20% water change, please advise

[Twirly]

Hi,
My daughter got her first axolotl two weeks ago, and she is doing really well.
The pet store advised us to do a 20% water change every fortnight, so today's the day, but do we need to treat the water we put back in?
The levels have all been fine so far.
Thanks

 

[Goobs]

Yes, you need to use dechlorinator on the water you put in. Has the tank been cycled? If not you should be doing water changes every day or so until the cycle has finished.

 

[Spudss]

Your readings shouldnt be good after 2 weeks without a water change... since its a new tank a 50% water change every 2-3 days would be best.

Honestly its not easy to get accurate water readings unless your using a proper test kit. I find liquid test kits work well but you need to shake the bottle very well each time you use it. Strip test are very inaccurate.

Always use water dechlorinator , too much chlorine/chloramine can kill an aquatic animal!

Its very handy to know basic water chemisty to understand why you need to do such frequent water changes in new tanks... Here is a good read, Its meant for fish but the same rules apply :happy:!

Free Tropical Fish E-book

 

[Twirly]

Thank you all,
The tank has been cycled, we have been using a proper test kit (my husband keeps fish) so we can test for chlorine, Ph, nitrites, oxygen etc.
The guys in the pet store were very vague to be honest, this site has been a great source of information.

 

[Twirly]

I have just tested the water-

Nitrite is 0ppm
Oxygen is 10ppm
Ph is 7.5
Ammonia 0.25

The ammonia level is too high, any advice?

Thanks

 

[Spudss]

If the tank is cycled you should be getting Nitrate readings... do you have those readings?

The 3 stages of the nitrogen cycle are Ammonia, Nitrite and finally Nitrate. In a cycled tank the bacteria will convert ammonia to nitrite and then to nitrate... You should always have 0 Ammonia in a cycled tank.. 0.25 isnt majorly high but it still should be 0. You can bring it down to 0 with a large water change. 70% would be good.

Ammonia and nitrites are toxic which is why they should always be 0... (only possible in a cycled tank). Nitrates are fine in low levels which is why you need to change the water once a week to keep them low. I always do 50% once a week in all my tanks.

So few Questions to sort the problem out... :happy:

1) How did you cycle the tank and for how long?
2) What kind of filtration are you using?
3) Are you getting any Nitrate readings?

If your Ammonia level is 0.25, Nitrite 0 and Nitrate 0 it means your tank most likely isnt cycled .

 

[Twirly]

The kit I have doesn't have a nitrate test.
I'm going to do a large water change today.

 

[Coastal Groovin]

If you have kept a Community tank of fish successfully you already know how to take care of an Axolotl. The only important difference is you really need to keep the water much cooler than the 78 degrees you would keep the water for tropical fish. Keep it between 60- 72 and you should have a very happy and healthy axolotls. Small more frequent water changes 10-20% once a week are always better than large 50%-100% once a month water changes which can send you Axolotls in to PH and Temp shock. Also stay away from the water conditioners that contain " slime coat enhancers". Axolotls are not fish and do not need it. Feed adults 2 garden worms 3-4 times a week and all should be good.