General Care Discussion :: Turtle Tank Stinks

[MJ-]

yes before you tell me the filtration isn’t enough i think it is, i got a new yellow bellied slider about 2 months ago and finally got her in the new tub with my other turtle the yellow bellied was a rescue so i went out and got a brand new 150 gallon rubber maid tub and a fx6 filter to go with it and before with my old 100 gallon same filter it never stank like this does right now it’s 2 turtles alone and all that’s in it is their basking spot and some cinder blocks to hold up some rocks and a log so they can get it in shallow water to relax, i feed them once every other day and their diet consists of 50/50 Mazuri turtle pellets and the gourmet zoo med pellets. A couple times a month they get dried red shrimp as a treat. the yellow bellied wasn’t in the best of care before me she came from no filter and no heater and no basking i’m thinking part of it is she’s shedding a lot of her old dead skin off cause she’s been basking with the other girl but idk was looking for another opinion if need be i’ll send pics of the setup when i get home later thanks again anyone that replies!

[steve]

What else is kept in the tank, and how much water is in there? Is the surface agitated? Is there any substrate? Have you replaced the carbon media in the filter? Smells might occur while the filter is cycling and go away after everything balances out.

[MJ-]

What else is kept in the tank, and how much water is in there? Is the surface agitated? Is there any substrate? Have you replaced the carbon media in the filter? Smells might occur while the filter is cycling and go away after everything balances out.

Nothing else other then the 2 turtles are in the tank the media is brand new i also used double what they gave me cause turtles are messy, the tank itself is like 95% full or as full as i can without them escaping over the top there’s not really any surface agitation as they seemed to be startled when i walk by there isn’t any substrate in the tank cause i used river rocks in the last tank and it was very messy to clean out during water changes and i put fresh carbon in every other time i clean out the entire filter which i clean once a month it hasn’t been running for very long maybe a month if that so it could be bacteria needs to grow but wanted some more experienced opinions on it thankyou!

[steve]

You'll want at least a little bit of surface agitation otherwise you'll get oil slicks on top of the water, plus the bacteria will need it. I would do some partial water changes, and the smell should be gone once everything cycles.