Mold in Turtle Tank (How to Get Rid of and Prevent)

Mold is one of the worst things that you can see in a turtle tank. And you want to get rid of it as soon as you see it, otherwise, it can easily make you and your turtle sick. So what is the best way to get rid of mold?

There are numerous ways in which you can get rid of the mold in a turtle tank, the most officiant and less harmful are hydrogen peroxide and heat treatment. After you remove the mold from the tank, you have to maintain it clean in order to prevent the mold from reappearing.

Getting rid of the mold itself is the easy part, the slightly harder part is preventing it from reappearing, and in order to do that, you first need to know how the mold got there in the first place.

What Makes Mold Appear in a Turtle Tank

External Objects

The number one reason why mold appears in a turtle tank is external objects like rocks, decorations, substrates, and plants.

Even if you can’t really see it, a lot of objects have small mold particles on them, especially those taken from the outdoors. And when you put them in the tank, those small particles of mold will start to quickly multiply and fill your tank with mold.

Mold needs certain conditions in order to grow, and in the wild mold will rarely find the ideal conditions, but this doesn’t mean that it isn’t there, it just didn’t grow yet.

So whenever you want to add something new to the tank make sure to disinfect it first. The best way to do this is to put it for 5 minutes in a pot with boiling water. You can also use soap or cleaning products, but you have to make sure that you clean them very well after, as you don’t want to add soap or any chemicals to the turtle tank.

In the case of plants, which can’t be boiled or washed with soap, my suggestion is to only get them from pet shops. Plants sold in pet shops are grown in a controlled medium so no mold or harmful bacteria can grow onto them.

Inadequate Filtration

If you didn’t add anything new to the tank, but mold still appeared, then you definitely have a problem with the filtration system.

When turtles eat in their tank, they will leave small food particles floating in the water, and after a while, if left there, those particles will start to produce mold.

Another contributing factor is that turtles use the tank as their bathroom, so all their excrements will remain in the water, and while those excrements won’t produce mold, they will definitely help it grow faster.

All of those things, and even more that I didn’t mention, can be easily kept under control with a water filter.

You most likely already have a water filter in the tank, but just any water filter won’t do, you need to have one that is powerful enough to keep up with the mess that your turtle makes.

Filters are rated based on how much water they can cycle, so we have 20-gallon water filters and 60-gallon water filters. The problem is that most of those filters are rated for fish tanks, not for turtle tanks. And the amount of mess a fish mess doesn’t even compare to the mess a turtle makes.

For a turtle tank, you should get double the power that the tank needs. So if you have a 40 gallons tank you should get a filter that is rated for 80 gallons, not for 40. If you have a 60 gallons tank then you should get a 120 gallons water filter, not 60.

You can always go higher, this will only keep the tank clean for longer. But going lower will usually mean that you will have to clean the tank a lot more often, and mold will start to grow soon.

You can find my recommendations for the best water filters on the Recommended Gear page.

Now that we covered why the mold appeared in the first place, and what you can do to stop this from happening, let’s see what you can do to get rid of the mold.

How to Get Rid of Mold

Regardless of how much mold you have in our tank, you have to clean it completely, if even the tiniest mold particle will remain in the tank it will grow back again. There is no other way.

The first thing that you want to do is fill a container with water and let your turtle sit there while you clean the tank.

There are a lot of chemicals out there that can get rid of mold, but ideally, you want to use as few chemicals as possible, so my advice is to boil everything that can be boiled, this will get rid of all possible mold.

And what can’t be boiled, like the tank, you can wash it with Hydrogen Peroxide, which is harmless but will get rid of the mold. After you are done cleaning the tank, make sure to wash the Hydrogen Peroxide with warm water. While it’s not harmful to us or to turtles, it can stop the good bacteria from developing in the tank.

One more important part that is often forgotten, but it’s important to clean is the water filter. Normally you don’t want to clean the filter since it has a lot of good bacteria that help the water and the turtle, but right now you need to make sure that you get rid of the mold.

After you are done cleaning the tank, you should also clean your turtle, you can do so by using a very soft toothbrush (most kids’ toothbrushes are soft enough) and water.

If there was mold in the tank when you removed your turtle, there is a good chance that some of it might have gotten on its shell, and you don’t want to put the mold in the tank.

Final Thoughts

Mold is the last thing tha you want to see in any place, as it can cause a lot of problems. But thankfully it can be pretty easy to get rid of it.

But just getting rid of it once is not enough, you have to make sure that it won’t appear again. If you didn’t add anything new to the tank in the last month then the problem is definitely the filtration system. And you need to get one that is able to keep up with the mess that your turtle makes.

And in case you have problems keeping your tank clean I would recommend you to check out my article: How Often Should I Clean My Turtle’s Tank? (Beginners Guide), here you will find a beginner-friendly guide on the thing that you need to do in order to keep your tank clean with as little effort as possible.

Common Questions

How often do you have to clean out a turtle tank? A good practice is to clean the tank once a week. But if you want to be more precise you can always buy a water ph test that will tell you exactly if the tank needs to be cleaned or not.

Why does my turtle tank get dirty so fast? Usually, turtle tanks get dirty too fast because the tank is too small or the water filter is not powerful enough.

Can you clean a turtle with soap? No, you should avoid using any kind of cleaning product when you clean your turtle. The chemicals inside them can harm the turtle.