Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Please advise

I have a young painted turtle the size of the top of a pop can. I have a zoo med 501 filter, the uv light, heater, heat light etc. He's in a 20 gal tank thats longer (the length of a 30 with about 4" of water and basking rocks. He had a plant but it was made of some sort of fabric and he started eating it so I need to replace that this weekend.

I have had this turtle since May of 2006 when he was the size of a quarter. Should he be bigger than this by now? I am concerned that I am not feeding him enough since I am afraid to overfeed him. He's really a spaz and when you approach the tank he begs like a puppy. (I call it he but I have no idea the sex of the turtle).

Anyhow my water problem is as follows:

I had been using Turtle Clean but then my boyfriend said it probably wasnt doing any good because the chlorine in the tap water would kill the bacteria in the turtle clean. So I stopped using it until I could research it. I had also used aquarium salt in the past.

Since moving into his house a month ago ive seen yucky changes in my turtle tank. At my old house I was getting the green algae (which I understand means you're doing things right). Here, the rocks, filter hoses and side of the aquarium are getting this brown residue on them. I read it might be brown algae and perhaps I had the lights on too long. So I changed the timers and reduced the light so they werent both on at the same time. Now if anything it seems to be worse!

Please advise, Im not sure what I should do!
I bought a water tester thing and tested the dirty water before I changed it today and it read out:

nitrate: 40ppm (in the high end of the safe zone)
nitrate: 0 safe
total hardness 25 higher end of very soft
alkalinity was 300 high on their scale
pH was 8.4 alkaline

im going to test the water again when I finish putting it in. I could really use some advice as to whether this turtle clean is a waste of time.

HELLO
a bigger tank with a much more efficient filter like a fluval canister filter in a 60 gal would work good
or a waterland tub
the bigger the filter the less work
if you have your tank right by a window this can also cause algae blooms in your tank
testing turle water unless you are working with delicate species is pointless in a 20 gallon tank
turtles are very messy they pee and poo as soon as you change their water
i feed some turtles in a seperate tub to avoid the mess of feeding
this really reducess the mess
with a large fluval you will just be adding water to the tank and cleaning the filter
lights should be on 12 hours a day at the same time
titanium water heaters should be used for the water temp
too high of a water temp can also cause these algae problems
79 degrees is good anything higher and bacteria grows
they can bask to get their temps up
under garvel filters hooked up to a good powerhead work well also
hope this helps
jeff
planet reptiles

Thank you for your help. He isnt by a window but up until last week he did have sunlight part of the day. His tank had been running high temp like 84 and what not so I turned the heater down this last cleaning. Thank you for telling me not to worry with the water testing. Im not ready to get a new filter yet I'll likely do that when I get him a bigger tank. How fast do they grow? Its been a year and hes only the size of a pop can top. I started using the turtle clean again, I had stopped like a month ago, my boyfriend (incorrectly-- i varified w/ manufacturer)told me it was useless as the chlorine in the water killed the good bacteria. So Im hoping the combination of turning the water temp down and the turtle clean will make it stop. I usually put some aquarium salt in there too is that good/bad? Thanks for your help.

HELLO
TURTLE CLEAN SHOULD BE FINE.
TRY NOT TO OVER FEED
ONLY LET THEM EAT PELLETS FOR 1 MINUTE
THAT'S ALL THEY REALLY NEED
PELLETS ARE CONDENSED AND EXPAND WHEN REHYDRATED
BIGGER MEAL THEN WE THINK FOR A LITTLE TURTLE
TURTLES DO MOST OF THEIR GROWTH IN THE FIRST 4 TO 6 YEARS OF AGE
THIS IS TO SURVIVE IN THE WILD
BIGGER MEANS LESS CAN EAT YOU
HOPE IT WORKS FOR YOU
YOUR FILTER SHOULD WORK DECENT FOR THAT SIZE TANK
I USE THEM FOR SMALL APPLICATIONS ALSO
GOOD LUCK
JEFF
PLANET REPTILES