General Care Discussion :: Can't seem to get algae down

[Drmoneejd]

Hi, let me begin by saying I don't know much about turtles, except what I have tried to read online. That being said, I have a small RES (maybe 1.5in) that I was given because someone didn't want it anymore. I first began with a 10 gallon tank, that seemed to do okay at first while the little guy was learning to swim. However after that I started to notice that the tank got very dirty very fast. I began reading and realized that the tank was probably too small for the turtle, so I bought a 30 gallon tank, that I now keep approx 2/3 full, around 18 gallons of water, with a plastic homemade dock and a 264GPH canister filter. I also have a bar type UVB light and a regular heat lamp attached to the side. The problem is it still seems that within 5 days of putting it all together there is green algae growing, and within another week it is everywhere. I have tried cleaning the entire tank 3 times now and it keeps happening. I am guessing I am missing something, but I don't know what it is. As I said I really have limited knowledge of this stuff, could anyone recommend some troubleshooting steps or anything? Thanks for your time.

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

It is kinda strange indeed based on what you described in the thirty gallon tank. Your filtration system seems strong which is good. May I ask what your temperature readings are for the water and basking area? What all do you have in your tank as well? I do have a few solutions for you but would like to hear the answers to determine and do you have soft dechlorinate water in the tank or no?

[steve]

Is the tank receiving any direct or indirect sunlight?

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

Is the tank receiving any direct or indirect sunlight?

Outstanding question !!

[Drmoneejd]

First, thanks for everyone's time in advance. I only have the filter, the dock, and a tube type heater in the tank, no type of gravel or anything. At first I had these fancy old pieces of wood, but they were so hard to clean from this algae that I couldn't keep them in there. Second, I try to keep both temperatures at atleast 70. The water towards the bottom of the tank is 72, and towards the top is 74. The baskig area is a little warmer at 78 or 79 right now, but it gets a little hotter during the day because my AC isn't set as low. It doesn't get any sunlight as it is not near a window, but I can try to find a way to make that possible if anyone thinks that is the issue. Also, just in case it matters, I use the filter media that came with the filter, it is a blue sponge type thing first (I think for large debris) then the charcoal filter, and last these ceramic rings. This is my first time trying the rings (I just cleaned and set up the aquarium again yesterday, so I thought this would be a good time to post this question) before that I used these plastic bio balls. Also, I'm sorry, but I don't know what soft dechlorinate water is. I use this stuff called water conditioner when I first put the tank together, but that is all. Thanks again.

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

It is my pleasure Drmoneejd to both help educate reptile owners with snakes, lizards and turtles primarly with my experiences, education from school and medical experience working 4 years in a exotic vet clinic. Steve the forums highly respected Admin who responded as well has outstanding experience and I do believe that he has way more experience than I do, has always been very helpful working with members. Though I am greatful for your acknowledgements of a thankful demeanor, that alone means so much to me personally and I am sure it is for Steve. To inform you what water conditioning does, it will keep bacteria microorganisms out of your water so it's safe to ingest. It does not dechlorinate the water. In simple terms and understanding dechlorinated water is taking tap water which is considered hard ward, taking the chlorine out of the water making it "soft " , basically safe for fish. What I do and it is strictly my preference for my own turtles with knowing the damage chlorinated water can do it time, I go out of my way and yes pay more for many gallons of all natural spring water and as a precaution I treat the water still with dechlorinated drops for aquariums and water conditioner as well. It gives me piece of mind with my turtles that the water is protected and safe the moment that I put the turtles back into their aquarium and I also use drift wood that is aquarium ready purchased from a pet store. Drift wood naturally dechlorinates aquarium water as well.

Some people think I am a bit crazy spending so much on my pets but I look at it as pets are part of any family. You love them, you care for them regardless of the cost factor. If you can not afford to keep a pet healthy with providing for all their needs, I recommend that those people just do not get a pet that they can't do this for. The water on how I do this, it is only a preference however there is a few ways to obtain soft waters that of course is cheaper and just as good so in no way shape or form do you need to go with how I do it myself. I have the extra money that I put away just for my pets where in today economy, some people can not afford the extra little bit. For those members who may be local to me within a hour drive, I do not mind going out at no cost to them and help address issues with their reptiles. A lunch or some drinks as payments is much appreciated as I would do it for free anyhow just because of my love and respect for the reptiles in general. I enjoyed making house calls under Dr. Sudo's exotic vet orders back in the day giving injections, oral medications, and treatments as well as assisting him at Miami's metro zoo where I obtained yearly passes free for my whole family just for working as his assistant.

Chlorinated water over great lengths of time ongoing has proven bad for aquatic turtles however the good news, is people do not clean their tanks/ ponds / enclosures during the time frame that water can turn soft on its own. Over a twenty four hour period to three days, hard water can turn soft . I hope this explains that part in detail. This of course in not your issue though hard water speeds up a algae problem combined with the bacteria microorganisms.

It is great that you have hotter and colder area of the enclosure and it is good for any reptile. Sunlight and a UVB bulb can and will speed up algae growth of course and I believe you will see a bit more algae around the UVB and warmer areas in your tank but you would need to look close.

Now to your issue that I can see so far is bio balls that you previously had were made for aquariums not only for a wet and dry system but they were also created to maintain a certain level algae and bacteria if you noticed when cleaning and it is needed for certain fish species. So by using the bio balls was indeed part of your previous issue. A long time ago, you could go into a pet store as see that the establishments used these balls for only salt water aquariums for this fact and the corals primarily. Now of days from what I observed they have used the balls for selected predatory fish, brackish water fish, and sometimes but not always certain fresh water fish that I have noticed, take African Cichlids as a example. The reason for the fresh water fish is beyond me however as most but not all fresh water species do not need the algae like other species.

Now the ceramic rings also do a similar function though I have never heard of them creating and promoting algae growth, they do however strongly support and allow waterflow around the turbolates just as it does with a plastic bio-ball for oxygen scavenging. With the waterflow from your 264GPH canister filter around the turbolates in a thirty gallon tank and like Steve questioned about the direct sunlight or I did on the UVB bulb which will promote the rapid growth of algae and expected, will of course speed the growth up tremendously..

Steve may have another possibly thought with his expertise on your question. Other questions I have is what exactly do you have in this tank? Do you have a close up photo of it ? You have mentioned that the dock is home made, What is it made from ?

Below this, I am adding a link of a product on ebay as a example that may be able to control your algae issue with the support of the strong water flow from your 264GPH canister which indeed would be beneficial in rotating the treatment in 18 gallons of water for sure at a quick rate of the ongoing speed per hour. You should see a great reduction of the algae really fast. Though the UVB will promote algae growth going on, I can not see based on the amount of water going through your 264GPH how the UVB would be able to promote the growth in 18 gallons of water or even 30 for that matter, if you use such a product based on directions that the manufacture instructs. Below is the link and I hope it helps you and wishing you the very best as well as a wonderful day.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/291719478803

[Drmoneejd]

Thanks for all of that information. I will certainly try to find a way to let my water sit out for 72 hours from now on before putting it in the aquarium, or using the tablets. I am on a budget with this so I probably couldn't buy gallons of water very often. Should I replace certain amounts of water every so often, or just clean the entire tank and replace the water like I have been having to do? I do have a picture and will try to link it below. I built the dock out of plastic light diffuser, pvc pipe, and zip ties. I will also look at purchasing the linked algae reducer. Also, if you are indeed from a medical background, if I may ask, would you take a look at a picture of my turtle as well? The turtle is very lively and eats okay I think, but his/her shell is not in very good shape. I have tried to lightly brush the algae off of it when cleaning the tank, but it doesn't seem to come off very well. I really hate that the turtle's shell looks as bad as it does and I hope that it is not my fault, but I really can't say if it is or isn't. Honestly I am not a big pet person, but when I received the turtle it was in a much smaller tank (maybe a 1 gallon tank) and I simply hoped I could give it a better life. I will link the pictures below. Thanks again.

Tank


Turtle

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

Yes , I encourage you to do a few things. I am not sure what your budget is exactly, but may I encourage you to buy drift wood from a pet store and I will tell you what to look for as well. I bought mine from Pet supermarket in North St. Petersburg, Florida where I live. I have not seen any other pet store sell what I am going to tell you that is already in a display tanks . I hate to say it this way but I don't want to have you say anything for the store to increase their price on you, but buy a piece from one of their display tanks that has the most expensive fish in it. Again I will explain why on this thread as I did the other one. First of all, no matter if it is a fish breeder, fish wholesaler and or a pet shop selling retail, the more expensive fish, are better taken care of then your typical feeder fish and or who cares if it dies type of fish because people look at the price. The cheaper fish have more diseases and issues for that reason, the breeders, wholesalers, retailers tend not to care either. Now if a retailer is going to buy say a 7 to 20 dollar fish for a example in quantity to resell for 15 to 40 dollars, If you were the owner or manager, you would demand from your staff to test the water, look for health issues and make sure that these more expensive fish are taken care of more so than feeder fish and cheap species that do not strongly support financial revenue.

With this in mind, this already prepared drift wood in their displays has also gained top attention with the higher end fish in them and believe it or not and do not tell the staff this reason, all driftwood in all there tanks at Pet supermarket in my area at least are the same price here anyway. $15 dollars and does not matter the tank it comes out of. If you tell them why, they may increase the price. Normally they come with attractive non toxic plants attached as well. Sooooo shhhhh on your little now known secret. By doing this, you are looking out for your turtles health. I encourage you to buy two, so a total of 30 dollars. I would keep one for your turtle tank and the second one in the bucket (s) of water to make the water soft for replacement water. You may want to get a small air pump for the bucket as well.

Now the water you will find will evaporate from the turtle tank naturally with the UVB bulb. With that said, most of the time, you will be replacing the water and if you do things right, partial water changes every 3 weeks to a month would be suggested more so just to get the junk off the bottom that your filtration system could not get. With adding the water upon evaporation, normally will keep your tank fairly clean otherwise.

Regarding everything in the tank itself and in regards to the algae, I covered in strong detail with recommendations on what to do there and if you notice in your tank photo on where the UVB is, you could clearly see that I was right on the algae growing more heavily underneath the light. Your tank is indeed manageable with what I suggested to you. The only concern that I may have regarding items in your tank, it looks like a upside down ceramic planter cut to make a hide away. Steve, If you are reading this thread, would you not be concern yourself on that being this item is directly under the UVB and can cause during basking times if the turtle was underneath and not alert, that it could have the chance on getting way to hot for the turtle and can risk its life? That is what caught my eyes in general and it could reach over 100 degrees or way more easy if the turtle is not alert in just a few minutes while under it at the start of a 10 or 12 hour simulated lighting period. I know I am worried about the turtle .One minute the turtle is fine in the morning, the next minute it could be fried if underneath when you turn it on.

In reference to its shell, I am concern on possibly shell rot underneath of all that algae and because I help so many people on this forum regarding medical, I am just going to copy and paste the suggested instructions below on another response instead of typing it all over again. The steps can can be used for shell rot issues if any and removing the algae all while killing harmful bacteria. In this little ones case with all that growth, it will take you several times to get it all off. You do not want to hurt this little guy and yes they can feel anything really that touches their shell even the slightest thing. So with this little one and to avoid hurting he or she, do it in intervals every 4 days.

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

Here is what you should focus on regarding the minor shell rot signs or the algae on the shell while killing any possible harmful bacteria (precautionary action),

Your best approach on these issues would be to get a soft bristled toothbrush (one for sensitive gums would be ideal however you can also use a baby toothbrush) and iodine or betadine . The iodine or betadine liquid and NOT THE iodosorb which is a iodine based cream gel.

Regular iodine or betadine is great for the fact you do not want to trap any bacteria with a cream or gel that can get into the bloodstream. Some people are all for the cream and gel but it should never be used on aquatic animals in general and only to be used on land animals or humans.

So stick with regular diluted iodine or betadine. You can brush it on gently cleaning their shells all while using it as a antibiotic killing harmful bacteria while strengthening the healing process if wounds or sores are seen. Afterwards, you may want to dilute iodine in water and let him sit in it for a few minutes.

Next step, take him out in a dry and clean rubber maid container, let him dry out for 45 minutes to a hour with it on before giving him a rinse down and returning it to his tank. During the drying process DO NOT put your little one under a light but in a warm area. This avoids it from sort of speak baked on but yet does the job on killing bacteria and minor infections.

The REGULAR iodine or betadine ( dilluted) will kill most if not all pathogens in minor bacterial infections if any so I would treat the turtle every four to five days but focus on every four to get a firm start. I recommend doing this at least for 3 weeks that equals to 5 treatments then give the turtle a break for several weeks after before repeating the process if needed.

Nolvasan is also very great however you must dilute it strong and this would be the next step if no improvement can be seen in the case that you do discover shell rot under all that algae . But do try regular iodine or betadine first.

[steve]

Just a heads up, but those probe thermometers can be wildly inaccurate.

[Tampa Bay Turtle Fan]

Just a heads up, but those probe thermometers can be wildly inaccurate.

Great observation and very true. With the algae situation going on and needing to know the water and basking temps, this is a strong point that you mentioned. Thank you or pointing it out

[Drmoneejd]

Thanks for all of the information. I will definitely try the iodine when washing my turtles shell next time. I have just a couple of questions left. One is how exactly do I go about doing water changes? Is there a certain siphon type thing you guys can recommend? Also, if those thermometers are inaccurate, is there another type you can recommend? Thanks again.

[steve]

Python is a kit that hooks up to your faucet to drain and refill. I just use a small pump and various hose adaptors to drain/refill the tank (I have a lot of water to change).

I like a small infrared temp gun as my main thermometer but keep one of those sticky LCD ones on the glass a as a backup.

[Drmoneejd]

Just wanted to say thanks for all the help. I purchased a Python type kit and the water changes are a lot easier. I also found some f he algae reducer and will try it when the tank starts looking ablittle more green. Last question I think, how much water would you recommend changing per week or two? Thanks!

[steve]

There's no formula on how much to change, though the more messy it is then the more you should do.