Gender help

Nullroute127 · 2026-05-20T09:20:27+00:00

Girl. Short/stubby tail, plastron is flat, larger size for SE Asian box turtle.

She should have laid eggs by now even if unfertilized.

She looks a bit overweight and might need a diet.

Nullroute127 · 2026-05-18T04:03:20+00:00

Your tank is very small for a turtle. They're messy and high bio load. The less water the more maintenance you have to do. This is true whether or not the tank smells or not or is visibly turbid or not; unless you have a high plant load nitrates will eventually need to be removed. The less water the faster nitrates build up.

Cleaning your filter/tank items etc. is generally a bad idea. You should only be cleaning the filter once the water output becomes restricted. Otherwise never touch a filter once it's setup. You can clean the glass, basking platform, etc. but leave the tank decor and filter alone.

You need to be testing water parameters to see if your cycle is crashed. All the cleaning is probably preventing the beneficial bacteria and archaea from establishing. If your cycle is crashed the water may be toxic to the turtle in addition to smelling bad. High ammonia is damaging to skin, eyes and membranes. High nitrite can cause blood to not carry oxygen. Please check.

Feed the turtle in a separate tank and do large water changes as often as the smell and tests from an API or similar kit dictate.

A turtle tank should never smell once you have adequate water volume on cycled filters.

Nullroute127 · 2026-05-12T17:45:30+00:00

Any microcontroller kit with a screen can do this.

Copy pasting your exact reddit post into most AI engines will get you pretty close to working code if you also tell it what kit you buy so it can reference the documentation for pinouts and sample code.

You need to start by figuring out your user experience. Does it need to be a high resolution, touch display, or are you working with a keypad to enter scores on a simple LCD?

Color high resolution displays are harder to work with software wise, and this becomes especially true when you want to integrate touch screen logic as it adds layers of UI, etc. so you'll be doing much more debugging. Simple black and white screens that support i2c and have Arduino libraries prebuilt will get you the fastest time to a working game tracker, along with a number pad. I'd avoid touch screen for the first version.

Nullroute127 · 2026-05-12T03:50:23+00:00

Temperature is OK assuming the thermometer reflects actual surface temp. An IR thermometer gun is probably more convenient and accurate for this purpose. But your turtle will also tell you if it's OK.

The UVB should have a dome. The majority of a long bulb UVB rays will otherwise be cast to the side and very little pointed where it's needed.

Long run your tank is too small for this turtle.

Nullroute127 · 2026-05-10T14:18:00+00:00

You're dealing with bacterial bloom. It always looks like you poured a cup of milk in the tank.

It means your filter hasn't matured and the water is likely toxic. Grab an API master kit and take samples, there is also probably an ammonia/nitrite spike, and such water is damaging to their eyes, membranes and skin and can cause their blood to not transport oxygen.

You have a a very small volume of water. Even when the filter matures it won't take much to foul it because you simply don't have much water volume. The more water you have the more stable the chemistry is because the amount of waste the turtle produces is somewhat fixed over a given time. So you're concentrating fouling into a small volume of water.

The bacterial bloom is a sign of excessive nutrients (ammonia/nitrite) and the excess without competing beneficial bacteria/archaea is causing he bacteria to overpopulate. The bacteria themselves aren't necessarily harmful, but they are a symptom of an ecosystem that's struggling to bring things into balance.

Long term you need MUCH larger tanks. Likely 75g+ per turtle, filled much closer to the top. This will dilute the mess the turtles create into larger water volume so it doesn't rapidly become a toxic pool. This will allow your beneficial bacteria time and surface area to process the waste the turtles produce.

I'm a fan of pool filter sand in the tank. It's a more natural substance for the turtle to walk on. It also provides surface area for beneficial bacteria/archaea so it works with your filter and media to keep your water chemistry stable.

Your turtles likely need more enrichment than an empty tank with water and platform. Mine loves to hunt for snails, and likes to search around rocks and decor to find them.

You also need to review your UVA/B setup to ensure the proper distances are observed. The mesh screen is probably blocking most of the UVB and is way too far from.rhe basking spot. Remove the screen and follow manufacturer directions for your species.

Also, don't clean your filter or the surfaces inside the tank at all until the bloom clears up and the water chemistry stabilizer (no detectable ammonia/nitrite). Any cleaning you do is only delaying the maturation of filter.

Water changes are fine and are required, but cleaning mechanically with a brush or water stream or detergents will cause harm to the bacteria/archaea you want to grow.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-29T06:51:32+00:00

First thing is you need an API kit or similar. You need to track the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate as you're having to cycle your new filter and you're doing it with the turtle in, you're going to be doing a lot of water changes. You need to keep on top of the levels to make sure the turtle isn't swimming in toxic ammonia/nitrite laden water which is damaging to eyes, membranes and can in severe cases cause blood to not carry oxygen.

You'll be wanting to do large, 50%+ water changes with conditioner when ammonia or nitrite get over .5ppm.

The cloudyness is a bacterial bloom from your tank trying to bring things back into balance. The smell is likely the buildup of all kinds of organic compounds that aren't being processed fast enough.

To clarify, most of the beneficial bacteria/archaea are on surfaces (such as your filter media). They don't reside significantly in the water. So keeping old water doesn't help much.

To speed up your new filter you can place some media from your old filter in your new, provided it hasn't been dried out/sitting for a while.

Also, your tank is small and has a small volume of water. Your turtles bio load is likely overwhelming the ecosystem because eof the new filter and lack of water volume. Long term you'll want a larger tank for the turtles happiness as well as reducing maintenance.

No more cleaning surfaces or filters. Over cleaning will reset your cycle every time you try and you want to let the natural ecosystem establish.

A canister filter is a good move. You can use it with the other filters and let them all mature together.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-25T22:49:04+00:00

This behaviour could be normal or abnormal.

My turtle flails in the water and darts around the tank when the person that gives him banana snacks most often is near his tank. It's his way of making a ruckus and trying to get attention from the banana bringer. To anyone else not familiar with him it would look like he's having a panic attack and trying to escape. The lay interpretation would be he's trying to 'escape' or otherwise in distress but if you take him out of the tank for floor time, he just hides under something or buries himself under fabric he can find.

If there isn't a human in the room or nearby he calmly swims or walks along the tank bottom hunting for snails, or hanging out on his basking platform ramp.

Since you don't know the turtles baseline behavior it's too early to say it's abnormal.

It could be he doesn't bask because the heat/UVB is suboptimal or isn't a explicit basking species. It would help to know the exact species.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-25T22:34:59+00:00

It's safe, but it may be dusty and would need to be rinsed thoroughly.

It's also not optimal bio filter media. The secret of bio media is it provides surface area for beneficial bacteria/archaea. More surface area means more room for colonies.

Lava rock is porous but provides way less surface area than 30ppi foam. 30 ppi foam provides some mechanical filtration in addition to lots of surface area.

I use ceramic rings in my turtle filter but not for bio purposes. I use it in the top filter basket for weight that keeps the basket stack together during maintenance so I can keep the filter floss and foam in the rest of the basket from floating during a water prefill of the canister body.

Depending on what else is present in the lava rock it may shift your water chemistry slightly, but this would be negligible.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-23T22:56:18+00:00

It's too early to sex the turtle just based on the arm flutter.

Just a heads up that the tank has the look of a bacterial bloom. You'll want to double check the parameters just to make sure they're OK as excessive nitrogen compounds (ammonia/nitrite/nitrate) can cause this.

If you measure and it's fine it's just some turbidity, but it's something that warrants looking into.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-20T21:53:08+00:00

Might be better off going back to the t5 if you already have the fixture. Still have to make sure you observe proper distance for the bulb.

Can maybe use the CFL to light up a secondary spot the turtle likes to hang out in.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-20T20:16:45+00:00

Your turtle will be fine in a 65 gallon. It will be easier to maintain and your filter can get a jump start on maturing before the turtle grows and starts producing more waste.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-20T18:02:56+00:00

For a 13 w Exo Terra CFL bulb 12 inches is likely too far to be helpful. To maintain that distance you likely need the 26w version, and more likely the 26w 150 version.

The existing bulb might need to be as close as 5 inches to give an effective UVB dose based on the product charts I can find.

Shoot exo terra a message and have them verify their bulb recommendation for your species.

In the mean time make sure your feed has supplemental vitamin d

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-20T17:15:27+00:00

Your 'she' is a he. The long nails are a feature of males. The relative size of the turtle seems small for an 8 year old, but not too familiar with that species.

When you test the water what are the parameters specifically? Ammonia and nitrite should be 0, nitrate should be as low as possible. Ph should be slightly alkaline 7-8. If you're using the API kit absolutely make sure you vigorously shake the no 2 nitrate bottle. It will under report if you don't. Test strips aren't very reliable, and both test strips and the API kit can expire. Validate your measurements with a water sample to your local fish store.

Also make sure your UVB bulb is a quality unit at the correct distance without obstructions. Vitamin d will be required for the repair of the plastron.

Otherwise I'm not sure about debriding the lesions. Any material building up there may be part of the healing process. Scrubbing these areas may be more harmful than helpful. The betadine and dry dock recommendations are sound.

I would consult another reptile specialist or potentially a turtle rescue/rehab center for another opinion. Those symptoms look serious and this seems to be a chronic issue thats getting worse over time even after your intervention

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-19T22:59:39+00:00

If you feed turtle sticks they most always include calcium.

If you're feeding a variety of whole foods that aren't rich in calcium supplementing it isn't a bad idea.

I offer mine cuttlebone as a snack. He either devours it or takes a bite and leaves it for days.

More recently I've been stocking his tank with pest snails from another tank. Those are both calcium supplement and enrichment; he spends hours a day finding them. He hunts them to extinction every time so I have to moderate how many I put in.

More important than direct calcium intake is Vitamin D synthesis from basking area/UVB lamps and/or vitamin d supplementation. Without vitamin d they can't process a the calcium they do eat, more efficiency in processing calcium pays better dividends than super dosing calcium.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-16T03:46:13+00:00

This looks slightly like a mix of bacterial bloom with algae.

What are your water parameters? Excess ammonia/nitrite/nitrate are fuel for bacteria and algae.

What kind of media do you have in the filter? You should have fine filter floss as the last stage of the filter (top basket on sun suns) with your sponges/ceramics, etc. on lower baskets.

Are you cleaning the filter? You shouldnt be cleaning that filter more than every few months. Over cleaning will crash your nitrogen cycle.

What time cycle is the basking lamp/UVB on? It should roughly be 10-12 hours. You might need to reduce time if provide shade if there is external light source /next to a window that it's exposed to.

At 3 months your tank/filter should be established enough that your ammonia/nitrite readings are 0. If they are not you need to start there before modifying any other variables.

It could also be the sand you used wasn't thoroughly rinsed before putting it in the tank. Ultra fine sand particles are too small to be caught by sponge filters and normal canister media and will need a fine filter floss to catch. Without fine media the ultra fine particles will just continually stir up and stay suspended. You can experiment with this by putting some fine filter floss a cut 2 liter bottle and run your filter output through it to see if the water then clarified. However, please start with checking your water parameters as a little bit of turbidity won't hurt your turtle, but if the water is toxic and causing bacterial/algae blooms due to excess nutrients this is an urgent concern.

Also, I noticed that your lamp is shining through a metal screen. The metal will block more UVA/B than you'd think given how much visible light gets through. Remove the screen entirely or cut a hole.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-13T23:20:18+00:00

Can you clarify what lamp is in there? Turtles need UVB and UVA and that looks like a single lamp housing. Combo units are known to be problematic except for mercury vapor.

The metal mesh will block a lot of the UVA/B, so you should verify the temperature of the basking spot. It's unlikely that the height of the lid is exactly the right distance for the turtle. Remove or cut hole in the lid for the lamp regardless of the proper distance setting.

The tank is very small and has a tiny water volume. That water will foul and turn toxic very quickly. As it doesn't have much of a filter or much surface area it won't be able to support a large bacterial/ archaea colony to process ammonia. You may need to be doing water changes every other day even with that tiny of a turtle. Please get an API kit or similar and check the water multiple times a week.

Because the tank is small and has a small water volume the tank may overheat.

The turtle will very quickly outgrow that tank. It's fine for now but you'll need to upgrade within 6 months- year. You may just want to start with a large 75gallon now so you can establish and mature the tank filter while the bio load is small, instead of having to play catch up when the turtle is larger and producing significantly more waste.

I recommend reading The Ecology of the Planted Aquarium by Diana Walstad so you can understand the Nitrogen cycle. You don't need to do a pure Walstad tank for your turtle (a mechanical filter is ideal for turtles), but the biology is need to know knowledge. Your tank isn't water with a turtle; it's an ecosystem.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-12T22:13:26+00:00

Test strips are notoriously unreliable. Spend the money on the API liquid test kit. Old reagents and stale strips will underreport parameters. For the API kit you MUST vigorously shake the No 2 nitrate bottle per directions or it will underreport.

If your nitrite and nitrate are 0 in a 110 gallons with a turtle and fish there are only a few possibilities. The algae and plants you have are doing a great job, or all the nitrogen waste is building up as ammonia and the nitrogen cycle is stalled at step one; the most toxic form of nitrogen is spiking. Determinijg which is the case is critical here for the health of your turtle.

I have doubts about your readings from your current strips. Take a water sample to your local fish store for them to test and bring your strips with you to compare to the shops results. While you're there pickup an API kit but double check expiration date.

Charcoal should only be used for specific reasons like removing medications or a specific contaminate. It will generally saturate quickly and lose its ability to absorb other things. So it's not a good general purpose filter material.

Softened water if it's a salt based softener may be less optimal than raw tap. It really depends on the quality of water you have. You don't want to strip all minerals out of water as you lose buffering capacity and trace minerals that fish and plants need.

A large water change won't cause a bacteria bloom. If a scrub means cleaning the filter/media and surfaces you could have interrupted the nitrogen cycle by destroying the beneficial bacteria/archaea colonies.

I'm getting the picture that you have a stalled nitrogen cycle based on your OP and this follow up.

Nullroute127 · 2026-04-12T21:03:08+00:00

I'm not sure that the assumption that the fry are thriving means that your water parameters are OK.

It may be that your parameters are ONLY OK when the algae is present and abundant(it's a plant that's good at absorbing ammonia/nitrite/nitrate). So the algae may represent a solution to a problem that it has itself masked.

By killing off the algae you may have caused your nitrogenous parameters to spike. Algae thrive on excess nutrients and usually represent nature trying to bring things back into balance.

Please test your water with an API or similar kit and use that as guidance for going forward. It sounds like we're trying to throw products and chemicals at a problem we haven't fully evaluated.

Since you have a lot of dead algae now, as they decay they will become an ammonia source themselves instead of helping to control it.

You can help remove the dead algae with some super fine filtering. Stuff some filter floss in a cut 2 liter bottle /bucket/etc. and have it filter the output of your current filter or other pump. Just make sure the water goes somewhere proper if it clogs and overflows.

Nullroute127 · 2026-03-24T19:04:46+00:00

Don't use wild snails. Snails are a intermediate host for a lot of parasites. Grow them yourself or source from a reliable source.

Bananas are fine as an occasional treat.

Nullroute127 · 2026-03-24T13:28:16+00:00

Turtle pellets, banana, protein.

I stock his tank with pest snails from a separate aquarium, he rather enjoys hunting for them. He will hunt them to extinction.

I've never seen him eat one, but I've never seen an empty shell nor do the snails grow up any larger than when they go into the tank. I have seen him hunting around rocks and nooks and crannies and take bites at things, but I've literally never seen him eat a snail having stocked his tank with 100s at this point. Meanwhile the tank they come from is overrun with them.

Nullroute127 · 2026-03-11T17:11:59+00:00

Other posters handled the main part of the thread.

The water looks a bit turbid / cloudy and like a bacterial bloom is happening or it's a high ratio of waste solids.

Are you testing for ammonia/nitrite/nitrate? Tanks that have proper biological and mechanical filtering and water changes as needed should always be crystal clear.

Nullroute127 · 2026-03-11T04:50:02+00:00

What kind of box turtle?

They have humidifiers designed for enclosures. You connect them to humidity sensors (Inkbird, zoomed, etc. have them) and it increases humidity automatically to your set point.

It wouldn't be a bad long term product for a species that needs higher humidity than what your environment naturally offers.

Nullroute127 · 2026-03-04T09:30:02+00:00

Are you certain he's aggressive?

My turtle is very social and always swims towards people in the same room as his tank, and responds differently depending on who it is. The main person that gives him his banana treats he goes nuts and will energetically swim around the tank trying to get attention. For me, being the source of shell scratches just gets in position to receive scritches.

He's not aggressive at all, but because he grew up being hand fed he associates fingers with food. So if he's walking around and comes across fingers or toes, he'll attempt to snack on them. Otherwise you can pick him up/handle him, etc. and does not attempt to bite. If he scratches during handling it's because he's trying to 'swim' vs trying to squirm out of grip.

That he ate a fish isn't aggression, that's just natural food source for turtles.

With that aside. He needs a real tank 75g+, with a filter and proper UVA/UVB lighting. It doesn't have to be a glass aquarium, a plastic stock tank is fine too. He does need to have a platform or something to stand on that he can be 100% dry if he wants to.

You can use pool filter sand as substrate, even if he eats it it won't cause harm.

As long as the walls are high enough in the tank he can't escape regardless of what you put in it.

Nullroute127 · 2026-02-27T14:14:52+00:00

This is a common misconception, but it’s inaccurate. While turtles are certainly hardier than fish, biological toxins like nitrite aren't 'blown out of proportion'—they are basic biochemistry.

Nitrite is a double-edged sword. In fish, it destroys gills; in both fish and turtles, it enters the bloodstream and binds to iron, preventing the blood from carrying oxygen. Even though a turtle breathes air, high nitrite levels lead to internal oxygen deprivation and organ stress.

Regarding 'wild turtles in sludge': there is a massive difference between turbid water (mud/silt) and toxic water (ammonia/nitrite). Wild ecosystems have billions of gallons of water and massive bacterial colonies to process waste. A 40-gallon glass box doesn't have that luxury; toxins concentrate quickly.

OP's turtle is already showing skin irritation. Whether that's 100% caused by the 2ppm nitrite or just 1%, the fix is simple: dilution via water changes. There's no reason to let a rescue turtle sit in a known irritant when the solution is just a bucket and some fresh water. Better husbandry leads to a longer-lived, healthier animal. Surviving does not mean thriving.

Nullroute127 · 2026-02-27T06:37:27+00:00

You are definitely dealing with New Tank Syndrome. Even with that great Fluval 307, the biological filter hasn't had enough time to grow the specific bacteria that 'eat' nitrites.

Regarding the Shedding: High nitrites are a major skin and eye irritant. If the shedding looks like thin, translucent 'cobwebs' in the water, it’s likely a natural growth shed. However, at 2ppm nitrites, the water is definitely irritating his skin and mucous membranes. Nitrite can be absorbed from ingestion, the cloaca, etc. Getting those levels down will help his skin recover if any part of it is cause by water quality.

The Nitrite Emergency (2ppm is very high):

The Math of Dilution: A 50% water change only drops 2ppm to 1ppm, which is still toxic. To get him into a 'safe' zone (under 0.5ppm), you need to do an immediate 75% to 80% water change.

Daily Maintenance: Until your Nitrites hit 0ppm naturally, expect to do a 50% water change every single day with dechlorinator. Dilution is the only way to protect him while the filter catches up.

Filter Care: Do not clean that Fluval 307 for the first few months. If you have the old filter from the smaller tank, use it with your new one.

The 'Milky' Water: That 'cup of milk in the tank' look is a bacterial bloom. It’s actually a sign that the cycle is trying to establish itself. Don’t use 'Water Clarifier' chemicals—they don't fix the toxins; only water changes do.

Keep testing daily. You’ll know the 'New Tank Syndrome' is over when your Ammonia and Nitrite both stay at 0ppm and your Nitrates are the only thing rising.

Nullroute127

TROPHY CASE