We have two turtles - one Florida Soft Shell and one Red Eared Slider. We have recently started having a great deal of trouble keeping the Florida Soft Shell's tank clean. My husband has repeatedly cleaned out the tank but the tank continues to get cloudy and turn green within days. Last week, my husband scrubbed the tank down with chemicals, completely replaced all of the gravel and decor and purchased two entirely new filters with phosphate eliminators. (Sorry if my terminology is off.) The only thing that is the same is the turtle. Still, the tank has become cloudy and green in less than 48 hours. We have moved the tank to the basement so it is not in direct sun and we are out of ideas to try. The other tank has the same filter, gravel, location, etc. I was hoping you may have a suggestion for us. The turtle is approximately 17 years old and this problem has only been happening for the last six-eight months.
Turtle Tank Turns Green
- Thread starter Biffster
- Start date
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happygirl65
Aquarium Advice Addict
Wow. I am sorry you are having trouble. I do not have direct experience with turtles but most green water is an issue of too much nutrients and too much light. It sounds like you may have killed off your beneficial bacteria which has likely added to the problem. So then the more you clean it, the more problems you have. Maybe you can jump start the cycle with some gravel from the other turtle's tank?
What kind of filtration and what size tank are they in? Do you use lights on the tank, if so how much wattage and what is the lighting schedule. Some more information may help us track down the problem.
What kind of filtration and what size tank are they in? Do you use lights on the tank, if so how much wattage and what is the lighting schedule. Some more information may help us track down the problem.
Weird that its only with the softshell and not the RES, at least that eliminates something wrong with the tapwater. When all this started 6-8 months ago, had you changed anything with the UVB or basking/heat light? Also, I know you said how old the turtle is but have you always had it or just acquired it around the same time all this started? Do you feed it in the tank or in a separate feeding-bin?
BTW, cool, another turtle person!
BTW, cool, another turtle person!
Thanks for the responses. I have a 35gal. tank with a Fluval U4 filter with a media bag filled with the peat granules and a small Stingray (extra filter I had kicking around and never used) with Biomax media bag. The lights are 18W eclispe 24" natural light x 2 and they may have been replaced a while back. I don't recall if the problem occured around the same time line. I have owned both turtles for almost 2 decades and feed them directly into the tanks. they are now side by side so I switched the gravel in both tanks (my wife wanted them to match) a few weeks ago, so I'm not sure if taking the gravel from one tank will work.
Out of curiosity, how big is the turtle? That doesn't seem like a big enough for anything larger than 4", though good filtration. This may sound like a stupid question but when you got the new media & gravel, did you rinse everything off? Read elsewhere that someone added store-bought river rocks (which to me is funny but I've always lived in the country) and hadn't rinsed them off properly. After pulling all out & washing repeatedly, water cleared up.
Also, what chemicals did you use to clean the tank? Have you tried posting this on a turtle-forum?
Haven't had this problem myself but I have a bigger tank & she gets fed in a separate bin, plus different species.
Also, what chemicals did you use to clean the tank? Have you tried posting this on a turtle-forum?
Haven't had this problem myself but I have a bigger tank & she gets fed in a separate bin, plus different species.
