EMERGENCY!!!

[Fishes33]

Last night around 11pm I heard a loud bang, but I thought it was my family member dropped something on the floor really hard.

Apparently that was not the case, I just discovered my heater exploded in the tank. Maybe my turtle was fiddling with it at night, and cause it to explode. It was a Tetra made 200w heater.

The turtle seems fine, but her belly seems a bit red

The water is covered with glass fragments and some black powder, and the air smell acrid...

How can I clean this up? Will I get poison by the black powder???

Advice needed! thanks! >.<"

 

[deeda]

Since there is no substrate in the tank, I suggest vacumming out all the debris. Relocate the turtle to a temporary separate container until you can get the tank cleaned out. You don't want the turtle to ingest any glass.

 

[Fishes33]

and they don't have mercury in the heater, right?

 

[strollo22]

No, no mercury. Just clean up that mess and you should be fine. I would suggest probably getting an inline heater as well since turtles can be troublesome.

 

[JonY3k]

I do not "think" they contain any mercury. I am not sure why it would. Just clean out the tank and you should be fine.