question about salt
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Hi all. I got my 1st diamondback this past March…and absolutly love her.. The guy I got her from kept her in brackish water… but did not tell me how much salt to add. All he said was a pinch. is that a teaspoon, tablespoon or??? the Diamondback is about 2-3 inches – I have her in a 40 gallon indoor pond with great filter. I do partial water change every week and a total water change every 2 months… I changed her tub last week..and within days the fish( 2 – 15 inch pleco fish) that came with her dropped dead. She started acting different – not begging for food first thing in morning and hanging out on basking rock all day. The fish that died were raised with this terrapin – so much so that she bonded to them and hid behind them. So they should have been used to the salt. I now have her in her feeding tub with fresh water and turtle is back to normal. So I am thinking I added too much of the sea salt. SO, how do I judge the salt level as to not do this again? Is there a formula? I bought a gravity meter.. but have no idea where the levels should be. Any thoughts? thanks in advance, Billie
#ygrps-yiv-64957468 p {margin:0;}While I have no experience with keeping DBT’s in brackish water, I have always read that they have to be indefinately kept in bracksih water after being exposed to it? I beleive they easily develop deadly fungus…If the turtle seems to be doing OK in freshwater, let it be….but watch for fungus…good luck…if you do end up keeping a freshwater setu, I would love to hear back a few months from now if it worked out
Hi Everyone,.I have two young diamondback terrapins that was kept with a young pleco. Apparently the pleco had not been fed enough (?) and began feeding on my turtles arm sockets at night. After great contemplation as to where the small abrasions were coming from, I spoke with the breeder and in a process of elimination narrowed it down to the pleco being the prime culprit. I immediately removed the pleco and the turtles immediately healed without further incidents. I have read of other terrapins living in wonderful harmony with plecos but just wanted to forewarn others to be on the look out when keeping terrapins with plecos. Would love to hear if anyone else has had similar experiences or have heard of this happening to others? For brackish water, check out this link…http://www.diamondbackterrapin.com/index2.htmlBest of luck! Karen
I have never owned a Common Pleco, but I have had great long term success with Bristlenose Pleco’s. The Bristlenose only reaches 5 inches max as adults and they never get large and lazy like the Common’s do. None of my Bristlenose’s have ever bothered my turtles. I have read that you absolutely HAVE to have at least one piece of driftwood for your pleco’s to “rasp” on……………or they may rasp on your turtles (usually on their shells). It helps to have several caves in the tank as well. Not sure if any of this would have solved your problem, but it has worked for others. As far as brackish water………………I have never had this for my DBT’s, but if you do a google search on “Diamondback World”, I believe this will lead you to Jonathan’s web site and this should answer any and all questions about this. Take care, Jimbo
Hi Billie, Congratulations on the new addition! The specific gravity of brackish water varies from 1.005 to 1.017 so anything in between should be suitable. However, it may be difficult to measure this using some pet shop hydrometers since they are calibrated for full salt water. Plecos are very intolerant towards salt so I’m not surprised that they did not make it. It may not even mean that you put too much salt in the water – just about any amount can kill them. -Stephen C
I’ve been to that site..but didnt find the salt to water ratio…I know it is out there somewhere. As for keeping it in fresh water…that site makes it clear to place terrapin in fresh water at least once week for drinking. It may be possible the pleco just died because of not enough food..even though I gave it plenty of algae tablets and other pleco food(terrapin at most of it). Billie Be kind to dragons, for thou art crunchy when roasted and taste good with ketchup. **Visit me on myspace. http://www.myspace.com/oregonherpaholic **
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