Reptile & Amphibian Forums

Today, I was doing a water change and noticed stuff on the bottom. It looks like I've been feeding in there but I stopped that a few weeks ago b/c it was way too messy.
I was thinking I needed a clean-up like in my reef tank but not sure if that would be a good idea or not. I have quite a few cory cats in my FW tank and they do a good job in there.
Would it be ok to add some to the turtles tank? Or is there something else I could try? Or should I not worry about it? It's apparently not causing a probelm b/c everything has been testing perfect but I don't like seeing gunk on the bottom.
Thanks.

Not quite sure why you'd have to cycle a turtle tank. Even with the best of filtration regular massive water changes are still needed. I've bneen doing this for 20 plus years and never had to cycle a tank for a turtle. If you've got gunk on the bottom, you should be siphoning it out. As far as fish with your turtles, most turtles consider them food.

Thank you for your reply.

That's what I was wondering about cycling but someone here sent me an e-mail saying to cycle it. I thought it was strange since I have to do a water change every week no matter what. It's not like my reef tank that I only change every few weeks or so.

I did siphon some stuff out this morning. That helped alot. I put 2 cory cats in there this morning b/c I have so many in the other tank. They were munching down too. Right now my turtles are small and can't catch them. I'm not too worried about them getting eaten, yet. Plus, there's lots of hiding places that Spot and Squiggles can't get into.

Good luck with your tank. What kind of turtles are they?

Hey Thanks. This is my first time with turtles and I just love them! They are false maps. They're growing quicker than I thought. They've gotten about 1/2" biggger in a month.
I'm surprised how freindly they are. Squiggles swims onto my hand when it's feeding time. He/She caught on quick to the feeding box. Spot's getting the idea now.

One of my least favorite memories is of a favorite African Clawed Frog dead with a cory cat spine sticking out of its head. Suggest you try non-spiny species such as Chinese algae eaters. If they get eaten, as they well may, you only lose the fish, not both.