My Yellow-bellied slider home!

Question
I have 2 yellow-bellied slider turtles that I bought in FL. One is approx 2 inches long & the other about the size of a half dollar if that. I have fallen in love with my turtles and now refer to them as my babies. I have them in a doggy wading pool from Petsmart with pea gravel layered in the bottom of it. There is a large rock and a pretty good sized twisted log that we purchased for them for basking. They seem to love the live plants & all the random hiding spots they have now. I have a filter for them and a heating stick. I clean my filter every 2 days because it is kind of small for what I have and I do a 50 % water change every week sometimes 2 to 3 times a week because of this white filmy layer that lays on top of the water. It is nasty and it gets caught up on my turtles and leaves this white goo. I immediately get them out of there when I notice it acting up, but I was wondering what the white goo is & how I could possibly prevent it from happening. And if the turtles pond does get kind of gross with it will it harm my turtles?! Now my second question. I have two 2 inch long sucker fish and a 4 inch long sucker fish in there with my turtles and I was wondering if you think that is a good idea? Also turtles LOVE the eggs from a pregnant ghost shrimp!! Mine had a field day when the ghost shrimp had her babies. I feed mine cherries, apples, bananas (they LOVE) & I was wondering if that was ok. I hope so because they sure do enjoy the fruit. Also I buy ghost shrimp and they don't eat them, but if one dies they will eat it right up so that is ok too right? Is pea gravel ok to have in there? Ok so my questions are 1.) What is the filmy white layer that gets on top of the pond water & is it harmful if my turtles get into it? 2.) Are sucker fish ok? and is feeding my turtles dead ghost shrimp ok? 3.) Is pea gravel ok for them to live in? 4.) Fruit is ok to feed them right? Thank you so much for taking the time to read this. I wish you could see pictures to what I have that way you could get a better idea of what I have. It is my crazy idea gone overboard in my living room. :-) Take care & God bless ~Deidra~

Answer
1. Film- this is probably a layer of fats, proteins and stuff from the left-over foods and wastes from the turtles. It is kind of nasty and smelly, but should not hurt the turtles. it IS a sign that you should look at either a bigger or more filters.

2. Fish and shrimp- no problem!

3. Pea gravel is OK, but it makes more work for you. Food and wastes will hide in the gravel and you have to work harder to get it out. Personally, in a set-up like yours, I would have a few flat rocks scattered on the bottom of the pool, and live plants in underwater pots with most of the tank floor being bare.

4. Fruit is really not very OK. They cannot really handle the sugar well- they just don't eat fruit in the wild, so did not evolve to need it.

A great site to try is http://www.austinsturtlepage.com Be sure to check out their forum as well and share your experiences with other turtle lovers!