Jibas Mom
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Hello everyone and ty for taking the time out to read our post. My little axolotl came to me a little over a month ago. I had a fully cycled tank and things were alright. I did all the care by the book (50% water changes weekly and use seachem prime). What I noticed about 2 weeks ago is the water turned white. I assumed it was a bacterial bloom and it would go away. Also, in this time I began to get what I am guessing is algae as it was white and stringy hanging on my tank sides and artificial plants.
So.. here's where I have some questions. The sponge didn't seem to be doing a good job (and for the record, i did squeeze it out and clean it with tank water). I dealt with tiny worm decay (bloodworms) that I couldn't always get with the turkey baster and it wasn't doing a good job with missed poops (I do my best to use a turkey baster every day but if Jiba stomps on it or I miss it is what I'm referring to). Once the white cloudy stuff got all over that sponge filter, it was pretty much done. I disposed of it (though I know it had beneficial bacteria), it seemed to also not work effectively. So for 24 hours, I left it in there while replacing with an Aqua One.
Long story short, every parameter is now reading beautifully, minus the 2.0 ppm of ammonia. I still believe in my heart the sponge wasn't functioning as intended as the water is clearing up already with the Aqua One. To reduce the ammonia, I was thinking of every other day 50% water change. I know my tank is basically having to start the cycle over. We had to use a lemon/salt paste to scrub all this white gunk off the artificial plants, the filter is new, and we had to scrub the algae or whatever this white cotton stuff is. The axie is still eating, still interactive, and overall doesn't look stressed, but 2.0 cannot be good. Will the every-other-day water change at 50% be a good solution?
Thanks!
Jiba's mom
So.. here's where I have some questions. The sponge didn't seem to be doing a good job (and for the record, i did squeeze it out and clean it with tank water). I dealt with tiny worm decay (bloodworms) that I couldn't always get with the turkey baster and it wasn't doing a good job with missed poops (I do my best to use a turkey baster every day but if Jiba stomps on it or I miss it is what I'm referring to). Once the white cloudy stuff got all over that sponge filter, it was pretty much done. I disposed of it (though I know it had beneficial bacteria), it seemed to also not work effectively. So for 24 hours, I left it in there while replacing with an Aqua One.
Long story short, every parameter is now reading beautifully, minus the 2.0 ppm of ammonia. I still believe in my heart the sponge wasn't functioning as intended as the water is clearing up already with the Aqua One. To reduce the ammonia, I was thinking of every other day 50% water change. I know my tank is basically having to start the cycle over. We had to use a lemon/salt paste to scrub all this white gunk off the artificial plants, the filter is new, and we had to scrub the algae or whatever this white cotton stuff is. The axie is still eating, still interactive, and overall doesn't look stressed, but 2.0 cannot be good. Will the every-other-day water change at 50% be a good solution?
Thanks!
Jiba's mom