my turtle tank stinks...why?what cud be the reason?

Question

its not even a day since i bought the tank and it has started to stink!..i had bought it yesterday only..had cleaned it up thoroughly and today in the morning when i smelled it..it was like..yuck!!!!..smells like ****!
what could be the reason..i even have a strong filter fixed in there..what is making the tank stink so badly??

by the way..i had put small pieces of cabbage leavesand tomato in the tank today..cud it be the reason?

(i have 2 trtles(both res)..one is 1 inch long while the other is 2 1/2 inches long)

Answer 1

Yes putting in the cabbage leavesand tomato could make your tank stink but would go away when you clean and changed the water. Another reason for the odor in your tank could be a build up of waste matter in the filter or coming from something you have in the tank, drift wood, rocks, plants, etc. I have had turtle tanks smell from the water alone, like when you cycle a fish tank to grow the beneficial biologic bacteria in the filter and gravel, high ammonia or low pH. I always use a pH buffer in the water and use a filter that can pump/cycle at least three times the amount of water in the tank per hour. I prefer submersibles because they provide filtration and water movement all in one. I also always use a 2 or 3 stage filter so I do not crash my water chemistry when I clean the tank and filter. These things should help with the water odor.

Answer 2

I hope you don't have one of those tanks with the filter on the side of the tank via a little opening window thing..they are garbage-if you do take it back.

You want to have a big tank (ten gallons per inch of shell), a water heater, a filter rated for 3x the size of the tank (rated for fish but turtles are messier so 3x bigger-turtle filters are junk), a dock, two light fixtures, a heat bulb, and a UVB bulb.

If you have a small tank it will dirty faster-if using a 40 gallon tank use a 120 gallon filter-it is necessary. Also you shouldn't be feeeding cabbage and tomato either-that will definetly smell the tank up and isn't what they are supposed to be fed. Fill a regular fish tank or large stock tank as high as you can without them being able to get out-they are great swimmers. Good filters include the aquaclear and the rena xp3 (sits outside the tank).

On feeding, feed once per day-every other day feed the number of pellets that would fit in their head if it was hollow with days in between feeding romaine lettuce, sometimes carrot, basil, and a leaf of radish (not the radish itself). Offer cuttlebone/turtlebone for calcium-remove the hardbacking (the side that you can't stick your fingernail in)-it will break but that is OK. They will eat more if you stick it in a veggie clip (looks like a clownfish)-offer this at all times.

You should have a 35 gallon tank right now with a 100+ gallon filter by the way. Here is a good setup http://www.putfile.com/pic.php?img=5597510 (that bulb is an MVB which offers both heat and UVB-for tanks over 55 gallons).

Try http://www.redearslider.com on care information and sign up and ask some questions if you want-it will help you a lot.

One more thing-DON'T use gravel-it will dirty up the tank faster and your turtle will eat it and die.

Good luck.

Answer 3

The smells come from fecal wastes and food debris in the water and bigger chunks that have fallen to the bottom and are rotting away.

The cure is a mix of a really good filter (see http://www.austinsturtlepage.com for an article on filters!) and using a siphon cleaner to suck the crud off the bottom. Take out about 1/4th fo the water this way every week or so. By the way- a lot of keepers do not use gravel in thir tanks to help make it easier to keep things clean.

Cabbage and tomato are not Red-ear Slider food, and will make things a lot worse. Even an adult RES should not eat them.

Instead, try about 1/2 good turtle pellets, and the rest live or frozen/thawed 'fish foods' like worms, krill, shrimp, bugs, small fish, etc.

The link above also has good articles on care and diet.