We MAY have FINALLY gotten this issue under control, but since it's only a "MAY have" I wonder if anyone else might be able to lend something to the issue.

Ziggy is a four year old femal RES. She lives in a thirty gallon tank, which I know some think is WAY to small, and others have said is plenty. either way she's been in it for a couple years, and will stay that way, at least for the time being. The tank runs with about twenty gallons in it, and keeping the water clean was a Shark, underwater filter built for thirty gallons, and an undergravel system with a powerhead built for 50+ gallons.

Three weeks ago I came home to a nasty smell coming from the tank. The water was a murky brown color, and since it had been a while since we'd cleaned the tank I got out the buckets and siphon. Cleaned the tank, replaced and treated the water, and two days later it was back. This cycle continued no matter how drastic our cleaning.

We've never had a problem like this before. In attempt to fix it we tried all kinds of water treatments, and even bought another underwater filter, one built for 55 gallons. This didn't fix the problem, so we removed Ziggy (who didn't seem displeased with her surroundings). For three days we kept her in a seperate location, with dry substrate, but high humidity. In that time, the two underwater filters cleared the water. However, a tan film covered the water. That removed, the turtle is back, happy, but still slightly smelly. Thankfully you can only smell it if you stick your nose over the tank, unlike before when it made the whole house smell.

Has anybody ever heard of or had this happen with an otherwise healthy turtle? What was it, and what was done to fix it? I don't know if we've got it under control right now or not...only time will tell.

Thanks for sticking with this, I know it's incredibly long, but I figured all those questions would, or perhaps should be asked, so I tried to answer them ahead of time.

Thanks for your help.

Are you sure it's a healthy turtle ? If you had the filtration that you did, and completely replaced the water and it came back that quickly, I would think some kind of bacteria/parasite. Possible not related to the turtle at all though. I have never come across this situation. I keep many types of aquatic turtles and have never had water discoloration like that, though I do know the smell,,,,lol.

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Ken
" The United States Marine Corps......sure we are a department of the Navy,,,,,,we're the MENS department "

If you cleaned the entire tank than its seems like the smells comeing from your turtle, I would have it checked out by a vet if you cant figure out where they small is coming from. If you have gravel I would remove it completely alot a filth gets trapped in teh rocks
what kind of basking dock does she have?
I use a canister filter for my RES an xp3 on a 120 gallon tank
and a jebo cfs4 that kept her water crystal clear in a 55
on the subject of if your tank is big enough, a RES needs atleast 10 gallons (100 was a typo) of water per inch of her shell
who told a thirty gallon is plenty?

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0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
1.3.0 Nigerian Uromastyx
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.0.0 Green Iguana
1.0.1 American Toads
2.0.1 African Clawed frog
0.1.0 Dune Gecko Steno Petrii
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.1.1 Red Spotted Newts
0.1.0 Red Eared Slider
0.1.0 Box Turtle

Here's a late breaking update. Got up this morning, and the filters have kept the water clear, but there is still some smell. Ziggy's had issues with smell before, but it wasn't this type of smell, and with cleaning it went away.

I've checked a couple different texts, and a slew of websites (how I found this one) concerning RES health. Ziggy doesn't show any signs or symptoms for any common turtle illness--maybe this is an uncommon illness. She's still quite active though, eating, swimming, etc.

In the three days she was out of her tank, she wasn't happy, fairly inactive, but she didn't smell. Which is making me think that it might be our poor water quality. We've used treatments, but the city's water is really bad.

So far as your questions go Jade,
I've heard everything under the sun about the size you need. 100 gal per inch is well out of the park so I'm guessing that's a typo. The most common requirements I've heard are 30-55 gallons for a single adult RES. Others have included a gallon per inch, twice the length or twice the width for water requirements, this or that plus 10%, or 20%. Like I said, it's all over the board. I would like to give her more space, whether she has enough or not, but I'm looking for an alternative to the all-too expensive and way too heavy glass tanks. One idea in the mix is a pond setup in our back yard...but that will have to wait until spring.
Her basking dock is a ZooMed Turtle Dock...the largest they make, which fits her well.

Thanks again folks.

I'd say the bare minimum for one adult red-eared slider is a 55 gallon tank. If you have only 20 gallons of water in that 30 gallon, it's way too small. Not only does it not allow enough room, but it will get polluted too fast, which could eventually make your turtle sick.

I'd ditch the gravel and the under gravel filter personally. Good for fish, not so great for turtles. For one they have a tendancy to eat gravel. Plus with as much cleaning as a turtle tank needs, that's just too much of a hassle to take all that apart and clean it all the time. Turtle waste is just too bulky to make an undergravel filter practical. A cannister filter works best for turtles, and you need something designed for a larger tank than the actual size of the tank you're using. Whisper filters are also good because they're quiet. A quiet filter is very important. The contant humminng, churning, and turbulance of a noisy filter will bring a lot of stress on your turtle since she can't escape it.

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yup that was typo, it was supposed to be 10 gallons per inch of shell (1 gallon per inch is for fish) I'll edit my other post
how big is your turtle, with a big enough tank and a canister filter smell shouldnt be an issue
if you dont "have " to ba able to see her through glass you could buy a stock tank for her, or you can get a 55 gallon rubbermaid tub that should last a good while it the sides are re-inforced

__________________
0.0.1 Mali Uromastyx
1.3.0 Nigerian Uromastyx
1.2.0 Bearded Dragons
1.0.0 Green Iguana
1.0.1 American Toads
2.0.1 African Clawed frog
0.1.0 Dune Gecko Steno Petrii
0.0.1 Leopard Gecko
1.1.1 Red Spotted Newts
0.1.0 Red Eared Slider
0.1.0 Box Turtle