white powder look in tank

Question
QUESTION: I have two young red-eared sliders.  They seem happy and healthy but there is a white powdery type film that I'm seeing on both the turtles shells and the rocks and other stuff in the tank.  Is this simply from hardwater or something else?  What treatment options do I have.  It does now sound like the fungus that I've read about, it's not stringy or fluffy.  Is simply looks like chalk.

ANSWER: Hi Angie,

One clue to knowing if it's hard water or something else is that you'd see the staining at the waterline and not under the water, since hard water is caused by dissolved minerals that would show up as deposits as the water evaporates.  If it's hard water, you could scrape it off with your fingernail or something similar; fungus would just wipe off.  When you break down the tank, you can clean hard water deposits with vinegar (rinse thoroughly), but they're not harmful.  It sounds like it's probably hard water to me, but if after reading this you think it's something else, post back and we'll see what we can figure out.

---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: After your reply, I do believe it is hard water.  I do not see the white stuff on any part of objects that are under the water.  I can see it on the turtle shells a little bit but not like when they are out of the water.  Should I clean their shells with vinegar too or just leave them the way they are?  Would adding aquarium salt or table salt help with the hard water?  Thank you for your help

Answer
I wouldn't use vinegar on their shells.  If you can resolve the hardness issue, the turtles will eventually shed their scutes and their appearance will improve.  Here's a link to information on water quality issues and some things you can do to change the hardness.  Good luck!

http://www.redearslider.com/water_quality_issues.html