Cloudy water over night

[axys]

So i have 2 20 gallon tanks. Over the summer i took care of someone elses axoltol and kept it in tank A. Never had any coudiness issue, water parameters were always fine and i only had to do 20% water change for every week. It stayed clean and well maintained and wht i would call an axolotl owners dream tank. i returned the axolotl when i got back to school after a few months, i didnt empty or scrub the tank, i just let it sit without any aquatic creatures in it for about 3 weeks knowing tht it was well established. This saturday i got a new axolotl. for the new axy i also got a new tank bc tank A was kind of getting old, the new tank can be called tank B. Unfortunately i did bunch of research and seems like followed some poor advice from other sources and added the quick start live bacteria culture by api into tank A along with some ammo lock. this was a week before the axolotl arrived home with me. i was working on cycling tank B (new tank) so i ended up putting the axolotl in tank A (old, already cycled one). The first 4 days went good, axy healthy and active. Switched her to earthworm from pellet 2 days ago. Yesterday she started to throw up the live food i fed it about 5 hours after eating it. This was last night. I cleaned up wht she threw up. Earlier tht day i had checked the water parameters and everything was as it should be. later at night around 9-10 i noticed the tank was starting to get a little cloudy but i didnt make much of it at first. when i woke up at 6am she had thrown up some more food over night but wht caught my attention is tht the water clarity went from okay to HELL over night. i mean i cant see more than 2 inches past the glass. along with tht the ammonia levels jumped from 0 to 8... as soon as i noticed tht i took the axolotl out of the tank and put it in a container with declorinated water i keep around just incase.

thts the background. it all pretty much happened over the course of one night from wht i can tell and she did not throw up enough to make the water as bad as it is right now. im wondering if the addition of the quick start bacteria made the microenvironment crash? bc from another thread here someone told me tht that quick start solution contains the wrong type or way too much bacteria. Any advice or explanation would be really appreciated. I had the impression tht ammonia build up and cloudiness was suppose to be more gradual than sudden so if someone has a clue as into whts going on with my previously cycled tank I need to hear it.

also im wondering wht i should do now? should i completely empty and scrub and recycle my tank A? and should i put my axolotl in tank B tht has only been cycling for few days which i know is not nearly enough. i dont think keeping the axolotl in a smaller container till the cycling is done is a good idea but idk. this was just very very unexpected especially in a tank tht never had a single cloudiness problem ever.

last thing tht might be worth mentioning is tht i switched to a new filter bc the old one broke. I figured this would be ok bc the tank itself was cycled

 

[axys]

also does anyone know wht those small dots that are all over my tank are? the on sticking to the glass? just noticed it when i started to empty out the water[

 

[keiko]

Did you have any living animals in tank A between the two axies? Or did you add ammonia? If not then the bacteria would have died because they had nothing to eat. Meaning the tank wasn't cycled when the second axie arrived.

Did you use the old filter media in the new filter? If not the you don't have any of the good bacteria in the new filter. There's some on all the surfaces in your tank but most likely not enough to keep the tank cycled.

Right now I would suggest keeping the axie in a separate container with daily 100% water changes. Honestly that would be easiest for both you and the axie. The other option is to do fish-in cycling, but that means you have to test the water very often and do big water changes daily to keep ammonia and nitrite under 0.5 at all times. That way the cycling will take a lot longer than if you do it with out animals in the tank.

 

[axys]

no i did not have any animals or ammonia during tht period, and when i replaced the filter i bought a different kind so didnt think about somehow transferring the bacteria over to the new filter. so u are right tht probably explains why the bio filtration is not working.

i dont think i can do cycling with the axolotl in because the ammonia levels spike as soon as i put her back. I did a 90% water change yesterday (ammonia rose to about 8ppm over night) and after putting her in, in a few hours it started to get fairly cloudy again (not as bad as the first time) so i have her in a smaller container right now.

The first axy was my bio teachers and she currently has her in a well established tank so im going to ask her if i can house mine in her tank aswell. planning on buying some sort of mesh to split the 20g into 2 parts bc both the axys are in the "cannibalism" size and i just dont think its worth taking a chance on one of their limbs being eaten.

i was going to keep her in a smaller 3 gallon container but she kind of looks stressed about being put in and out of environments so hopefully the split tank will be an ok option for now.

I have been re reading on cycling to refresh what i remember from couple months past while setting up tank A and it talks about "seeding" the new cycle. i can get one of the bio teachers established filter media when she does a change and where should i put it? i know it sounds weird but since they are completely different types of filters i cant just put it in the filter itself. should i just leave it in the water for a few hours and hope tht the bacteria transfer or rub it on my filter substrate?

lastly im planning on getting a 2-3 barbs for the fish in cycling because im a little afraid about messing around with liquid ammonia. i know that can take longer to cycle but will that make for more stable ammonia levels during cycling? currently i got it to drop to about 6ppm

thanks u for ur advice thus far, it has helped me understand better wht i saw as a mystery earlier!

 

[keiko]

If you can put your axie in your teacher's tank while you're cycling then that would work great as long as both axies are healthy.

I'd really suggest doing the fishless cycling. It is very easy and you don't have to worry about any animals getting harmed in the process. Ammonia will harm even the hardiest fish out there. For fishless cycling all you need is pure ammonia (from a hardware store or something like that) and a water test kit. Add ammonia so that the level is about 4ppm and then test daily to see when it starts going down. Once it starts going down you know you have some of the bacteria in there using ammonia and producing nitrite. Then you need to start adding ammonia daily to keep the level at about 4ppm. Nitrite starts going up and eventually you get bacteria that uses the nitrite and produces nitrate and you're almost done. Keep adding ammonia (4ppm) until the cycle is strong enough to change the 4ppm ammonia into 0 ammonia and nitrite (all nitrate) in 24 hours. It won't matter if you dose too much ammonia because there isn't any live animals in there and you only need to do water changes if the nitrates get super high, and once the cycle is done and you're about to put your axie back in there.

Edit: And about the seeding material. If you can't put it in your filter then it helps even to rub it in your filter media or "washing" it in your tank and leaving it in there for a little while. It won't instantly cycle your tank, but it'll speed up the process a bit.

 

[axys]

if thats the case i will do fishless then. since right now my ammonia levels are at 6ppm should i just do some water change to get it down to 4 or as long as its above 4 its good?

 

[keiko]

I don't think you need to do a water change right now. But I'd suggest testing ammonia regularly (daily or every other day at first) and if it starts going up then there are some wastes in the tank and it might be good to clean it out so it's easier to control the ammonia level. With fishless cycling it doesn't really matter that much if the ammonia level is precisely at 4 or not. That's why it's so easy. But once the cycle can get rid of 4ppm ammonia (and the nitrite) in a day then there's enough bacteria to take care of the wastes that an axie would produce.

 

[axys]

i got a a tank divider and tomorrow morning am taking the axy to my teachers tank. Just checked the water and its down to 1ppm, assuming thts because of the 90% water change i had done early yesterday. i added a small amount of fish flakes to increase ammonia a little. now if the hardest part, i sit and wait.
Thank u again for all ur help and information! u really have been a life saver