Ammonia help

The water is still cloudy and just done a 2nd water test,levels are still high, apart from ammonia which seemed to of died down.
 
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Im not sure about what you should do now :/ the cycle is so confusing... on websites i see for axolotls nowhere ever emphasizes on cycling the tank, so many people have trouble with it, so glad this forum exists to help everyone out :). and yep you definatly have my axolots siblings thats really cool :) i didnt get to see the pond but we spoke about it... What color axies did you get, did you get all three the same? i need to have another look at the pictures of them... :)i spoke to her a couple of days ago and she said shes having trouble selling the rest, i dont know how she does it :/ but they are so cute... i think its great are axolotls are related :) More pictures lol... Hope you get the water sorted out :)
 
If the ammonia level is decreasing but nitrites and nitates are high then I would assume that then the "ammonia-to-nitrite" bacteria have kicked in, and that the "nitrite-to-nitrate" bacteria have yet to get established properly. (Given a constant input of ammonia). I might be wrong though, hehe

Follow Steve's advice on water-changes, and make sure any water you add is of roughly the same temperature as the tank water.

What is the pH of the tank water, also, what readings do you get from your fresh (treated) tap water before putting it in the tank?

PS. Wouldn't it be nice to have a thread based on axolotl family-trees from the owners in their various countries? :happy:
 
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As Ken has said, it sounds like you are getting there slowly. Cycling is a long process. My tank is officially cycled today. No problems!

It can be done :)
 
Cycling a tank properly may seem like a long time, depending, but a very short time in relation to the life-span of the animal.

(In a quite surreal way, I like the idea that a tank may take a matter of weeks, going into maybe two months before it is fully cycled, because that gives the owner so much time in which to research the care of the animal.)

Please keep posting the readings for the water each day.....you'll hopefully be rewarded with plenty of good advice! :happy:

All the best
 
vampybabe said:
My light kicks out alot of heat and im having trouble keeping the temp down as it is :(
Click to expand...

One idea, maybe or maybe not useful ... is there any chance you can replace the bulb of your light with an energy saving one? The energy saving bulbs give out hardly any heat and are still good for plants.
 
... just make sure that there are dark places in your tank for your axies to get out of the light if they want to. Some caves made out of slate are good. I also use a timer plug to turn the lights on and off automatically, basically its a plug with a sort of clock on it which turns the power on and off.

Other than that, have you read this? Very useful info here Axolotls - Housing in Captivity
 
HI
Well, this morning the water is alot less cloudy which is a relief, the ammonia levels have dropped to nothing but the nitrite and nitrate are still a relatively dark pink, they dont seem to have changed much from last night :(
I will have a look at led lights, the other half likes the mini spot ones that sit under the water, im not sure if these are any good though?
At the mo they have a big skull to hide in as a cave and a couple of bridges with plastic plants that they seem to like to sit under. Moomin especially likes to sit under the filter, no idea why?
I am going to do another water change later on today, say about 20% Ive now got about 15lts of treated water sat next to the tank ready to use. My regular tap water readings come out fine, ph is around 7.5, ammonia and nitrite/nitrate levels are all low too. Would anyone recommend the stuff that speeds up the cycle because Ive got a bottle of it, says it has friendly bacteria in it?


Hayley, awesome. :) Ive got a wild one called twiglet and then moomin is pinky white with little black speckles and blue eyes and then evo is a yellow/orange colour. I love the fact they all have their own little personalties. Im surprised Rachels having trouble selling them but then I know she wouldnt want them to go to just anyone. Id love little babies one day when mine are grown up but I dont think I could sell them, Id want to keep them and then would end up with tanks everywhere :)
 
I have no idea abou the parameters :confused:... But iv noticed Silkey likes to not really sit but swim towards the water coming out of the filter, i think he/shes training for the axoolotl swimming olympics...:rolleyes: Silkeys got loads of black speckles now, never did have but got more and more aas he grew... I just looked at your pics and i can see evo, i was going to get a golden one but my tank wasnt big enough :( but the two i have keep me more than happy :D... Id like babies too but i think i would have my work cut out for me maybe just one baby :rolleyes:... I hope mine are the same sex, i wouldnt want them breeding being brother and sister.... But i would definatly have more if i had more tanks or would i im not sure :rolleyes:... How big are your axolotls atm, mine look really big now in the pictures but your look really small but them mine dont look that big when i look at them normally :rolleyes:...
 
Ive got a pipe coming off my filter to slow the water flow down and Ive aimed it towards the tank wall so they dont really swim around that, they are really active though, evo loves to do lengths of the tank but the only way he stops is when he head butts the wall, you would think he would learn. Maybe axolotl racing will be the next big thing. I was only ever intending to get 2 but rachel wanted to sell them as a 3 and Im so glad now because evo is wicked and hes the one I wasn't bargaining on buying.
My guys are still fairly small, they've definitely got bigger in the last couple of weeks tho id say they are about just over 3inch long now. Mt tank is big enough for now but I would like something alot bigger in the next 6 mths because when they start getting bigger there wont be enough room. I saw someone on here has a 6foot tank. that would be great. :)
 
Silkey is really active i could just about get a good picture of him, it was only when he swam into the moss ball i could get a very good picture of him... Mudkip isnt as active just likes to pose and let me take loads f pictures of him... :happy: But mine do the same, doing lengths and then head butts the wall but i always think their going to hurt themselves :uhoh:... Rachel insited i have 3 and i was tempted to get 3 but i thought my tank is just about big enough for 2 let alone 3... If i get a bigger tank in the future which i plan on doing then i would love to get a golden one but for now il just look at everyone elses :happy:... have you tried yours on earthworms, when i started to feed mine earthworms they got really big all of a sudden :rolleyes:... I would love a 6 foot tank :D i dont think my living room ceiling would like though as my dad pointed ot the other day when we was looking at some tanks so maybe ill get a big tank not a huge tank and just have my two :D
 
Ah.. moomins like that, loves to pose. Twiglet does the best poses but as soon as the camera is on him, hes off. must be shy :)
Im ground floor at the mo so I can get a massive tank but who knows where we will move in the future so until Im moved and settled Ill also just stick to a fairly big tank but then its defo as big as I can get tank.
Ooooh no, not given then earthworms yet, ive no garden so would have to dig around in a friends lol theyve just got bloodworms at the moment, got them some mysis but they dont seem too keen. :(
I need to put more pics up, got loads on facebook so should put some of those on.
 
I hate it when that happens, im just about to take the perfect picture and they swim off, i think i need to give them another worm for them to stay still a bit longer... :happy: If you get the worms from the garden make sure no pesticides and that have been sprayed or try and find a bait shop or something or this website Earthworms - Dendrobaena :happy:... Iv seen alot of people give their axolotls bloodworms only even when they are adults so im sure yours won't mind waiting a little while longer for some worms... Try and find some small ones if you dont want to cut them up, i hate cutting mine up.. The small/medium ones on that website are like the perfect size and there kinda fun to feed to my axies... Better than cutting them up :(... More pics sound great :D:p
 
Theres no way I can start chopping up live worms. Yeah maybe ill look at buying some little ones from the fish shop. frozen bloodworms are much easier and they go mental when I put them in the tank :)
Off to do a water change again, hopefully all will be better very soon. :)
 
Yeah i couldnt cut up the worms at first, feeding them the smaller ones is way better... :happy: I hate feeding mine bloodworms they always make a mess even when i tried using feedings jars they got a bit freak out by them :p... How did your water change go, parameters any better?? Just had a look at some more of your pics i love the ones of twiglet hes really cute! :)
 
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Yeah the bloodworm do make a bit of a mess, but my guys are like hoovers lol so not too bad and I tend to try and stop them floating everywhere.
water change ok, disturbs the sand a bit so back to being a little cloudy but that will settle. readings still the same though :(
Awww ta, he is cute, its weird he reminds me of a little cartoon dog the way he acts.
 
Re your cycling.

I would not bother using an enzyme starter liquid - i cycled my tank with the axies in it, and i wanted to make it happen as fast as possible (of course)

So, i did a bit of research into the cycling starter liquids (which basically just dose it with a kick start of the good bacteria you need)

My research showed that there was a small risk of causing a bacterial infection on the axies skin. Some people had told of the skin becoming irritated and peeling, some had fungal issues. Some argued it had nothing to do with the starter.

I took an educated risk and used a starter.

IMHO it was a waste of time and money. Nothing happen to my axies, no adverse reaction at all, but it only reduced my cycle to 3 weeks as oppsed to approx 4 weeks. So i saved 1 week at the risk of the axies health - i would not do it again.

I think you need only a couple of things in your case -

1 throw out the test strips and get a test tube kit - Buy an API test kit online for $40 bucks, any local retailer will have one for $60-70 if you want one today - the strips are unreliable

2 Test everyday and change 20% water early in the cycle and adjust water change to suit later in the cycle

3 Have patience :) I know you are toey to get the cycle finished, but hurry up and wait. It will get there, it's a pain in the butt to change out water every day, but in about 4 weeks you will have a eureka moment when you realise every thing has settled perfectly!

I'd also get a water hardess test kit. i only got one this week and my water was very very soft. 3 days later all settled to the right hardness. given you are not to far from where i live, your tap water might be a bit soft like mine

Readings when cycled should be amm 0 , Nitrites 0 , nitrates <40, ph 6.8 - 7.6, Gen hardnes 140 - 180, temp 16-20 celc

When your nitrates go over 40 do a water change. I still test my tank once a week, i'll probably drop that off to once a fortnight soon as it has settled pretty well

bren
 
Hi
Ah cool, I wont bother with the conditioner then, thank you for letting me know. They all seem happy enough at the moment, Ammonia levels still 0 but im doing tests everyday before the water change to check and the nitite levels still seem a bit high. Ive got one of those mini master test kits with the test tubes, did have strips originally but got the proper kit just before I got the axies. Im fairly lucky water wise as I live in london so we have hard water, well, ill rephrase that.... im not lucky, the axies are lol.
I wish there was some sort of digital kit on the market rather than holding up test tubes to try and guess a colour match.
 
If your Amm is 0, and you are getting high nitrite readings, you are well into the cycling.

Here is my version of the cycle -

1 Animals & plants create waste. Waste = Ammonia

2 When ammonia is present, a naturallly occuring bacteria eats it. Bacteria A cretaes waste. Waste = Nitrites

3 When nitrites appear, another naturally occuring bacteria appears. Bacteria B creates waste. Waste = nitrates.

4 Plants use Nitrates and create waste - see step 1

So, if you have 0 amm and are starting to see nitrite readings, you are on the way.

Now the nitrites are there the nitrate forming bacteria will appear.

Now just keep the ammonia and nitrite levels down with water changes, and wait for the nitrate spike.

When the nitrate spike happens, the cycle is complete.

You only then have to keep the nitrate level below 40 by using plants and / or water changes.
 
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