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Okay, so Lily is usually very shy and reserved and basically avoids me at all costs. Her appetite has never been huge. For the past week or so, she has taken to standing on a piece of driftwood, and staring at me!! It's so cute! and when I feed her, she doesn't scram. She just eats! It's the cutest thing. Right now, she is on her driftwood, Her front paws against the side of the tank. I can see the bottom of her shell (plastron??), and she is in the corner closest to me--the better to stare at me.

Haw haw haw!

But here's my question: lately, my tank has been a bit cloudier than usual. No difference in cleaning technique or materials. I'm wondering if it's my filter. It doesn't really seem to clean the fish poop out. In fact, I've seen a little "pile" of it, right under the pipe where water enters the filter. Should it be pulling these out of the water? And could this be what is making the water cloudy? Oh, also, algae has begun developing on one the basking ramps. That did not used to happen. And ideas for why the quick pace of the...nastying of the tank? Today I changed some water out and added about 6 pitchers full. I also put in some of that turtle waste eliminator, see if that helps. Ideas?

The turtle waste degrader really does work wonders for turtles as large as mine. I use it primarily because my turtle is so large & her waste is very large (I'm not always there to scoop it out). The faster the waste breaks down, the healthier the water. It's when the waste just sits that you can get some problems with disease, etc.

There are many different reasons why tanks can get a bit cloudy:
1.) feeding in the tank - some foods can make the tankwater cloudy. You can try feeding in a separate laundry pan filled with water. ESPECIALLY if you feed them pellets. Pellets soak up the water & just make the water rancid over time, even if the turtle eats everything. Veggies can be fed in the tank since they don't dissolve like the pellets do. Always remove any uneaten pieces regardless of what you feed them.

2.) A tank that is too small for your turtle or having too many animals in one tank - not sure why this is like this, but I have noticed that upgrading to a much larger tank has made tank maintenance a WHOLE lot easier (water is MUCH clearer/cleaner).

3.) If a turtle throws up - sometimes their stomachs get a little upset or maybe they have diarrhea. I don't feed my turtle canned catfood too often because it gives her a bit of diarrhea if she is fed too much of it ("too much protein")....this waste from eating catfood dirties the water very fast for some reason.

4.) Eggs (if your female laid them in the tank by accident) - if a turtle lays an egg, she WILL eat it if she sees it. This creates a horrendous mess that I hope you never have to deal with. The only solution is to change the water PRONTO.

5.) Filter media - I have to chg the filter media about once a week. Every time I change the media, I add waste degrader at the same time. For some reason, doing these things *simultaneously* ("the same day") helps keep the water immaculately clear.

6.) Reptisafe water conditioner - it's good to get the chlorine out, but Reptisafe doesn't mix well with the waste degrader stuff for some reason so I don't use the two together. Waste degrader & water neutralizer calcium blocks are for Sheba, Reptisafe is only used for my frog & fish's water since they don't need waste degrader.

7.) Shell conditioner cream - main reason I stopped using this stuff on my turtle's shell is because it made the water cloudy. The good news is that we aren't supposed to use it anyway since the turt's shell needs to breath & the cream tends to clog up the porous shell. So don't use this on your turtle! On the other hand, it makes a fabulous hand cream in the winter for YOU.

If your water stays cloudy for a few days, then you are prolly due for a 100% water change and none of the above is going to help.

Good luck!

Drats. I just changed the whole thing on.... 1/4/07! Ah well. Thanks for the hand cream tip

What kind of filter do you have that you change the media once a week? Mine has three filters: the charcoal, the bacteria and the foam. It says to change the foam once a month, the charcoal once every other month, and the bacteria filter once every three months. Do you recommend more often?

Also I think I will clean right after feeding. Looking now and you're right. It's leaving a mess.

I have a Fluval 4 submersible filter now, but I have also had the whisper & biobag ("waterfall") style filters in the past. The biobags I had to literally change every week since they get completely gunked up (throw away the white fabric net bag and charcoal...hang onto the black plastic things which are easy to wash/recycle).

If you have the type of filter where there is a foam sponge thing in there (to catch particles), I wash it over and over and over again & reuse it quite a bit since most of what it catches is shedded skin. It usually cleans up pretty nicely. I have gotten about 3-6 months out of those sponge things since they are fairly sturdy & wash well (I rinse & squeeze, rinse & squeeze). No one really ever told me how long to wait to replace the sponge, so someone else on the board might have a good recommendation on that. It's just what I do.

The charcoal/ammonia media has always been the thing I have to change most frequently & if it doesn't get completely changed every 10 days (maximum.....once/week is ideal), the water gets cloudy. I buy the big container of the fluval charcoal which also has the white ammonia eater particles in it. There is a little bag inside the fluval filter where I empty out the old media & put new media in. It's amazing, it doesn't take much charcoal media (maybe 5 tsp), rinse/squeeze out the sponges, clean off the plastic filter holders, assemble again, and I am back in business. Doing this in conjunction with the waste degrader weekly has been wonderful! The water is SO clear & doesn't smell at all.

Hoo boy! Looks like I've got more work to do!! I think it is something wrong I Did with the filter, becuase I just put the new media pad in last week. Odd, odd odd. Thanks for the advice, much appreciated. I'll keep you posted!!