Well worth the money? fly river turtle

  • We are currently upgrading MFK. thanks! -neo
Oddball said:
FRT light brack tank is pretty straight-forward. Substrate is a mix of crushed coral sand, tumbled coral trash gravel, and aragonite rice gravel. Filtration is wet/dry with double wide coarse sponges at the overflow (saves a huge mess from the filter). FRTs are a riverine species so, a strong outlet flow won't harm them. Just ensure you provide several current flow breaks to allow the FRT places to rest and sleep. Salinity (here, opinions vary) in my FRT tanks is maintained at 1.007 - 1.010. The species ranges from near full marine to full fresh alkaline conditions. Light brack offers less problems from fungal infections. Temp: ~ 84F. Below 84F they're sluggish and prone to fungal infections. Above 84F makes maintaining a healthy filled-out appearance difficult (less reserve fat layer).

The slough looks like someone peeled after a sunburn. The surface shell layer literally blisters up then, shears away from the carapace in about a day.
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Any safe advice to get rid of the algae of that turtle's shell? Would a cloth work? also for brackish, what kind of salt do I use? Never kept anything other than freshwater creatures. How do I calculate salinity?

thanks
 
A little algae never bothered them. The only way to get rid of it all is to restrict light which will not benefit the turt.

Use marine mix (same stuff for a saltwater aquarium). Salinity is measured with a hydrometer. I use a floating hydrometer since it's the easiest to clean.

Hydrometer_floating.jpg

Hydrometer_floating.jpg
 
Oddball said:
A little algae never bothered them. The only way to get rid of it all is to restrict light which will not benefit the turt.

Use marine mix (same stuff for a saltwater aquarium). Salinity is measured with a hydrometer. I use a floating hydrometer since it's the easiest to clean.

View attachment 956036
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My tank is located right next to the window. Should I open the blinds at all times? Is that enough light for the turtle? I just heard that the window alters the light rays in some way.

Is there a safe way to wipe the algae off the turtle's shell?

What kind of salt do I use?
 
"A safe way to wipe algae from a turtle's shell". You'll have to let me know. I never tried it. I got rid of the hair algae by putting ghost shrimp and gammarus into the tank. The shrimp ate all the hair algae in the tank and grazed off of the turtle's back. A bonus was that the turtle had extra food when he was able to catch the shrimp. But, that took a while.

My FRT's tank gets afternoon sun. Half of the back of the tank is covered so he can decide how much sun he gets. All matter influences sun rays. I've seen no ill effects on my turt from getting through-window sunlight.
 
What artificial lighting do you use for the turtle? My tank has the coralife 6700k tubes. Not sure what kind they are. They just emmit a bright light. I seldom use them except for display. I do get quite hot after 10 minutes or so. not sure if that's normal.
 
Any current pics of FaRT? thanks for your time.
 
Chub_by said:
Pics or it didn't happen!
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Yup, got him on Saturday but I was too busy admiring him to update. He's best friends with my armatus.....so far.

pics asap but patience!
 
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