General Care Discussion :: Update on Eyes

[TexasJagsFan]

Well, we've been upgraded from Urgent!

Today I was finally able to completely clean out the aquarium and everything in it. I completely filled it up. I ran into a problem though. Since it's hotter then heck here, the tank filled at 88 degrees. I've been able to lower it down to about 85 and have it hold. I have been dumping tons of ice in there to help it along. Would it be wise to maybe go buy like two bags of ice, and dump a whole bag in at a time? My goal is to reintroduce the feeder guppies and their new offspring tomorrow night.(that's new in the last couple of days).

As for the turtle, she is doing a whole lot better. This is her 4th night out of the tank in spring water using the turtle drops. Tonight when I feed her, she actually swam over to me and ate out of my hand, which she hasn't done since she got sick. She is also swimming around under water with her eyes open. Her eyes look a lot better, there seems to be less puffiness and swelling around the eyes. As Steve said, I've been placing her on a towel in a dark corner of the room at night.

I'm leaving for Colorado for a week on Friday night. I would like to reintroduce her into the aquarium Wednesday afternoon, 24 hours after I added the guppies to test the water. I want to be able to watch her and make sure she is okay atleast 24 hours before I leave since my mom and dad will be in charge of taking care of her. Is this a good thing to do, since she has shown drastic improvements IMO? Instead of a couple days ago just laying underneath the water not moving with her eyes closed, now she has them fully open and swimming around and eating food out of my hand.

Please let me know, especially about ice too, I need to get it lowered to about 76 in 48 hours which is about 8 to 9 degrees in drop. I've added two ice packs to the water and within 5 minutes they were half thawed.

Thanks.

[missibsu]

I would say a bag of ice should be ok. Especially since there isn't anything in the tank, should the water drop too low. The only thing I am not sure of is if there are things added to the water before they freeze it. Do you normally test your water?

[TexasJagsFan]

Yeah I test my water. Right now, it's dropped down to about 78 and holding. So I may not need to get ice.

[amazingcc]

Are you buying the ice or making it yourself? A lot of times store-bought ice can be contaminated w/all sorts of stuff! Try filling up a two-liter soda bottle 3/4 full w/water, stick it in the freezer, let the water freeze, and then let the whole bottle float in your tank until the temp goes down.

[reptilegrrl]

I agree with amazingcc- store-bought ice can be pretty gross. You could fill a soda bottle with water and freeze it then float it, or you can also fill a tupperware-type container with water, freeze that, and drop the block directly into the tank.