General Care Discussion

Posted: Fri Aug 28, 2020 1:40 am **Tiny Yellow thing in Red Ear Slider's water**

Hello all!

This is my first time posting on here, and I hope you can all help me.
I own two red ear sliders (around 20 years old). They live in separate tanks. (I have heating and UVB lights for them).

For some reason, I noticed a yellow colored tiny string (probably like 0.5cm) in one of my turtle's water. It's not moving. I noticed there's 4 of those yellow things in the water. I've seen these things for a few weeks now. To better imagine what it looks like: it's as if you took a pen and drew a 0.5cm line. It's that small and thin. Sometimes they are curled too.
It seems like it could be poop, but I've seen my turtle's poop before and it's usually like 2cm and it's brown.
I'm worried because I hope it's not a parasite? I don't know what it could be. It's not moving, so I don't know where it came from. I can't find any answers. My other turtle's tank does not have this yellow thing.

I attached a picture and circled the yellow things. (Below the tank is carpet, sorry if it's hard to see).
I would really appreciate your help. Thank you so much.

Does it break apart easily? Is the poop looking normal?

Hi Steve,
For some reason, I haven't been seeing any poop in their water. Would this yellow thing be poop? Usually their poop is brown and bigger.
I feed them once a week now. I'm not sure if I have been feeding them too many pellets? One of them is 5.5 inches and the other is 5 inches.

I'll try breaking it apart...it's really small but I'll update once again when I try to break it.

It's unlikely to be poop. Maybe it was some leftover food that was trapped earlier?

They eat their pellets in a separate tank, so it can’t be leftover food.
I’m worried if it’s parasites? I don’t know how parasites would look like though. The yellow thing isn’t moving either. (Both my turtles have their appetite too). Do you know what else it could be?

If you aren’t feeding live foods, it’s not likely parasites and even then is not often RES can get them. Maybe it’s left over from some reproductive processes but if you don’t see it again, I wouldn’t worry about it.

Ok. It's just that I got them when they were only like 3 inches long and we've being always upgrading tanks. We have always been putting the water around 3 inches high.
Now we have a 15 gallon tank and we switch the water once a week (feeding them once a week too in another tank). They are both in separate 15 gallon tanks each with a dock to climb on.
Can they get parasites from dirty water? I know their water tank setup is not suitable, since they are around 5.5 inches long now and need a bigger tank with a water filter. The water only goes up 3 inches, because we can't put more water or else it's too heavy to carry. But I know they need way more water in the tank to swim and a bigger tank.
Unfortunately, I'm a college student and I don't have a job and I need to persuade my parents to buy a new tank, get a water filter, and have a whole new set up for my turtles.
I've been feeding them Tetra Reptomin pellets their entire life.

I would love any recommendations or input you have because I really want to upgrade their habitat. Thank you!

What's the source of the water? Dirty water can be hazardous but it's doubtful if the water comes from a municipal source. If you're taking water from a local pond, then it's possible.

What do you mean by carry? If you mean moving a glass or acrylic tank, please don't move them when they're not empty. They are not designed to be moved or carried with water and should be empty of decorations as well during any move.

What genders are your RES? Then we can figure out where to go from there.

The water is just tap water from the faucet. The tap water where I live is clean though, compared to my college's city water which I think has hard water.
So whenever I or my parents change my turtle's water, we first take the turtles and put them in a plastic tub (where they get fed). We remove the dock, and then carry the glass tank and pour the water in the sink (and clean the sink afterwards). We've been carrying/using the same 15 gallon glass tank for at least 10 years...I'm sure this isn't the correct method. Over these years, my turtles have grown a lot and the 15 gallon tank seems so small and it makes me sad to see them have not a lot of space.
Sometimes the water can get dirty quickly, so we have to change it earlier than a week. But we typically change the water 1x a week. Could they get sick from their own water, like if the water has their poop?
Unfortunately, I don't even know the gender of my turtles

Their nails are short, which I'm assuming they are females but I don't know how to correctly tell.

If they're 5.5" long, the are either large males or small females. We can assume they are females. Have you ever tried keeping them together?

Hi Steve,
sorry for the late response. Yes I kept them together when I got them when they were only like 2 inches. One day I saw one of them almost biting the other's neck, so I decided to separate them to be safe. They've been separated for a very long time now.

I cleaned their water this week like usual, and noticed the yellow thing in the water again. This time it looked like a tiny patch instead of a string-like shape.
Both of their water also has like white transparent looking stringy stuff. Would this be shedding of their skin? I'm still not sure what the yellow stuff is. It always happens the day after switching their water/feeding them. (Only one of them has the yellow thing in the water. Her name is Muddy).

"white transparent looking stringy stuff" sounds like shed skin... sort of what you would expect. Still not sure what the yellow could be, do you remember if Muddy was the one bitten?

Muddy was the one who wanted to bite my other turtle, Timo. I noticed they haven't been pooping for multiple weeks...
Should I worry about the yellow thing? Would it be something my turtle coughed out? Muddy tends to eat way faster than Timo.

I'd want to know where the yellow thing is coming from before deciding if it's something to worry about, but in the meanwhile look out for other symptoms or unusual behavior. As for the poop, you might not just have noticed it but I don't think my RES poop consistently either.

I am noticing the yellow thing appearing one or two days after I feed them/change their water. I’m really hoping this isn’t like an illness or disease of some sort. Today I noticed my other turtle, Timo has the yellow thing in her water too! We usually use a toothbrush to gently scrub off algae from their shell and basking rock. I’m scared because I use the same toothbrush for both of them and now Timo has the yellow thing appearing in her water.
I attached another picture of the yellow thing. It’s always in different shapes. I just saw Timo eating it today. I guess it isn’t a parasite since it’s not moving. Would it be something they are coughing or pooping out? I tried googling and could not find any answers to what this problem could be :/

General Care Discussion :: Tiny Yellow thing in Red Ear Slider's water

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