Urgent Care :: Hurry help me, cant give my george and ruby away!

[pamiam214]

This is not urgent care, well it is for me. My mother is making me give my turtles away because of the smell, they are my babies! Please some one fast tell me things that can clear up the water smell. Please.

[pretty.rock.machine]

How often are you changing the water? And where are you keeping them?

Maybe if you move them into a different room your mother wouldn't notice the smell...

[sonyj]

What's your set up like? Tank, filter, lighting etc?

[pamiam214]

I have a ten gallon tank, a ten gallon filter system and a heat lamp.

[pretty.rock.machine]

If you have a tank that small you need to change the water often. I have a ten gallon tank for my baby and I do a full change every week. Me and my Mom (she helps take care of him because I work and soon will be going to school) also fish is poo and skin out regularly.

What do you do when you do a full cleaning? Are you scrubbing the sides of the tank, the dock, the rocks? And have you been rinsing out the filter regularly?

[Vivi]

why dont you buy a filter rated for 20 gallons. i had a ten gallon filter for ten gallons and it smelled now i got the same tank but a stronger filter. try it, i did and it worked.

[marisa]

Turtle tanks should not smell. Do you have any gravel/small pebbles in the tank? If so, besides being potentially dangerous to your turt if he injests them, they trap poop and other debris and can contribute to a smelly tank.

What kind of filter are you using? A filter should be rated for 3X the size of the tank, or a 30-gallon filter for a 10-gallon tank. But, getting a bigger tank before getting a bigger filter would be good...

What kind of media do you have in the filter? How often do you change it?

How much water do you have in the tank? If the water depth is low, the water will become dirtier more quickly (minimum depth is a bit wider than the width of the shell for a hatchling, but more is better). They are good swimmers.

When you clean the tank, use diluted white vinegar and rinse well. The vinegar is safe for turtles and is mildly disinfecting.

You didn't say if you had them, but your turtle also needs a basking area and a UVB light.

[steve]

Also, how old are you? Do you have a part-time job or can you get one? Paying for your turtle's needs by yourself is a responsibility you should be able to have.

[Hammy]

I think a good idea would be to read the stickies on this forum about setting up your tank, there is lots of useful information about tank size, filter size and lighting. If you follow the instructions correctly you should have not only a smell free tank, but something you will find yourself sitting in front of for hours staring at something very special - your turts enjoying themselves!

Its a shame your mom doesn't like them (the smell) both my parents love my turt and actually help me when I am cleaning it out!

[mikeowins]

"pamiam214"This is not urgent care, well it is for me. My mother is making me give my turtles away because of the smell, they are my babies! Please some one fast tell me things that can clear up the water smell. Please.

Turtle tanks don’t usually smell but if they do it’s not a hard problem to fix. I have 2 res and they are currently living in a 70g tank. I recently had a problem with a smell coming from the tank. I did some research and found that smell is often caused by proteins (from the food) that are semi dissolved in the water. These semi dissolved proteins can cause the surface of the water to have an oily appearance, smell or foam buildups at the edge of the tank. The easiest way to solve the problem is to make sure there is a steady current that breaks the waters surface. A very easy way to achieve this is to aim the output from your filter at the waters surface if possible or to purchase a powerhead from a local aquatic pet shop. The powerhead basically makes a current and can be placed anywhere in the tank. They aren’t the cheapest to purchase but if you can get a smaller one it will work just fine. I recently did the same and there is no more smell and the oily water surface is gone. Hope this helps!

[dennis]

I have activated carbon as part of the filter medium and it works.