redearslider.com

Hi, new here so be gentle!

http://www.redearslider.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=19025

You can read a bit about my situation here.

Ok have some questions which I hope some of you 'gurus' can help me out with.

First one is water temp. My 90gal tank setup is only just finished and I was quite anxious to get Perky into it and basking as I am getting concerned about some brown patches appearing on her shell. I hope it is just natural colouring and nothings serious. Point is I live in China and the ambient room temp and hence water temp is often well over 30c (86F). Right now the water temp IS 30c/86f and it is almost November! So as I understand it the water has to be around 22c to 23c (72f to 74f) and the basking spot needs to be around 10c/20f warmer at 32 to 35c (90f to 95f) so the turtle has some 'incentive' (warmth) to get out of the relative safety and comfort of the water. Well of course if the water temp is the same high temp as the air it ain't going to happen is it?? And indeed does not, Perky, so far, just remains in the water or sits on a near surface submerged platform.

Ok I have read about water cooling and water chillers but chillers are just out of the question due to the huge $$$$$$ price.

So, simply what am I to do??

I cannot run an aircon for the whole room for 10 months a year just from the expense.
I will remove the near surface platform and that would only leave her with one other place to go to rest, the basking platform, but as she has already shown she is only willing to stay on the submerged ramp. But must be worth a try.

Of course I cannot help wondering what happens to wild RES. They are subject to the same ambient air/water temps but I assume they bask and do not all die from stress or shell rot (in fact they do bask, saw them in Hong Kong). So is the water/air temp VITAL or just best practice?

What would happen if I do nothing and I leave things as they stand. Will my turt die, get shell rot, suffer unacceptable levels of stress?? If the answer is yes I refer back to the wild RES senario.

Any advice much appreciated, meoldchina & Perky.

In the summer my water temps get warm too, I was battling about 82-84 F degree water this past summer.
I found my turtles were more likely to bask in the early morning and evenings, and hung out in the water during the majority of the day.
Do you ever see your turtle fully out of the water?
If not, you can try playing with the basking temps a little to see if you can't convince her to come out. Maybe things are just a little too warm or too cool for her as things stand now.

When it gets hot here and my guppy tank gets rather hot, I toss a few ice cubes in too cool things down a bit. Might help cool things down in the tank and give Perky something too play with lol

Thanks for the replies. Just an update Perky now basks on the platform if I put her there. Hope she can find her own way in time!

meoldchina