Help - having a swimming frenzy

[laursmustdie]

Kasper is a 6ish month old, leucistic who we've had for a week. I'm concerned as last night & today he is continually swimming back & forth & banging into the tank then floating.

He is in 2ft tank, 38lts water, no filter, sand, plants, rocks, cave, 1/3 of tank with cave is blacked out with cloth.
pH is slightly low at 6.6 so have added some pH up, it's now at 7, I'll add more later.
Ammonia is 0.
We do 20% water changes daily using treated, aged water.
He is still eating, frozen bloodworms once a day.

What's wrong with him & how do we fix it?

All advice appreciated.

 

[iChris]

a over active axie can be a sign of stress or water quality issues.

I would suggest trying not to adjust the ph too much as this will stress axies out, a rapid change in water chemistry is always a no-no when keeping aquaria, but its not that big a change in PH so I don't think its a issue.

ammonia is at 0, but what are your nitrate and nitrite levels at? you said you don't have a filter, is your water aerated? axies have small under-developed lungs so they can breathe small amounts of air. if he gasps, that may be why. what do his gills look like? are they long and flowing, or stubbly and short, or non existent?

temperature is also a factor, they do best under 20 degrees celsius, with 22 the absolute max.

some pictures of your tank and animal would be a great help.

 

[laursmustdie]

Both nitrate & nitrite are 0, ammonia is now at 0.5, when I tested it last night it was 0. How do I lower this?

I don't know what you mean by aireated, is that a bubbler?

We thought his gills looked a bit paler but now not sure if just been paranoid as looked fine in different light. Gills are about 5-10mm & are quite fluffy looking.
Temp is pretty much consistanly just below 18, it occasionally rises to 20 but never any higher.

I can't upload photos from my phone & don't have access to a computer until later tonight but I'll get on it asap.

 

[iChris]

aerated is as in is there any movement of the water in the tank at all? a airstone attached to a pump will achieve this.

as your ammonia is now rising, I would say your tank is not cycled or the cycle has crashed.

 

[laursmustdie]

Ah right..sorry..I'm a 1st timer No I don't have any movement in the water.

Last night I took out 9lts (approx 30%) and put 18lts (ammonia 0) back in so there is now 45 lts in the tank. Ammonia is now 0.5.
I've not added any more pH up on your advice and it's sitting at 7.

He seems to have calmed down a bit but still has small outbursts.

I'm a bit confused about the cycling as I was advised on here that as I didn't have a filter it wouldn't crash? I've probably misunderstood!

Do I just continue with daily water changes or is there other solutions?

Thanks for getting back to me.