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Yesterday afternoon I cleaned Speck's tank, 40B. I took out most of the water, refilled it with tap water, and put him in. This morning after I put his food in and he ate a couple bites I saw the dechlorinator bottle in the drawer. Quickly I removed him and poured in a little over the right amount of dechlorinator. I am about to put him back in with the dechlorinated water. Will Speck be okay after being in the tap water for that short amount of time? A few years ago I had part-filled a tank with dechlorinated water and left Franklin in there for a couple hours, returned and put tap water in. Forgetting about dechlorinator I noticed the symptoms of RI but it was too late -- we didn't get him to the vet in time. I really don't want that to happen to Speck. How can I fix this? What should I do if I notice any signs of RI?

Should be fine, you are likely seeing signs of irritation, not RI. Most of us have switched away from dechlorinators (chemicals!!!) and opt for carbon media or carbon filters.

What Steve said. Chlorinated water is deadly for fish because they breathe it.

Our RES just drink it, but also expose their eyes to it. You and I drink chlorinated water too.

A pool has much more chlorine in it, but think about how a short exposure irritates your eyes. Your RES has had a longer exposure to a much lower concentration. It's eyes may be irritated, but should heal quickly. I doubt you will see much other effect.

Alright well. . . gee then, I'm not sure why Franklin died? I did the research and self-diagnosed it as RI because he showed nearly all of the symptoms, such as lethary, awkward floating, red eyes, bubbles from mouth...

As for Speck, I'm glad to hear y'all aay he will be okay. Although, Steve, I do use a filter which uses carbon in the cartridges. Are you saying that's enough to keep the water clean? It wasn't running for long before I put him back in the tank -- if so, how long do you need to wait for it to clear up?

Thanks,
Peat

Maybe it was a temperature shock? There's a lot of details missing to know what happened. Carbon does replace the need for a dechlorinator. I usually just put the turtles back in when the temperatures right.

That's possible. I bought a heater right before he died, so that may be the case. However, now I've upgraded the size and I don't think this heater can handle the bigger tank. It's unplugged right now though, since it's summer. The water is chilly to my touch, but Speck acts perfectly fine in it.

Peat, you really need to know what the water temp is not just guess. Its summer here also 97° yesterday but I have the A/C on so both my tanks have heaters in them. There is really no reason to unplug them because unless they turn on to heat the water they are not using much if any electricity. All of my heaters turn on at some point in the day.