Hey again, everyone,
Sorry for the lack of updates as of late - life has been a bit crazy.
Anyway, just finished adding carbon to my filtration set-up, as per Steve's and ljapa's suggestion. Thanks, guys! I got some generic media bags and Marineland Black Diamond Activated Carbon. I did some reading on my state's/city's water too - enough to feel a little better about using it in my tanks. Did a big water change in both aquariums with it in place of the usual distilled. The media bags aren't cylindrical in shape like the filter though - I hope it's OK that it's not covering the entire flow of water.
Question #1: I guess it depends on how much carbon you put in, but how long do you guys change it out? 2, 3 weeks? A month? I've heard varying opinions about this.
Also, Winnie's vet appointment went really well. They did blood tests and a whole bunch of other work... all results came in from the lab. From head to toe-equivalent, lol, she is physically in great health. The experience really spooked her though, so I am guessing it will take some time before she opens up to me again.
She's been extra shy lately.
However, there was one caveat to her results that I didn't like: she has parasites in her blood. According to the vet they don't normally treat them, as they usually don't affect the turtle, but it still seemed somewhat alarming to me. Maybe this is more common than I think? Heck, maybe my other turtle has had them too all his life.
Question #2: Can these parasites be transmitted from animal to animal? My two turtles are in their own tanks, but I often work on them back to back. Do I need to worry about these things travelling via the water or something between aquariums?
Lastly, lol, PetSmart got back to me. My escalation of the issue to corporate, after two follow-ups, just resulted in a call from the store asking if I had questions about Sidenecks. *sigh* I'm going to let this drop. Again, at least I got Winnie for free (via adoption). Sort of echoing Jeremiah's sentiments from earlier in this thread, beware of supporting these stores by purchasing their animals. It's fine to buy their gear (hey, they do a good job of that in their storefronts), but we can speak the loudest with our dollars. This will be the last animal I ever get from them. I don't want to come across as anti-capitalist though or anything - on the contrary having the ability to speak with your money is the beauty of it. PetSmart's a decent company in a lot ways otherwise, too. But I really think they dropped the ball here on this one, be it due to just plain old bureaucracy or something else.
Thanks again for all the help, folks. If anything else comes up I'll be sure to jot it down here.
Regards,