General Care Discussion :: skin-like-stuff-on-water

[yomama]

yes i think my turtle is shedding its skin but once in a while, i would see laters of like white things floating on top of the water and when i remove it, it seems like touching the top of umm...non touched soy milk. Its shedding right? lol

[BullDog]

I've had that before too. I don't think it's caused by shedding.
It seems to be a type of protein slick. If you have the filter agitating the water's surface, you can avoid this

[Chrisbarnett]

Yeah, I agree with Bulldog. A type of protein slick from food for sure. I see little individual pieces of skin sometimes floating on the surface but mostly its the protein slick.

I recently set the outflow of my filter to flow out just under the surface so it is still silent, but gets rid of the stupid slick.

[mikee]

For slicks and scum the best bet is to have a filter large enough. That problem usually is taken care of which is 5 times the volume of the water in the tank. Usually that is enough to keep any slicks away.

[yomama]

hey what is protein slick? like too much protein or something?

[Chrisbarnett]

No, It just comes from the pellets and other things you feed your turtle.

[yomama]

ewwwwww...seems really gross

[Sgt. Pepper]

I got an air stone and that seems to have helped.

[Chrisbarnett]

Not really gross, just natural part of the tank.

[mikee]

Like I said, a larger filter will help. Using at least 5 times the water volume is a good srart. !!