Urgent Care :: Bugs!

[sublime1008]

Help! I have a RES size of my fist in a 20 gallon with a fluval 3 underwater filter. Every time 3-4 weeks elapses I must do a full water change. Not because he is simply dirty (tho that is a factor too) but becuase there are these little fregen white/greenish bugs. Apparantly, they start as like a little circle w/ a tail. Then they fly around the cage.

They can float on water, enjoy the turtle light, and apparantly dont drown! HELPPPPP.!!! I thought Darwin disproved spontaneous generation? I always change the sponge/carbon completely and yet they come back. HELP!

[marisa]

Are you putting plant matter in your tank, especially aquatic plants? If so, eggs/worms can be on them, especially if the plants aren't cleaned before putting them in (and eggs can catch into bugs). There's some into under Turdeywordy's first post in the Introduce Yourself Forum on planaria, but these are worms. Out of curiousity, what are you using for a basking area? And how warm is the water and basking area?

Cleaning a 20-gallon tank with a Fluval 3 (is this the 3+ internal filter?) for a RES as big as your fist every 3-4 weeks doesn't sound like it's being cleaned frequently enough, especially if you're feeding him in the tank. How much water do you have in it? It would be good if you upgraded your tank and got a more powerful filter for it (or if you can't right now at least cleaned more frequently until you do).

[sublime1008]

Hey,

No plants in the water at all, just 3 rocks and the filter and heater. The water is 78 degrees and kept by heater constant. Basking area is on top of the stacked rocks and im sure is hot from the UV lamp...and by fist, i mean front to back, not top to bottom. Obviously RES dont have those tall box turtleish shells. The water currently is only filled about 6 inches,,,,but that will change once i get a new filter (either canister or cut glass tank w/ fish filter...not sure yet

[marisa]

By fist I didn't mean the height of the shell, just the area that the shape of a fist would take up. To more accurately describe the size of a turtle, people generally go by SCL (straight carapace lengh), which is the length of the shell from the back of the neck to above the tail not including the curve.