All Turtles Message Board

flarkin · Level 2 Joined: 10 Apr 2005 Posts: 31

Does anyone know how to clean off green algae on my RES's shell. I have used a cotton ball/q-tips & alittle comes off but his shell has an abundant amount of algae. Why does he get this?He is now 3 years old. My water is always kept clean.
Any suggestions?

dixieee · Posted: Wed Jul 05, 2006 4:17 am Post subject:

growth of algae indicates a healthy environment. did u ever see a pond without algae? that's it Smile

use a soft toothbrush and scrub the shell gently under warm running water, this should take care of the algae. but to prevent or reduce it, is the setup near a window? cz sunlight helps the growth
_________________
Wed 10/27/2004 is the worst day..i lost my best friend Leo

so now i have a female RES, Green, and a cute stupid male YBS, Mint

5/4/2006 RIP Lemon, u were my first rescue and i'm so proud of u. will never 4get u

reptileman · Level 4 Joined: 27 Jul 2004 Posts: 1174

Dixieee is right. Algae means that you're doing the right thing. Ironic, but true. I don't mean to brag *Blink blink*, But I get so much algae, that when I do clean out my turtle's tank, it clogs the drain! I don't like algae, either. It doesn't harm the turtle, but it could harm the frogs that I used to have. You can use multiple small plecos, they'll eat the algae from the turtle's shell. My turtle is to much of an animal, and will eat the pleco even if it's twice as big as he is. I lost two already. Crying or Very sad

_________________
The force is strong with my RES, Charleston. Koi is my next step.

Vanilla_Rat · Posted: Thu Jul 06, 2006 4:45 pm Post subject:

Use a toothbrush.Thats what I do.Tanjobi HATES it,but needs to be done! Laughing

I hate algae,but cannot risk having a pleco in there,it would be eaten in a snap!
_________________
My Babies:
~ 24 rats
~ 6 mice
~ 2 leopard geckos
~ 1 RES turtle
~ 2 fancy goldfish and 3 bettas
* A 2 yr old daughter

turtle_grl77 · Level 4 Joined: 18 Nov 2005 Posts: 985 Location: Florida

[quote="Vanilla_Rat"] I hate algae,but cannot risk having a pleco in there,it would be eaten in a snap![/quote]
My pleco lasted 3 ,onths or so. It was funny though my little turtle would grab a hold of the tail and go for a ride. Laughing

kear_bear · Level 1 Joined: 18 Aug 2006 Posts: 16

What is a pleco??

sunny41 · Posted: Tue Aug 22, 2006 8:54 pm Post subject:

pleco is those sucker fish you see in petstores.
_________________
[IMG]http://i9.tinypic.com/2rdhmq.jpg[IMG]

krissytool · Level 1 Joined: 27 Aug 2006 Posts: 6

algae growth doesnt always mean that you have a healthy tank, its a number of reasons.

1: Too much nutrients in the water such as un eaten food or phosphate, excess phosphate is like a fertilizer for algae growth

2: Too much light, or direct sunlight, no more than 12 hours of light, your turtles need to sleep too

3: Using products such a ph down, contains a lot of phosphate

4: A high ph will cause algae to spread like wildfire

NEVER ASSUME ITS BECAUSE YOUR TANK IS "HEALTHY"

algaes not all bad, but check why your getting algae first to eliminate the above causes