Ammonia spike sick axolotl. Please help!!

DeepSeaMollusc017

DeepSeaMollusc017

New member
Joined
Feb 24, 2023
Messages
11
Reaction score
2
Points
3
Location
America
Country
United States
Hi, I’ve never posted on here before and I’m on mobile so sorry for any formatting errors
The ammonia in my tank spiked, what do I do?
I did a 75% water change as soon as I noticed, and have been doing around 50% daily, I cleaned the decorations and replaced the inner bits to the filter
He’s been sick since around Friday
Ammonia test from today reads around 2 ppm
He’s still not feeling well, I’m really scared. What do I do?
 
Hi,
On the short run, take out your axolotl and tub him as soon as possible, with daily water changes.
Then find the cause of this ammonia spike and correct it :
- is there ammonia (or chloramine) in the water you use ?
- is your filter big enough for an axolotl ? (a filter is expected to convert ammonia into nitrates - your filter doesn't do the job)
- is there uneaten food decaying somewhere in the tank ?
- have you some live fast-growing aquatic plants, which could directly uptake this ammonia ?
- what is your pH value ? (pH can be important to judge the danger of this ammonia)
- once your axolotl is no more in the tank, how long does this spike last ?
 
JM29 said:
Hi,
On the short run, take out your axolotl and tub him as soon as possible, with daily water changes.
Then find the cause of this ammonia spike and correct it :
- is there ammonia (or chloramine) in the water you use ?
- is your filter big enough for an axolotl ? (a filter is expected to convert ammonia into nitrates)
- is there uneaten food decaying somewhere in the tank ?
- have you some live fast-growing aquatic plants, which could directly uptake this ammonia ?
- what is your pH value ? (pH can be important to judge the danger of this ammonia)
- once your axolotl is no more in the tank, how long does this spike last ?
Click to expand...
The water doesn’t have ammonia
No uneaten food
pH is about 7
The filter is big enough I believe, it’s a 20 gallon tank, the filter can be used for up to 30 gallons I believe?
It’s a U2 fluval I think
There’s no plants, as the tank doesn’t have substrate.
He’s really stressed, his mouth is open and sometimes he writhes about a bit. I thought tubbing him would send him into shock?
I can try to tub him, could you maybe point me to some resources on how to do so?
The ammonia spike was caused by the filter getting gunk stuck to it on the bottom, I couldn’t see it so I didn’t notice. :((
Would you recommend I put plants in? Are there plants that can survive without substrate or a light..
Thank you very much for your help
 
Not all aquatic plants need some substrate.
You can successfully grox Egeria densa, Ceratophyllum demersum, Pistia stratiotes (for example) without any substrate.

Now, if you have found the cause and suppressed it, there should be no more problems, but I think plants would have tempered it.
 
JM29 said:
Not all aquatic plants need some substrate.
You can successfully grox Egeria densa, Ceratophyllum demersum, Pistia stratiotes (for example) without any substrate.

Now, if you have found the cause and suppressed it, there should be no more problems, but I think plants would have tempered it.
Click to expand...
I see. I’ll look into good plants to put in there and keep doing water changes, hopefully he’ll bounce back but he’s really really stressed..
🌀~🌀
 
when a filter says up-to for example 30 gallon, it means high substrate low waste like a shrimp tank, this means that with a low substrate high waste tank (ie.. axolotl tank) 10 gallon is the max tank size.
was the tank cycled using the 4ppm method?
the 4ppm method is done not only to cycle the tank but to also ensure that the filtration is able to cope with the ammonia levels produced once the axolotl is an adult.
your filtration isn't large enough for a 20 gallon axolotl tank without other means of ammonia removal ie.. additional filtration, plants etc..
tubbing involves putting an axolotl into a tub that contains cold dechlorinated water, the water needs to be changed daily with water that is dechlorinated before adding, also it is best to have a lid to prevent jumping out (make sure there are air holes)
 
wolfen said:
when a filter says up-to for example 30 gallon, it means high substrate low waste like a shrimp tank, this means that with a low substrate high waste tank (ie.. axolotl tank) 10 gallon is the max tank size.
was the tank cycled using the 4ppm method?
the 4ppm method is done not only to cycle the tank but to also ensure that the filtration is able to cope with the ammonia levels produced once the axolotl is an adult.
your filtration isn't large enough for a 20 gallon axolotl tank without other means of ammonia removal ie.. additional filtration, plants etc..
tubbing involves putting an axolotl into a tub that contains cold dechlorinated water, the water needs to be changed daily with water that is dechlorinated before adding, also it is best to have a lid to prevent jumping out (make sure there are air holes)
Click to expand...
I don’t remember how we cycled the tank, it was about a year ago. I haven’t heard of the 4ppm method, I tried googling it but I didn’t get any relevant results-
I’ll look into getting a better filter
He’s not an adult though, he’s about 3 or 4 inches long head-to-tail
 
wolfen said:
when a filter says up-to for example 30 gallon, it means high substrate low waste like a shrimp tank, this means that with a low substrate high waste tank (ie.. axolotl tank) 10 gallon is the max tank size.
was the tank cycled using the 4ppm method?
the 4ppm method is done not only to cycle the tank but to also ensure that the filtration is able to cope with the ammonia levels produced once the axolotl is an adult.
your filtration isn't large enough for a 20 gallon axolotl tank without other means of ammonia removal ie.. additional filtration, plants etc..
tubbing involves putting an axolotl into a tub that contains cold dechlorinated water, the water needs to be changed daily with water that is dechlorinated before adding, also it is best to have a lid to prevent jumping out (make sure there are air holes)
Click to expand...
Update uh. A grave error may have been made
On Saturday I enlisted the help of my mom in replacing the filter because I wasn’t sure how to
She rinsed the inside with tap water we hadn’t treated. The inside of the filter has the bio rock things that keep the good bacteria colonies
 
normal fishless cycling is done at 1ppm - 2ppm ammonia chloride (dr tims etc..), with axolotls because of the lack of substrate and the high amount of waste (same as over stocked aquarium) the ammonia level is done at 4ppm.
a fully grown axolotl can reach 18 inches (this is rare and most are 9 - 12 inches) so he has a lot of growing to do, males also tend to be longer than females.
 
DeepSeaMollusc017 said:
Update uh. A grave error may have been made
On Saturday I enlisted the help of my mom in replacing the filter because I wasn’t sure how to
She rinsed the inside with tap water we hadn’t treated. The inside of the filter has the bio rock things that keep the good bacteria colonies
Click to expand...
that's bad hopefully not to much damage was done.
 
For reference- how big/plentiful should the air holes be? I cut out like 6 triangles that are like a centimeter or two long
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
General chit-chat
Help Users
  • No one is chatting at the moment.
    There are no messages in the chat. Be the first one to say Hi!
    Back
    Top