General Care Discussion :: Irritated eyes (changed topic)

[TNTurtles]

For my new 50 gallon stock tank i got reptisafe water conditioner. Most of the water that was put into it was let sit for 2 days and water conditioner was still added. When i added water (since it wasn't much), i used a gallon jug, filled it with water, and treated that gallon....then i poured it in. All the turtles seemed to be fine, no irritated eyes or anything. But i had to go 1 1/2 days without a filter b/c that xp3 wouldn't work. Now heres the problem....as soon as i put that aquaclear 110 on and added a couple more gallons of treated water, i started to notice davinci rubbing at his eyes and blinking very frequently. He has even been seen with eyes closed, not swollen or puffy tho. And here's the question, can a filter cause the eyes to irritate or even too much water conditioner? He has done this before when i changed the carbon in my old filter...thats why i have concerns with it being the filter.

[Andrew7769]

try not adding the water cond. and do a complete water change if you have a gravel vac it shouldent be to hard, do u add that stuff because of your tap water having harmful stuff in it or is it just a precation?

[steve]

A water conditioner would remove chlorine, so it's less likely to irritate the eyes. Is there a water temp change when you add the new water in? I haven't heard of a filter that would irritate the eyes... foam pads and bio rings should be fine. Are you using any other kind of media?

[TNTurtles]

I called my county water people and they said i have chlorine, florine and something else...but not chlorimine. So i put the water conditioner in to eliminate the chlorine. I try for there not to be a water temp change when i add water, its usually i room temp type water. My filter does 3 types of filtration:Mechanical, Chemical, and Biological. So in my filter there is a foam pad, black carbon rocks, and those bio rings. He has done this once before and a couple days later he would stop rubbing his eyes. Thats why i was wondering if i should add more conditioner or if it is possible to add too much and irritate it more.

[Spookster]

I don't use any conditioner in mine and I notice my turtle rubbing her eyes a little after the tank cleanings. My guess is probably chlorine. Isn't there some testing kit or something that can detect chlorine in the water? Don't they have those for swimming pools? I would try that if possible after you add your conditioner and see if it is actually getting rid of the chlorine.

[cam722]

Did you put enough conditioner for the entire tank or just for that one gallon?? If it was just for that one gallon, then more than likely the irriation is from the chlorine. I have the same filter and my turtles have never had problems with their eyes. Also, I have well water, so don't have the chlorine issue to deal with.

[TNTurtles]

Well what we did was let a big tub of water sit for a day before i came home from college. When i got home i treated that water. Then as we added water, we treated each gallon...so all in all, the whole thing should have been treated.
I will go tomorrow to petsmart and see if i cant get a test kit for chlorine.

[marisa]

If the water is falling from any height into the tank, perhaps the little bubbles in the water created by the filter are somehow affecting his eyes...

[TNTurtles]

Hmm how do you mean the bubbles can affect them?

[marisa]

I'm not saying that bubbles will affect the eyes as in hurting them. When I used to just let the water fall into the tank from the lip of the Aquaclear, I would see small bubbles under the water from the force of the water going into the tank. I wondered if that would in any way be contributing to rubbing of the eyes if a turtle were swimming in such water (if your turtle's water is anything like that).

I reread your post above about how you treated your water. You said (if I understand correctly) that you let a big tub of water sit for a day (chlorine will dissipate in 24 hours if you let water sit and you said you don't have chloramine, so there's no problem there). Then the tub of water was treated (for what?). Then, you say that when you added the water (to the tank I assume) you treated each gallon (for chlorine? It would have been gone already). It sounds like you treated the water twice, which is really overkill.

When I used Reptisafe, I think I remember the directions being to add something like a teaspoon to more than just a gallon of water (I think I have a little left over in an old bottle and I'll check to make sure, but you should be able to read it on the bottle you have). And the benefits it provides are supposed to be instantaneous.

[wyvern17]

What is the best solution if you turtle's eyes are irritated by chlorine?
How can I feed my turtle if its eyes are irritated and can't see the food?

[marisa]

I think you have some responses to this under your other post...