General Care Discussion :: Help with some turtle issues please!

[logo897]

Hello I recently bought 2 turtles. They are a red eared slider and a musk turtle. I have a 15 gallon tank with a filter but the water seems to be dirty because they are constantly moving. Yes I have a basking light on top of the tank where a little shack is for them to bathe and they use it a lot. The MAJOR problem I'm nervous about is that they are always hungry and my musk turtle is shedding! Please help and how can I fix this?

[steve]

Turtles are messy in general and a small tank will be quickly overloaded. How big are the turtles? What are they feeding? I don't know about musks, but RES can be insane beggars. You have to resist giving in.

[logo897]

I don't know exactly how big they are but the musk looks like 5 inches and the red eared slider looks like it's around 5 inches or less. They are pretty big. I wasn't expecting to have 2 turtles originally but made a quick choice about it. I know I should probably get a bigger tank but it'll take me a few weeks to save up for it. I just want to do whatever I can in my power to keep it as clean as i can so they live healthy, But I also have a little getaway shack on top of the tank for them to get space too.

Oh and I feed them pellets, reptomin plus(stick things), lettuce, and sometimes blood worms.


Can I change the filter once a week? It looks dirty already and it's only been one week.

Sorry for the bombarding of questions... I only got two turtles so my first one could have a buddy

[logo897]

Wait 5 inches might be too much... I can't measure them but they have to be at least a couple of inches.

[steve]

Yes, and see if you have males or females.

[logo897]

They are both females

[steve]

RES need to be about 4" for you to tell. Either way, you're looking at needing a fairly large setup.

[logo897]

Ok how many gallons? Meanwhile I just clean the filter and do partial water change once a week right?

[steve]

The math gets tricky, and maybe controversial when you multiply turtles in the same tank. If they get along, you can go with a smaller tank (125 G?) but if they don't, then a 125 is kind of small to divide so you're looking at second tank.

Partial weekly change sounds OK, what are you feeding them? What kind of filter is it?

[logo897]

i stated how i fed them as above i think and the type of filter i use is www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AWVFK8Y/re ... UTF8&psc=1

my tank is also 15 gallons

[steve]

The above info still applies. For feeding, you can take them out to help with the water but they'll still be producing a lot of waste in there.