General Care Discussion :: Tap water irritating his eyes?

[color-me-envious]

I performed a complete water change of Enbi's tank early this morning, and this evening, out of nowhere, I noticed he was keeping his eyes shut, and rubbing at them often. I dry docked him and after a while he opened them, although admittedly with a lot of blinking. The site says this may be a sign of excess chlorine or chloramine in the water; I don't have any conditioner for his tank and won't have any until Saturday. What can I do for him until then?

[turtle man]

whats the difference between the old water and this new water??(different sink?)

[color-me-envious]

Nothing that I can see, although we've been having trouble with our local pipes, and the lakes that feed the county are about at the time that they turn over, so water quality may very well have fluctuated. I used more warm water this time I think but I can't see how it would make that much of a difference. I *may* have used the bathtub to fill his tank last time; but I don't remember. I used the kitchen sink this time, and I've been using the kitchen sink for all of his partial water changes, so I'm pretty baffled.

Either way I have him dry docked for now.

[turtle man]

ah...! i think its from the warm water,warm water pipes are not as clean as cold water pipes. but yeah saturday is right around the corner, so no sweat.

[color-me-envious]

I think I'm just going to keep him dry docked until Saturday, and let him into his feeding tank just long enough to feed. I used the warm water because, like his conditioner, his water heater (and new tank, and lights, and basking area, and filter, and, well, everything) won't arrive until Saturday. I know he won't like it, but it's better than a potential eye infection.

I tried putting him into some warm water filtered through my Brita filter but his eyes just closed up again, so i think it's just going to be out of the question until I get his set-up ready. It's something I hate to do but I know a day and a half won't KILL him. And I guess in all honesty I'm not surprised this happened in hindsight; my apartment complex has been having issues with the hot water for months, it's been running brown randomly (but not constantly!) and leaving silt behind when it drains off. I won't be using warm water again.

[steve]

Chlorine will evaporate in 24 hours, so you can let the water sit for a little before you put it in the tank.

[color-me-envious]

Chlorine will evaporate in 24 hours, so you can let the water sit for a little before you put it in the tank.

I'm concerned it may be chloramine; either way I'll have conditioner tomorrow. I filled his feeding tank with cold water I boiled (I let it cool first, obv.) and he doesn't seem to have the same eye irritation so...it may just been have the warm tap water that did it, too. I'm really kind of clueless over the cause, TBH.

[steve]

How long was the eye irritation episode?

[color-me-envious]

I'm not 100% sure. I probably noticed around six last night; I took him out of the water and it cleared up; I put him back into some warm water I filtered through my Brita pitcher hoping it would help and they closed up again. I put him in his feeding tank with some cold water I heated this morning and he was okay, but he's still blinking and rubbing them a lot. I could try putting him back in his big tank and see what happens with his eyes, I just don't want to hurt him. Do you think I should?

[steve]

If the water temp in there is 78ish, then you can try.

[color-me-envious]

If the water temp in there is 78ish, then you can try.

I don't know how warm it is, I don't have a thermometer...

I noticed that when dry docked, if he closes his eyes, like to sleep, he has trouble opening them again. Like...his eyelids are sticking or something.

[mikee]

Color-m-e – If the community or city water is chlorinated it should dissipate in a couple of days. Having your filter on while this is going on would be good. While you are dry docking your turtle you may want to put in some eye drops to keep them lubricated since they are irritated. Good Luck!

[color-me-envious]

Color-m-e – If the community or city water is chlorinated it should dissipate in a couple of days. Having your filter on while this is going on would be good. While you are dry docking your turtle you may want to put in some eye drops to keep them lubricated since they are irritated. Good Luck!

Today's the day he gets his nice, filtered, conditioned tank! I'm hoping and praying to the fates that it'll help him. In the meantime I've been treating his eyes regularly with a diluted boric acid solution (1TBSP of boric acid powder per quart of sterilized water) and it does seem to help, though the progress is slow. Still, any improvement is good!

I'll be sure to keep you guys updated on if the new tank in combination with the eye treatment helps him over the next day or so. If he gets worse I'm going to take him to the very but it's looking up ATM so here's hoping!