HELP! What am I not doing right?

[Savvy1985]

My ammonia levels have spiked to between a 1 and 2 for the last two weeks. Ive done a water change, let that go for a week, changed filters, which have been new for about 3 days (so I'm probably putting my cart before the horse) and I even bought ammonia tablets to take down the levels so he could be in the tank safely. I have my axol in a smaller tank nestled inside the larger tank right now (because I'm worried about the levels), since I have a chiller to keep the water at the right degree, but I'm afraid he is going to get depressed in the smaller tank while I'm trying to figure out the ammonia issue.

Help?

 

[Tarabull]

It sounds like to me your tank isn't cycled. You can do two things, have your axolotl in the tank while you cycle or keep it in the small one while it cycles. I prefer to do a cycle without my axolotl in the tank. It goes faster when you add their poop for ammonia and then wait for things to level out. If you keep your axolotl in the tank it takes longer and you need to keep doing multiple water changes. I would advise you to stop changing the filter with a new one. This can kill your cycle. The good bacteria you want will grow in the filter. If the filter is really dirty then just rinse it with your tank water so that the bacteria doesn't die. I can take a few weeks to a couple months to get the water to level out so don't lose hope.