. When I finally got the water back to normal I added a small filter under the basking area (his pooping spot) and I haven't had any problems since.

Just have alot of patience and time to do the water changes and everything should work out.

[therizman1]

jenaero, I know what you mean by everything getting stirred up once you get everything out, Ive found that if I just take everything out and then come back a half hour later or so, everything usually settles to the bottom and it is much easier to clean so that you dont have to do 100%, Ive only done one 100% change and that was only because I was moving my tank and there was no other way.

Just an idea so you dont have to do the 100% change all the time which I know is a big pain to get done.

[marisa]

It sounds like some kind of imbalance brought on by the 100% water change. Were one or both of the sponges replaced or were they rinsed in the tank water? Are micro pads or the carbon inserts being used? If not, perhaps using the carbon ones would help.

If the 4+ allowed for any meaningful bio-filtration (unfortunately it doesn't), partial water changes would probably help. I'd still try them, though, as well as next time rinsing the sponges in tank water if you don't already. I actually scoop out a pail full of the tank water when I clean my filters (I did this with the 4+ sponges as well) and keep the rinsed-in-the-tank sponges in it until I'm ready to assemble everything and put the filter in the water to preserve any beneficial bacteria possible.

[TexasJagsFan]

I still want to say it has something to do with a bacteria spreading, do you just water to clean the plants, etc? Introduced anything new very recently, plants, rocks, etc?

[jenaero]

The media was replaced because it was rinsed so many times it was falling apart. There's carbon in there too. Like I said, it just has me wondering because I haven't done anything differently the last 50 or so times I've cleaned it and it's never gotten that dirty that fast.

No new plants, rocks, fish, or anything. Everything was just rinsed in water.

[TexasJagsFan]

Run a pH and an ammonia test.

[steve]

Whenever I had a sudden appearance change in water it was due to the crud buildup in the hoses. It's a pain to clean those out, but the XP3 has translucent tubes that you can check. I know that doesn't help you situation... but my guess would be the dock... I just hated the one I had.

[GouzlanTheAmerican]

i have no clue why that would happen. tell me if you figure out wat it is, cuse i want to know.

[TexasJagsFan]

but my guess would be the dock... I just hated the one I had.

The part of my dock where my turtle basks is solid green, it's even green in the water but it hasn't effected the water though.

[jenaero]

The part of my dock where my turtle basks is solid green, it's even green in the water but it hasn't effected the water though.

same here. PH is normal. Guess I'll just do a partial water change and see what happens. I know I need a new filter but that'll have to wait. Thanks for all the replies!

[marisa]

New media could do it. Did you soak it in the tank water?

You might not be doing anything different, but the equation is changing because your turtles are growing, but the tank and filter are not.

[jenaero]

yeah I have to fix that. I know the tank is way too small but like I said, I have to wait til I move.