Small backyard turtle pond help…

[Jillgp]

Hi.
I had a 300 gallon small pond w a painted turtle in it for 5 years. The spring before last, I found two baby red eared sliders and put them in my pond. I really did not expect the red eared sliders to live thru that first winter but they did. Yay! Last spring I enlarged my pond. I made it at least three times larger. Everything was great heading into this past winter. I put sand in the deepest part and small pebbles and a few rocks that they could burrow into to over winter. Around February i started noticing the little green turtles were sometimes upside down, I righted them. Then my older painted turtle was starting to be upside down. Then both the baby RESs died. And now my painted turtle is dead or near dead. I keep putting her on the rocks to sunbathe, then back in the water at night, but I think she is dead or very near it. 😣
Idk what happened?!? I would appreciate any thoughts. But also, I need to know what to do to make my pond safe for future turtles?? Oh ALSO, thru all this, all my goldfish in the pond have been fine. I have a water fall w bio ball filter and 2 air bubblers also.
Thank you!

 

[Yvonne G]

I wish I could help you, but I just don't know enough about water turtles to give advice. I'll send a shout out to @Markw84 and @mark1 hopefully they'll have some words of wisdom.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Have you ever changed the water?
I'd test for Amonia and Nitrate with a simple aquarium test kit. And at the very least change out most of the water while there are no turtles in there.
Turtles create a lot of waste. The water can easily and quickly become very polluted.
Water plants can help.
A good filter does help.
Partial water changes are important too.

 

[Jillgp]

Have you ever changed the water?
I'd test for Amonia and Nitrate with a simple aquarium test kit. And at the very least change out all of the water while there are no turtles in there.
Turtles create a lot of waste. The water can easily and quickly become very polluted

When I had my smaller pond I never did a complete water change and my 5 year old painted turtle was fine. Last summer tho when I enlarged it, it was all new water. I have water iris plants and cat tails. I had water hyacinths last summer, but they all died w winter. The only filter I have is the bio ball filter attached to my waterfall pump.

 

[ZEROPILOT]

When I had my smaller pond I never did a complete water change and my 5 year old painted turtle was fine. Last summer tho when I enlarged it, it was all new water. I have water iris plants and cat tails. I had water hyacinths last summer, but they all died w winter. The only filter I have is the bio ball filter attached to my waterfall pump.

Get one of those ten dollar test kits for an aquarium.
Test your water.
You might find the smoking gun.

 

[TammyJ]

Get one of those ten dollar test kits for an aquarium.
Test your water.
You might find the smoking gun.

What about the fish? They apparently were not affected?

 

[TammyJ]

Hi.
I had a 300 gallon small pond w a painted turtle in it for 5 years. The spring before last, I found two baby red eared sliders and put them in my pond. I really did not expect the red eared sliders to live thru that first winter but they did. Yay! Last spring I enlarged my pond. I made it at least three times larger. Everything was great heading into this past winter. I put sand in the deepest part and small pebbles and a few rocks that they could burrow into to over winter. Around February i started noticing the little green turtles were sometimes upside down, I righted them. Then my older painted turtle was starting to be upside down. Then both the baby RESs died. And now my painted turtle is dead or near dead. I keep putting her on the rocks to sunbathe, then back in the water at night, but I think she is dead or very near it. 😣
Idk what happened?!? I would appreciate any thoughts. But also, I need to know what to do to make my pond safe for future turtles?? Oh ALSO, thru all this, all my goldfish in the pond have been fine. I have a water fall w bio ball filter and 2 air bubblers also.
Thank you!

Can you post some pictures of the pool?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

What about the fish? They apparently were not affected?

Goldfish aren't as effected by poor water quality as some other fishes. And I know very little about the needs of turtles.

 

[Jillgp]

What about the fish? They apparently were not affected?

No. The fish all seem to be fine.

 

[Jillgp]

Can you post some pictures of the pool?

I will post some pics asap. Thx!

 

[Jillgp]

Can you post some pictures of the pool?

Here is a pic I just took this morning. It’s a bit green right now. Those lily pads r fake until I can get my water hyacinths going. And I have a new visitor, a pretty good size frog.

 

[Jillgp]

Here is a pic of my sweet turtles last summer. 😢

 

[TammyJ]

Your pond looks so nice. What kind of sand did you put in it and where did you get it?

 

[Jillgp]

Awwww. Thx. I only wish my turtles were still in there. We used just sandbox sand from Home Depot.

 

[TammyJ]

I was thinking that the problem must be either the sand leeching some toxins into the water or something else making the water bad for the turtles. What were you feeding them and the fish?

 

[ZEROPILOT]

Here is a pic I just took this morning. It’s a bit green right now. Those lily pads r fake until I can get my water hyacinths going. And I have a new visitor, a pretty good size frog.

That's an especially good looking pond

 

[mark1]

how easily can they access the surface ? we had an unusually mild winter, possibly if the water is not cold enough they may have needed to breathe some air , they may have been too lethargic to swim to the surface..... when they're cold sometimes even a hard climb to the surface is too much , they need to be able to walk , or an easy climb to get to the surface .... possibly they drowned ........ painted turtle are very resistant to anoxia , but if they're metabolism is too high, this probably doesn't apply..... i doubt water quality..... may have also been disease ....

 

[Jillgp]

I was thinking that the problem must be either the sand leeching some toxins into the water or something else making the water bad for the turtles. What were you feeding them and the fish?

I got my water tested yesterday and all the levels were fine. 🤷‍♀️ the pet store girl thought maybe a parasite? She said to wait a month before introducing any new turtles into the pond. I also treated it yesterday w beneficial bacteria. My water hyacinths should also be here tomorrow. My new frog looks happy.
I think the sand I used this time is the same sand I used w my original pond… not sure tho.

 

[Jillgp]

I got my water tested yesterday and all the levels were fine. 🤷‍♀️ the pet store girl thought maybe a parasite? She said to wait a month before introducing any new turtles into the pond. I also treated it yesterday w beneficial bacteria. My water hyacinths should also be here tomorrow. My new frog looks happy.
I think the sand I used this time is the same sand I used w my original pond… not sure tho.

I was feeding the turtles pellets for water turtles from pet store along w fish food and dried meal worms and occasionally a live earth worm or two.

 

[Jillgp]

how easily can they access the surface ? we had an unusually mild winter, possibly if the water is not cold enough they may have needed to breathe some air , they may have been too lethargic to swim to the surface..... when they're cold sometimes even a hard climb to the surface is too much , they need to be able to walk , or an easy climb to get to the surface .... possibly they drowned ........ painted turtle are very resistant to anoxia , but if they're metabolism is too high, this probably doesn't apply..... i doubt water quality..... may have also been disease ....

The climbing thing makes some sense, may explain why they were upside down sometimes. But I remember seeing my painted turtle on her log basking around Xmas. We’ve also had pretty mild winters in previous years w no issues. But if I get more turtles I will try to think of a way to let them climb to the surface from the deepest area. That will be a challenge… 😅