Reptile & Amphibian Forums

I am hoping this may make sense to someone out there. About a year and a half ago I adopted a mature (approx 6 years old) female RES and all was going well until about 2 months in. My wife and I noticed that the tank was turning white. It appeared to be a fog and upon inspection I noticed a thick film forming on the surface. What followed next is an terrible almondy smell.

I thuroughly cleaned the tank and we determined it to be her food causing digestion problems so we switched from repotomin to Zilla. All was well for a while but it happened again and the only cure a thurough cleaning. My wife and I moved and the tank had an unfortunate accident. Since June the problem has not occured with the new tank until three days ago. The fog, smell and thick film are back.

Has anyone seen or heard of this before?

One more note she appears to be in great health. Active, clear eyes and great color.

Thank you in advance
Rus & Gizmo

You can try adding some bacteria. You can get it at a store that carries pond supplies. The bacteria help to clear up the waste quicker. It keeps my tank nice and clean between cleanings. In fact, once the bacteria becomes established, I mostly just have to clean the filter.
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0.1.0 ornate box turtle
1.0.0 eastern box turtle
1.0.0 Yellow belly slider
0.1.0 Red belly cooter
0.1.0 Australian shepard
1.11.0 chickens
1.0.0 Dutch(rabbit)
3.2.0 children (do I still count the married ones?)
1.0.0 husband

Thank you for the idea I may indeed try it if my latest attempt fails.

Rus

3 RES.
2 African Sidenecks.
2 Yellow Bellies.
1 River Cooter.

May sound like silly questions but, do you have a filter (if so, are you changing the filter cartridge monthly?)? Do you do partial water changes on a regular basis? Do you use a water conditioner to remove the chlorine from the tap water?

As long as you are doing those things I'm not sure what's going on with your water... If you feed more than the turtle eats at once and the food is breaking down, you may want to cut back on the amount you feed and just give several small meals instead.

Good luck,

-Joe-
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0.1.0 Colombian Red-tailed Boa (100% Het. for albino)
0.0.3 Western Hognose Snakes
0.1.0 Plains Garter Snakes
1.0.0 Red-sided Garter Snake
1.2.0 Barred Tiger Salamanders
0.0.1 Red-eared Slider
1.3.0 Mice
50 million Guppies
50 million Crickets
50 million Mealworms/Beetles

Thanks for the reply Joe,

Gizmo is in a 40 wide with a Fluval 304. She is all by herself in there as of now. I was thinking the food may be key but the thing is this has happened in a previous tank with her and with a different food. I have been adjusting her food intake by her mood. Some days she will not touch a thing.

I had done a full water change and a filter clean on the 15th which is the night I posted. My wife and I went away to visit relatives and when we came back Wednesday night it was the same stinky show. I took a PH sample and it was way on the acidic side. So I have thrown everything out in tank except the turtle and I have done a filter media change.

Today I noticed what can be described as an oil slick on the surface and quite a bit of flaked off skin. This appears to be the start every time before the tank goes south. My new theory is that the water is sitting stagnent too long. I am going to try and keep the surface water moving to prevent this film from forming again.

I will keep everyone advised.
Thanks again.

Rus

3 RES.
2 African Sidenecks.
2 Yellow Bellies.
1 River Cooter.

Hmmm... I'm still not sure what the cause of the oil is. All I do is change 25-50% of the water in my turtle's tank(s) twice a week (using tap water treated with aqua safe), and replace the filter cartridge once a month. I also scrape algae and mineral deposits off of the sides and bottom with a razor blade when it builds up a bit and do occasional water changes in between if the water is more messy than normal. I've kept many different types of turtles for a long time this way and haven't had a problem yet. I would occasionally get an oil that sounds similar to what you're describing in an old snapping turtle tank but that was just because I didn't keep up on the partial water changes and would leave food in the water longer than I should have. Good luck and keep us posted.

-Joe-
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0.1.0 Colombian Red-tailed Boa (100% Het. for albino)
0.0.3 Western Hognose Snakes
0.1.0 Plains Garter Snakes
1.0.0 Red-sided Garter Snake
1.2.0 Barred Tiger Salamanders
0.0.1 Red-eared Slider
1.3.0 Mice
50 million Guppies
50 million Crickets
50 million Mealworms/Beetles