Question: Ammonia and Nitrate problem

axigeek

axigeek

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Beck
I tested the water and it read the following:

Ph: 7.6
Ammonia: 1.0
Nitrite: 0
Nitrate: 5.0

Tank temp is about 19-20c and I've blocked out most of the sunlight that was going into the tank.
What do I do?
Also, is it normal for axi's to, erm, grab/bite/chomp a lot?
 
Last edited:
Do a large-ish water change- happened to me as well when I was cycling ages ago.

What are they 'grabbing' lol.

not sure why it skips to nitrate. help someone! :)
 
I would either guess your having a mini-cycle, or you have chloramines in your tap water. Did you just do a water change? I'd recommend a water change as well
 
I changed some of the water about 2-3 days ago, but i used pure water. Could be a mini-cycle, if the water gets cloudy, ill change it again. At this stage however, I'm more concerned with the nearby river being full :uhoh:
 
Ah! Are you getting flooded out? Sorry to hear it! Where abouts are you situated?
You are not near Ipswitch, I hope?
Well at least you wont want for water! :D
You didn't use the river water in the last change did you!? (just kidding;))
 
Im in North Melbourne, 2 streets away from the maribyrnong river and no, I didn't use the river water :p It's not up to me yet, but I'm prepared. :wacko:
 
I'm told we don't have chloramines in our water in oz.

How long has your tank been set up?

It either hasn't cycled because it hasn't been long enough, or you are having an ammonia spike for some reason.

Change some water out - test it / change some everyday until it settles.

Having a reading of 5 of nitrates is not a problem 20-40 is ok, change the water to keep it closer to 20

Make sure you are cleaning up any left over food, waste etc

Bren
 
Ok, so, I've changed the water at least once a week and have been getting food out of the tank that my axi doesn't catch when I feed her. She's been thrashing around a lot lately, going to the corners of the tank and either trying to bury herself in the corners, under the filter or she tries to swim further then the glass will let her. I figured it had to be something to do with the water, so I fridged her to calm her down, and have tested the water. It's been about 19-20c temp wise.

PH: 7.8
Ammonia: 4.0
Nitrite: 0.25
Nitrate: 0

Is my tank just cycling?
 
She's definitely thrashing about because of the water! Your tank is cycling. Because you're cycling the tank with the axolotl in there, you'll need to do more than weekly water changes. Every 2-3 days should keep the ammonia level low enough to not be dangerous, but high enough to keep the bacteria growing.
 
I would say at least every 2-3 days, I would test the water once a day, and if you have ammonia change the water. Any ammonia is toxic to axolotl's, and is not good.
 
Ok, thanx for the help. I think she can stay in the fridge for now though, cause its currently 27c outside and its even warmer in my house. I'm tempted to do a complete water change because I've just (finally) bought some sand and some fresh, completely clean and chemical free water. Is it possible to change from pebbles to sand without completely changing the water? And if I have to change all of the water, would it have to filter if it's pure and treated?
 
So far I've just removed all the plants and stuff and the stones and I'm just letting the tank filter with the water that's in it for the moment. Should I rinse the sand b4 putting it in?
 
Yep rinse the sand first. Usually you can do this by putting it into a bucket so it's about 1/2 to 3/4 full then stick the garden hose into it and swirl it around until the water running over the top of the bucket onto the ground is almost clear. Be sure you don't have the water on so hard it's just blowing all the sand out as well. You can do a mini version of this with containers in the kitchen sink or laundry tub it just takes longer and of course would put a heap of sand and what not into your house pipes and drains :happy:

Tip off as much of the water as you can then rinse it one last time with your pure water and you're done.

You shouldn't need to change all the water. Doing so would set your cycle back and likely stress your axie more than needs be.
The dust will settle in time and your tank will be clear again.

Yes you would still need the filter even with pure water as the filter is where the bacteria that will process your axies waste ammonia are trying to set up residence :happy:
You could keep an axie in a tank without a filter but you would be doing near daily water changes to keep the ammonia under control.
 
Ok, I have 2 large containers to put the sand and water in if I need to, but could I just sift the sand using some kind of strainer or sifters under a tap? Thanx so much for answering.
 
You could if you have a fine enough strainer otherwise you would just be losing most of your sand through it. The idea is to remove/wash away the very fine particles (that make your tank cloudy) as well as any chemicals etc. that could be in the sand.

If you have a strainer that has holes smaller than 0.5-1mm then go for it but I'd test it with the dry sand first just to see how much sand you would be losing through the strainer.

I use my strainer the other way around. I sift the sand to remove the larger, greater then 1mm, material and discard it and keep what fell through and rinse that as I can be sure it is small enough not to cause my axies dramas.
 
Rinsed about 8 kilo's of sand twice by hand sifter, tap, large container and pure water. About half of the sand is now in the tank, just letting it settle before I either need to put more in or put the plants and stuff in, clean the filter, top up the water and put the filter back in. Few! The things you do for your beloved axi! :rolleyes:
 
by clean the filter if you mean cleaning the pads do it in dechlorinated water. The beneficial bacteria is not in the water, and all sticks to the objects in your tanks. Removing your pebbles is already removing a source of beneficial bacteria. I would say leave the filter dirty for a week, and then rinse it out in dechlorinated water to get all the junk out and put it back.
 
If by the pad, u mean the spongy thing inside the filter, I cleaned it out already last night. I'm just going to let the tank sit for about 3 days. I've also put some treatment in it to help it along a little, so far though, the tank still look murky, I think it's from the sand. In the mean time, every time I go to even open the lid of my axi's container in the fridge, she swims away from me really fast, like she's terrified. I wonder what I did to make her do to that, she used to swim up to me for food :shocked:
 
I would do some research on the nitrogen cycle. It just helps to fully understand how wastes are converted to the lesser of three toxins(nitrate). You should have no ammonia in your tank if it is fully cycled.
 
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