Habitat - Indoor :: Water quality

[turtlesrmom]

I'm having trouble with the water too. I use the Nutrafin Turtle clean which helps when the tank starts to have an odor and that helps. I was feeding Krush Nutrafin Max turtle pellets but now switched to Fluker's Turtle Diet for aquatic turtles because I thought they might be easier to clean up after he's finished eating. Once in a while I give him greens like dandelion, romaine lettuce and parsley (he liked that a lot) as well as a few little dried shrimp. I give him the rare minnow to chase after as well. The water is now cloudy-ish and yellow but has no odor. I have two pieces of driftwood in there that I bought at a pet store and he loves playing with them but should I take them out to help the water clear up? Also what do I purchase to test the water? And is there ever a time I should completely empty the tank and begin fresh?
I know this is a lot of info and questions but I'm stumped on this cloudy water issue. Other than this issue, Krush is doing well!

[Love of Animals]

If the water is cloudy and a new tank it's probably cycling. Leave the water alone and let it go through it's cycle. The drift wood is probably causing the yellowish tint. Either take it out or add purigen to your filter to take out the yellow. Api master test kit is great. When your tank is fully cycled it should read: 0 Ammonia, 0 Nitrites, 20-40 Nitrates.

[turtlesrmom]

Thank you. I got a test kit today for PH, ammonia, nitrates and nitrites and more Turtle Clean. I was told that it might be ammonia but if the tests are okay the driftwood is probably the culprit. Also that the driftwood's tendency to cause the water to be yellow will not do any harm my turtle. And I would rather keep the driftwood in the tank because he likes playing with it. As long as he is healthy and happily moving his 'furniture' about, I can be happy with cloudy water.

[steve]

Turtle Clean is not recommended. I would use good filter media and partial water changes to maintain water quality.

[Love of Animals]

The driftwood won't hurt your turtle. The yellow is just tannins. When you do your testing. Make sure you shake it till your arm is going to fall off. You'll know what I mean when you read the directions.

[Love of Animals]

Forgot to add the turtle clean is just supposed to be beneficial bacteria that jump start your cycling process. There really is no way bacteria will live long periods of time in a container on a shelf. So it's just a gimmick. You'll learn as you go most products labeled for turtles are just garbage. Some could be potentially harmful to turtles like the shell conditioner.

[turtlesrmom]

The tests all came up fine. Why should I not use Turtle Clean? Why do the Pet Stores say I should use things that you guys say I shouldn't? who is right? what is 'good'? Water changes? How often? How much water should be replaced? I am confused. The tests came out fine, the yellow color is there. if I need to use good filter media, what does that mean? If it is driftwood then how do I know? I don't want to hurt my turtle!

[VeipaCray]

Pet stores are a business and exist to make a profit by selling goods. The pet store employees may be knowledgable or may not.... their pay scale doesn't generally reflect the hiring of higher education specialized people. Some pet store employees might be very good with a pet they own, but are expected to know about pets they do not have or have never cared for. Most pet store employees know a thing or two about dogs or cats...maybe fish but rarely turtles. They are expected to sell goods... many times the only source of information about the goods they are selling is the packaging of the goods.

The information you get on this forum is from a non-profit group of turtle enthusiasts who maintain a collective knowledge about what works best for turtle care.

Turtle Clean is not needed. It's a nitrifying bacteria in a bottle. We don't know how long that bacteria can live in the bottle without a food source. We don't know what conditions the bottle was shipped and stored in and we don't know how long that bacteria has been sitting on a shelf. The job of your biological filtration media is to provide space for nitrifying bacteria to colonize and grow. The bio media will help maintain a healthy live bacteria colony without the use of any bottled and probably dead bacteria.

To know how often to change your water depends on the quality of your filtration. A drop based test kit (also has a shelf life) with tests for Ammonia, Nitrite, and Nitrate is needed. Once a tank is fully cycled, your ammonia and nitrite levels should remain at 0 providing you have adequate filtration. Your nitrate levels will continue to climb. The purpose of the water change is to remove some of the nitrates and keep that level in check. How much water you replace depends on the nitrate level. Most people will change 10% each month. You may need to change more if your levels are high or your filtration is sub par.

Yellow color is probably from tannins in the wood. Chemical media will absorb the tannins and remove them from your water. Purigen works miracles on wood tannins. Carbon will also get the job done. Carbon doesn't last very long... so you may need to replace it more frequently to get the job done.

There really isn't "good" filter media when it comes to turtles. There's proper amounts and good filters but the media itself is fairly generic. The exception is Seachem Purigen, which is a resin based media that can be substituted for carbon. The advantage of purigen is that you can basically clean and reuse it a few times over vs. carbon that needs to be replaced regularly.

[turtlesrmom]

Thank you VeipaCray. I think when Summer is over and the kids are at school, I'll have more time to read up on turtle care and not be so distracted! I did the tests, or rather my husband did, and they all came up okay so I'm thinking it's the driftwood tannins that make the water yellowish. Took the kids camping for a few days, came back and no change in color but still no bad smell. The only reason I want to have the water cleared up, now that I know the quality is good, is that it gives a better view of Krush and his antics.

I am getting rid of Turtle Clean and am politely listening to Pet Store workers then checking with all you good people from now on before I do anything. As for replacing water, I just need to remove about 10% -25 % every couple weeks, add fresh and see if the water clears up?
Is Purigen something I should get for my filter system or something I add to the water? I do have a carbon pack that I use now but maybe I should be replacing it more often.

I found two wild painted turtles this summer in a ditch near our road and they were beautiful! My neighbor's girl wanted me to take one home to live with Krush . I think that was not a good idea for many reasons and told her it would put both turtles health at risk because of the very different environments they both came from. I also told her to take wild animals as pets wouldn't be fair to them since they would feel trapped and would not be happy. True?

Thank you so much and you are very educated in turtle care.

[VeipaCray]

Purigen is a filter media. You use it in your filter in place of carbon. You can get 100ml of purigen pre-bagged ready to put in the filter or loosen a jar where you buy your own 99 cent media bag. The purigen will make your water crystal clear in a day or two.

Never a good idea to take wild turtles and attempt to socialize them. You did the correct thing and left them.


Purigen:
http://www.bigalspets.com/Seachem-Purig ... =salesrank

[turtlesrmom]

Thanks....I ordered the Purigen today and I took out all but a small amount of the rocks in Krush's tank. I'm going to keep a small amount of rocks and the two pieces of driftwood and the few fake plants for him to play around with. He seems happy in the spare environment.

[VeipaCray]

Please let us know how you like the purigen. Any before / after photos would be great.

If you search for "purigen" or "tannins" on this forum you'll see a few other people that have tried the purigen and have had almost overnight clarity. For $8 the stuff is a wonder media.

[VeipaCray]

***** VERY IMPORTANT ****

Make sure you're not using any water conditioners that have a slime coat. IF you did use water conditioner... look at the packaging and look for anything that says "amine".
Amine based products cannot be used with purigen, the purigen becomes toxic.

Turtle clean is fine with purigen... but just letting you know in case you used another water conditioner.

[turtlesrmom]

I've never done anything with the water except to add the Turtle Clean. We have well water which is full of iron and minerals to the point where we use salt to make it usable but that will be okay being mixed with the Purigen, right?

[VeipaCray]

Yeah the softened well water is fine with purigen.