Mississippi Map Turtles And Algae

[mrsbusy06]

I know this is a place for fish, but i am looking for help i have 4 mississippi map turtles in a 241Lt tank. since we got the turtles we have had problems with the algae. it has grown on the turtles back. (which i heard doesnt harm the turtles and infact in the wild they have it on them to camoflage them in the water) but its growing really bad in our big tank. it wasnt as bad in the smaller tank. we cleaned it all out yesterday, but i am sure its going to return before long. i have some algae treatment but it says for fish in cold or tropical tanks. but it doesnt say anything about use with turtles. i dont want to harm my turtles by putting in something that they may react badly to. as its obviously a strong chemical. turtles are different from fish. so i want to be sure about what i put in.
I have not found any products out there that can treat alage that is made for turtles. can anyone help offer some advice or point me in the right direction???

 

[RadaR]

What filter are you using?
How much light does the tank have over it?
Turtles are messy. I'd say that their waste was the cause of the algae. Not the Nitrates, but the ammonia that is being leached from their waste. Yes your test kit may well say "0" but that's actually impossible. There are levels of ammonia in the tank, not high enough to harm fish etc but enough to cause algae.

 

[ilovefishies!]

I know this is a place for fish, but i am looking for help i have 4 mississippi map turtles in a 241Lt tank. since we got the turtles we have had problems with the algae. it has grown on the turtles back. (which i heard doesnt harm the turtles and infact in the wild they have it on them to camoflage them in the water) but its growing really bad in our big tank. it wasnt as bad in the smaller tank. we cleaned it all out yesterday, but i am sure its going to return before long. i have some algae treatment but it says for fish in cold or tropical tanks. but it doesnt say anything about use with turtles. i dont want to harm my turtles by putting in something that they may react badly to. as its obviously a strong chemical. turtles are different from fish. so i want to be sure about what i put in.
I have not found any products out there that can treat alage that is made for turtles. can anyone help offer some advice or point me in the right direction???

Try barley straw, barley extract, or bark dust! [bark can be from trees in your backyard]

I learned [from research] that they work to prevent algae from receiving the nutrients it needs to grow. I'm doing this research about reducing algae growth for a project, and it'd be great if you could help me out by taking this quick survey. Thanks so much! http://bit.ly/algaesurvey

 

[RadaR]

The best way to stop algae is to prevent the spores from being triggered in the first place.
The spores are the first stage of algae and need only two things, light and ammonia. Without these there can be no algae, period, no matter what the nitrates and phosphates levels are. Nitrates and phosphates do not trigger the algae spores because the spores do not need them, therefore no matter how much of these nutrients there is in the water, an excess wont trigger algae.
When the spores flagellate though (next stage), then yes nitrates and phosphates can FEED the algae however they are not the cause of it, the ammonia still is.
No ammonia (or as little as we can make it), then no spores. We achieve this simply but performing water changes and/or with a combination of zeolite. Zeolite absorbs ammonia. Put it as the last stage of filtration so that the nitrifying bacteria has first dibs on any ammonia.
Less light makes it harder for the spores as well.

 

[Davo86]

Whats your maintenance regime like? and what filtration do you have?

Hefty external filtration (8-10x turnover), a minimum of one 50% weekly water change (and possibly the addition of a uv steriliser) should be the minimum requirements for such messy creatures and should really be enough to prevent bad outbreaks of algae.

 

[FishStrings]

Turtles tend to pee often raising ammonia levels allowing algae to feed. Try an ammonia neutralizer or add a second filter.