smelly sliders

[gemisnake]

Hey, I have two stinky redear sliders. Well the tank really doesnt smell too bad but it is horrible looking. I have a 55 gallon for them (they are still small), I have nothing at the bottom of the tank except some large river rocks. I have a uv strip lightover the entire cage and a basking spotlight over the basking area. No water heater because my apt is honestly set at 85 degrees right now and the water is plenty warm. I feed them some cat food twice a week (only what they eat while I am watching) and I give them earthworms, crickets, superworms, snails, and other wiggling things every other day of the week. There are also goldfish in the tank that they snack on whenever they feel like it. They are not overweight so I dont think I am overfeeding but the tank is always gross two days afetr a complete water change. I have a filter (cant remember brand or anything but it is made for 100 gallon tank and is made by zoomed or t-rex and said it is for turtle tanks.
Should I get another of the same filter and run two or does anyone know of a better brand or something, I can just keep changing the whole tank water but I would prefer not to.
Thanks Sarah

[Bry]

Well, first of all, I don't know the exact requirements for turtle husbandry. For some reason, the sound of feeding cat food to sliders doesn't sit right with me. If memory serves, sliders are omnivorous, eating more plant matter than animal protein. Maybe someone else here knows more about that. As far as the filters, you could try a second filter. I've kept Oscars in the past, which are a particularly messy species, and I liked using the Whisper filters for them. They seem to do a decent job keeping the tank clean with regular water changes, of course.

Bry

[Ravnos]

Sliders are omnivorous, but most of the literature says that they become more vegetarian the older they get. I really don't see that cat food would be really all that good for a slider of any age though. A switch off of that to a decent brand of turtle pellets, like Reptomin would be much more advisable. Might even help the stench problem, as diet is the main contributor to that.

I had troubles keeping my turtle tanks clean until I broke down and installed undergravel filters, with river rocks on the bottom. Now they're almost spotless except right after feeding. I only need to clean the tanks out once every couple months. Filter cleaning is about every other week - just to make sure it doesn't clog or anything. I have had excellent luck with Magnum cannister filters. I've also used large Fluval cannisters with some measure of success.

Rav

[gemisnake]

The breeder I got the sliders from uses high quality cat food, it is practically the exact same ingredients as turtle pellets. Also I have tried greens but they want nothing to do with them yet, everything I have ever read says they wont start eating greens until they are adults, they are little guys still. Everything I have read states that high quality cat food is the best food for raising aquatic turtles as long as supplemented with live food. Also most turtle pellets dont have good enough nutrition to be fed to turtles without supplements anyways, thanks though.
Still loking for a good turtle cage filter though.

[JuliusSqueezer]

Do you feed your cats turtle food? Personally, I wouldn't trust the word of anyone who would breed sliders, iguanas or burms...but I'm funny that way.

	Iguana Iguana

[rustysdragons]

You should get a canaster filter as mentioned above, Magnums and Fluvals are good filters.
I would maybe do a little more research on the cat food issue.
I personally have looked into quality foods for sliders and can send you information if you want. But cat food (even if the breeder says) is really not an appropriate food for any turtle.
Do you mind if I ask who the breeder was.
Let me know if you would like more information on nutritional value in specific food sources for your RES.
Thanks
Rusty

[Kantil]

Um...kinda dubious isn't it..I mean...cat food? Try fish, dead or alive, and maybe small shrimps(warning, shrimps are difficult to keep alive)