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My daughter's new pet turtle just died

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I've had a turtle for literally 30 years now, since I was ten. THIRTY. I've had girlfriends who were younger than my turtle.

I've also had some pretty elaborate aquarium setups. I don't know why your turtle died, sometimes purchased animals just die- especially exotic ones. However, I can give you a little information about filtration.

First off, the main job of any freshwater aquarium filter, regardless of the animal type, is the nitrogen cycle. That is converting ammonia to nitrites and finally to nitrates (which you remove by changing the water). This is done biologically. You're basically cultivating a biological filter. This takes 4-8 weeks. Turtles produce A LOT of ammonia. Urine, shit and uneaten food- it all becomes ammonia. I'm not sure what the rate for a turtle is but fish create about their own weight in ammonia daily. A turtle probably creates less. To keep ammonia from building up to toxic levels you have to cycle the filter in advance. You do this by adding ammonia incrementally until nitrites appear, then you keep adding ammonia until nitrates appear, and finally, eventually ammonia and nitrites will be at zero and you'll only have nitrates. The filter will be fully cycled. Can a turtle live in water with a little ammonia? Yeah. Much more resistant to it than a lot of fish. But baby reptiles are much less hardy than their adult counterparts. It doesn't take much more than any one wrong thing for them to die.

If you decide to try again recommend this test kit:
https://www.amazon.com/API-FRESHWATER-800-Test-Freshwater-Aquarium/dp/B000255NCI

Test strips are junk. If you get that kit make sure to follow the instructions for nitrate very carefully, it's pretty specific.

Another thing to remember is that aquarium filters are woefully overrated. You need to know the GPH and you need one that can cycle all the water in the aquarium 5-10 times per hour. When it comes to filtration, bigger is always better unless it's a type of fish that doesn't like a lot of current, then you simply need the minimum. When it comes to filtration types I advocate all biological with a little mechanical filtration for water clarity (though your mechanical filtration will grow the beneficial bacteria as well). I do not believe in carbon filtration. First of all, lets say you do use carbon- it will compete with the biological filtration for their food source. Secondly, it doesn't last long. Think about your Brita filter but worse. For it to really work you have to constantly replace it which will cost money. If you have space in your filter for carbon, put some other media in. Some filter floss or sponge or other biomedia- surface area is the name of the game. Then, to mitigate the nitrates you should do up to an 80% water change weekly, or whatever is required to keep nitrates under 5-10ppm. Unfortunately there's is no other great way to deal with nitrates in freshwater. I've seen people create elaborate algae filters and filters with a hundred feet of tubing (the bacteria that eats nitrates is anaerobic, at the end of long tubing the water will be oxygen free). But none of it is very practical. But nitrates are not particularly toxic to turtles and are much less toxic to fish than nitrites and ammonia.

It's all somewhat complicated for a kid. You're basically going to be doing most of the work depending on her age and interest level, which can change instantly- through my teen years my turtle relied a lot on my mom to take care of him.

As far as goldfish, remember that any animal is going to add to the bioload of the aquarium. At some point there is too much animal and not enough water. And goldfish do have quite a large bioload. When I was a kid I put three of them in with the turtle. He actually left them alone and they got pretty big. But one day he killed all three for some reason and was really messy. I've had a couple other fish with him over the years, bluegill, sunfish, etc. The last sunfish got pretty big, almost as long as the turtle, and I am not sure if it died naturally or the turtle killed it, but my turtle was just swimming around with the fish in his mouth until I took it away.

Anyway, good luck with it.
Thanks at TON for taking the time to write all this. Extremely helpful. I thought that just running the filter (we got one much bigger than was required) for a few days before the turtle arrived would be enough. I didn't think we might have to add anything, like ammonia, to cycle the filter. Hell, maybe my daughter or my wife did that, I'll have to ask them. I'll look into this a lot more before we get the new turtle though. Thanks again!
 
Wow that makes me feel lucky that our turtle and goldfish have done so well for so long....we don't know anything about nitrates or nitrites...except that there's some in my hot dogs I'm gonna be eating this weekend!

Cheers!
 
Most people just wing the nitrogen cycle thing. It's far more important for fish with water temps above 74 degrees. But it does basically apply to any animal that will be spending a great deal of time in the water in an aquarium. I didn't learn about it until I was about 25. Then I was like, "holy shit, what have I been doing to all those fish over the years!?!?" Eventually the cycle will happen on its own if your fish can live through it. Goldfish are especially good at getting through the propagation of a biofilter. In fact many people will cycle their tank naturally with goldfish rather than dosing a fishless tank with ammonia for eight weeks- despite it being a tad cruel in my opinion (usually they get flushed after). The most expensive fish I ever bought was $65. Not an incredible amount but you aren't just going to toss that in a new aquarium and hope for the best. I attached some pics of the 150 gallon I used to have. The blue-ish guy was the $65 fish. I ended up giving them all away because I lost interest.
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Most people just wing the nitrogen cycle thing. It's far more important for fish with water temps above 74 degrees. But it does basically apply to any animal that will be spending a great deal of time in the water in an aquarium. I didn't learn about it until I was about 25. Then I was like, "holy shit, what have I been doing to all those fish over the years!?!?" Eventually the cycle will happen on its own if your fish can live through it. Goldfish are especially good at getting through the propagation of a biofilter. In fact many people will cycle their tank naturally with goldfish rather than dosing a fishless tank with ammonia for eight weeks- despite it being a tad cruel in my opinion (usually they get flushed after). The most expensive fish I ever bought was $65. Not an incredible amount but you aren't just going to toss that in a new aquarium and hope for the best. I attached some pics of the 150 gallon I used to have. The blue-ish guy was the $65 fish. I ended up giving them all away because I lost interest.
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Those are some crazy looking fish - I know almost nothing about fish. I can see why some people love aquariums though.
 
I also had a red-eared slider that I saved after a summer thunderstorm when I was about 13 years old. I had it for almost 25+ years. Went through middle-high- and college with me. I even had as a classroom pet when I used to teach middle school. The students loved it. It was the center piece of the classroom. I always lived in a house with well water, so just make sure if you don't you get some of that additive at the pet store that neutralizes the water and makes it safe. I'm sure you did (Disclaimer - I didn't read everything in this thread so maybe that was talked about already). I'd get a turtle again in a heartbeat. They are such cool pets. I'd let him roam the house every now and then too. Funny thing, my cat was terrified of it and it was a fraction of the size of the cat.
 
Thoughts and prayers out to you and your daughter man. It may have been a turtle, but often times it’s the child’s world, ya know?

We had a turtle once. A snapping turtle that my dad picked up when it was trying to cross the road... that thing ate everything... After all you guys have been saying about taking care of turtles, I feel bad because our setup was, well, the result of inexperienced people trying to take care of an animal that we had absolutely no clue how to take care of LOL We eventually released it (which I think was illegal) because it was getting a little too big for our small tank. It’s probably terrorizing the local fish populations right now...
 
Sorry to hear, Chris. How old is your daughter, btw?

We have 3 turtles at our house. The kids found them in the wild when they were babies many years ago, and the turtles are grown now. I don't really know anything about them - my better half is the expert and keeps them alive. From the little knowledge I have, it sounds like you guys were doing everything right though.
 
Sorry to hear, Chris. How old is your daughter, btw?

We have 3 turtles at our house. The kids found them in the wild when they were babies many years ago, and the turtles are grown now. I don't really know anything about them - my better half is the expert and keeps them alive. From the little knowledge I have, it sounds like you guys were doing everything right though.
Thanks Paul. My youngest is 10 years old now... crazy how time flies. My oldest is now 13 and she's a classic teenager.

I'm happy that my youngest is still into turtles :) Just sucks when something like this happens, but that's just life.
 
Thanks Paul. My youngest is 10 years old now... crazy how time flies. My oldest is now 13 and she's a classic teenager.

I'm happy that my youngest is still into turtles :) Just sucks when something like this happens, but that's just life.
Yessir, our 11-y/o was the same way when his fish died last year, and both kids (11 and 13) were crying last week when the kitten escaped outside all night without us knowing. We found her alive and well on the roof (yes, the ROOF, LOL) about an hour after explaing to the kids what had happened. I like that our kids still care about animals. :)
 
Well...it's a very sad day...this morning I woke up and saw my daughters turtle motionless in the bottom of the tank with her feet tucked in and her eyes closed...after TEN years...she died last night...on my daughter's birthday no less.....and I had to break it to my daughter gently this morning....it was her first pet....very sad....heartbreaking....don't even know what happened...except that recently we added a turtle lamp a couple hours a day, and her tank got a little more dirty than usual before the last cleaning... home work and online classes have preceded chores recently....but still! After ten years! Why now all of a sudden? It's too much......
 
Well...it's a very sad day...this morning I woke up and saw my daughters turtle motionless in the bottom of the tank with her feet tucked in and her eyes closed...after TEN years...she died last night...on my daughter's birthday no less.....and I had to break it to my daughter gently this morning....it was her first pet....very sad....heartbreaking....don't even know what happened...except that recently we added a turtle lamp a couple hours a day, and her tank got a little more dirty than usual before the last cleaning... home work and online classes have preceded chores recently....but still! After ten years! Why now all of a sudden? It's too much......
Really sorry to hear this Jacob. I know ours was a shock, but after 10 years, this has to be really difficult.
 
Damn just now seeing this thread. 3 months late is better than never. Sorry to hear about the turtle as well Jacob

I would highly recommend not having a pet turtle they are not cheap and they generally outlive the interest of the caretaker. Most aquatic turtles have a lifespan of 25-50 years. Balancing not only a reptiles needs but an aquatic ecosystem to boot has proven to be a challenge to most and only shows how truly resilient turtles are to various stressors.

Reptiles don't show signs of stress that we as humans pick up often until it's to late. Reptiles need to be taken outside during the summer. UVB bulbs are not enough for any reptile, ask any exotic vet. I recommend creating a pen or a makeshift leash. Reptiles get the zoomies after about 2 hours of full bask, like cats at 2 am so be prepared for that.

They also need LARGE habitats. I am a cheap bastard I go to good wills and salvation army and pick out large furniture for about $20. Having 3 of 4 walls be wood is ideal as wood holds heat much better than glass. Curio cabinets for china are my go to furniture of choice especially arboreal reptiles such as iguanas and chameleons. Usually I will smash the glass out of the frame (quite fun) and measure the frame and take the dimensions to tap plastics to have them make acrylic panels. Wood and acrylic are easy to cut so you can make vents where you think airflow may be key. For electronics again I'm lazy and don't leave anything to chance buy a rheostat and plug in several ceramic heat emitters and mats of various sizes depending on the enclosure. The rheostat measures ambient temps and can shut off accordingly. I set this to temp low usually 70-75 at night. So that night temps don't drop below that point. I hook the basking lamp to a timed outlet and have that on an 8 hour on 16 off cycle. Temps under the basking light should be anywhere from 90-120 depending on the reptile. 1-2 areas in the enclosure should have 0 heat and provide some sort of burrowing material. I prefer sand because of its ability to absorb heat and dissipate it. I feed my reptiles outside of the enclosure to prevent impaction (eating substrate causes digestive blocks that can be fatal). This is often where your reptile cools off and sleeps at night.

I had my bearded dragon for 8 years. Adopted him as an adult have no idea how old he was. He came from a broken home and was starving when I got ahold of him. He quickly worked his way into our hearts and was a lovely lizard with a ton of energy and sass. We put him down in February, after suffering from a brain aneurysm.

Anyone who wants to get a reptile or other pet and has specific questions feel free to pm me anytime. I am a marine ecologist who has been in the pet trade since I was 8.
 
Here is a sample of something I did recently for a friend and his ball python. Cost me $250 in materials.

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Thought I had photos of the finished product but must have deleted them in one of my phone purges
 
Damn just now seeing this thread. 3 months late is better than never. Sorry to hear about the turtle as well Jacob

I would highly recommend not having a pet turtle they are not cheap and they generally outlive the interest of the caretaker. Most aquatic turtles have a lifespan of 25-50 years. Balancing not only a reptiles needs but an aquatic ecosystem to boot has proven to be a challenge to most and only shows how truly resilient turtles are to various stressors.

Reptiles don't show signs of stress that we as humans pick up often until it's to late. Reptiles need to be taken outside during the summer. UVB bulbs are not enough for any reptile, ask any exotic vet. I recommend creating a pen or a makeshift leash. Reptiles get the zoomies after about 2 hours of full bask, like cats at 2 am so be prepared for that.

They also need LARGE habitats. I am a cheap bastard I go to good wills and salvation army and pick out large furniture for about $20. Having 3 of 4 walls be wood is ideal as wood holds heat much better than glass. Curio cabinets for china are my go to furniture of choice especially arboreal reptiles such as iguanas and chameleons. Usually I will smash the glass out of the frame (quite fun) and measure the frame and take the dimensions to tap plastics to have them make acrylic panels. Wood and acrylic are easy to cut so you can make vents where you think airflow may be key. For electronics again I'm lazy and don't leave anything to chance buy a rheostat and plug in several ceramic heat emitters and mats of various sizes depending on the enclosure. The rheostat measures ambient temps and can shut off accordingly. I set this to temp low usually 70-75 at night. So that night temps don't drop below that point. I hook the basking lamp to a timed outlet and have that on an 8 hour on 16 off cycle. Temps under the basking light should be anywhere from 90-120 depending on the reptile. 1-2 areas in the enclosure should have 0 heat and provide some sort of burrowing material. I prefer sand because of its ability to absorb heat and dissipate it. I feed my reptiles outside of the enclosure to prevent impaction (eating substrate causes digestive blocks that can be fatal). This is often where your reptile cools off and sleeps at night.

I had my bearded dragon for 8 years. Adopted him as an adult have no idea how old he was. He came from a broken home and was starving when I got ahold of him. He quickly worked his way into our hearts and was a lovely lizard with a ton of energy and sass. We put him down in February, after suffering from a brain aneurysm.

Anyone who wants to get a reptile or other pet and has specific questions feel free to pm me anytime. I am a marine ecologist who has been in the pet trade since I was 8.
Thanks for sharing all the info. We haven't picked up another turtle yet, and I'm not sure she wants to. No rush on my end.
 
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