Rocks turned black!

[Jambaby]

Several years ago we saved a baby turtle in a lake. We brought him home with some rocks from the same lake. The rocks have turned black and I am wondering why? Would it be safe to go to the same lake and get new rocks and dispose of the old ones? Or would this hurt our turtle?

 

[Jambaby]

Several years ago we saved a baby turtle in a lake. We brought him home with some rocks from the same lake. The rocks have turned black and I am wondering why? Would it be safe to go to the same lake and get new rocks and dispose of the old ones? Or would this hurt our turtle?

Should probably also add there’s nothing on them. They are washed and rinsed every time the tank is washed. They’re very smooth they just turned dark black. They’re not pretty to look at, that’s the problem but that’s more of a problem for us rather than (speedy) the turtle. That’s why I’m asking if we should just keep the rocks that we have because if something happened to speedy, we would be heartbroken.

 

[jgrandmont]

Should probably also add there’s nothing on them. They are washed and rinsed every time the tank is washed. They’re very smooth they just turned dark black. They’re not pretty to look at, that’s the problem but that’s more of a problem for us rather than (speedy) the turtle. That’s why I’m asking if we should just keep the rocks that we have because if something happened to speedy, we would be heartbroken.

What exactly do you mean when you say they are "washed"? If you're not actually scrubbing them, I'm guessing that the discoloration is just a bio film that's growing on them. That's a normal occurrence of them being in the water and will not harm the turtle. The same thing happens in lakes. I assume the rocks you brought home with Speedy were from the lake's shoreline and were therefore clean. You can replace the rocks in your tank with more of the clean ones from the lake but the same thing will continue to happen.

 

[JRS]

Welcome to the forum, Jambaby. The other thing that comes to mind is an anaerobic pocket although that will usually have a bad smell and just on the bottoms in areas of poor circulation.

 

[j.w]

and welcome @Jambaby

 

[Jambaby]

What exactly do you mean when you say they are "washed"? If you're not actually scrubbing them, I'm guessing that the discoloration is just a bio film that's growing on them. That's a normal occurrence of them being in the water and will not harm the turtle. The same thing happens in lakes. I assume the rocks you brought home with Speedy were from the lake's shoreline and were therefore clean. You can replace the rocks in your tank with more of the clean ones from the lake but the same thing will continue to happen.

No we don’t scrub them, just wash them with dawn dish soap, but as long as replacing them won’t hurt Speedy we will just keep replacing them! Thank you, so much!!

 

[Jambaby]

Welcome to the forum, Jambaby. The other thing that comes to mind is an anaerobic pocket although that will usually have a bad smell and just on the bottoms in areas of poor circulation.

They don’t have a bad smell and there is circulation and no matter how many times we arrange his rocks and stuff he constantly moves everything!! Thank you

 

[jgrandmont]

No we don’t scrub them, just wash them with dawn dish soap, but as long as replacing them won’t hurt Speedy we will just keep replacing them! Thank you, so much!!

Sounds like replacing them is the way to go. As for washing them with any kind of soap (even Dawn), I would be very careful. I don't know specifically about turtles, but fish are very sensitive to any kind of chemicals. Personally, I wouldn't risk using any sort of cleaner with anything that lives in water.