General Care Discussion :: Turtle Dock

[bananaspit]

I recently bought a new floating turtle dock from the company, Zoo Med. But when I put it in water, I notice that a lot of residual soap floats to the surface after I washed it thoroughly several times and left it in water. Is this normal and should I set it up in my turtle's home or would the soap hurt my turtle?

Thanks!

[tonyandlala]

According to those more learned than me on here , never use soap on anything going into the tank.

[Listen97]

Think of the Olay commercials. Soap no matter how many times you rinse it will leave a oily residue. It designed normally to help dirt/grease from sticking to things. To clean I'd recommend a cap of bleach in a gallon of water, or vinegar and water.

[bananaspit]

I rinsed for a very very long time and I don't see anymore of the residual soap swirling on top of the water. But seriously, never using soap on anything going into the tank again! Other than well, the tank itself. That took way too long. And I only used a dash of hand soap, not something like dish soap.

[steve]

I'm not a big fan of those Zoo Med docks. If it doesn't work out, try a turtle ramp.

[nyghtryder]

ive got that same dock and had the same issue when i put it in the tank. i just took it out put it in the tub and let it soak for a few hours. put it back in the tank and no issues. the turtles love it and its held up great for about a year now.

[Moose]

That's the only thing I hate about the Zoo Med docks is that as soon as you take it out of the box and rinse it, it's automatically all greasy and gritty. :/ I end up letting it run through water for a very long time

[bananaspit]

Thanks for all the tips. So I must have let it run through water at least 20 times. There's just a hint of the residual soap left but since there's a filter in the tank, I haven't seen any surface. But my turtle is so shy! He jumps right back into the water every time he sees someone walk by. He's like an Olympic diver, just not.