Question: Help

[SeanB]

Okay so i have had my Axy (Janus) for a Year.
My water has been cloudy and it will stay that way till i clean it that week.
I dont really Understand the cycleing process, adn i dont think my tank has ever been cycled. I do daily tank clean and at the end of the week I clean the stuff on top of the sand, this takess out 80% of the water somethimes and Im sure putting new water ends the cycle.
I have a 20 Gallon tank with a Bio-Wheel Filter and i change the filter ever 3Weeks, but i clean the slime and muck off after each week.
I feed my Axy live Earthworms, Sometime i kill them with HOT water cause he gets scared of them. Most the time i have to hand feed him the live worms and sometime the dead ones.
I have fake plants and clean them after ever week.
I dont have a chiller and have to use fans to cool my water, sometime find dust in my tank.

So if anyone could help me that would be great!
ThankYou so much!

 

[Shizeric]

Not exactly sure what help you are asking for, but to understand whether or not your tank is cycled you would have to check the water parameters. Do you have a test kit? And once the tank is cycled, you only need to do ~20% water changes weekly. Do remove waste or excess food whenever you see it, and after meals, but the hardcore cleanings are unnecessary.

 

[SeanB]

Yeah i got a test kit

 

[SeanB]

Okay well i have a problem.
Well since i have fans my water levels go low. So I filled my tank up like i normaly do.
Take my 5Gallon bucket, fill it with COLD water from the shower, and pour it in.
I woke up this morning and my tank was cloudy, like i couldnt see nothing, my plants were hidden, the Black sand at the bottom coldnt even be sean.
So i thought it was my filter and replaced it, its been 2 and 1/2 hours since than.
Nothing changed or anything.
What should i do?

 

[Ken Worthington]

Hi,
Treat the water that you replace with something like Tetra Aquasafe first, to de-chlorinate. 80%water change is too much, and the water should be a similar temp to the ambient tank temp. Test the water with the kit and post the results, hopefully we can help :happy:

 

[Shizeric]

Could you provide a picture of your setup? It seems like you are doing a few things incorrectly, and perhaps a visual idea of your setup would help greatly.

When you put water straight from the shower not only is there chlorine and other chemicals in the water that are harmful to axolotls, but the sudden change in temperatures from the high volume of cold water is also dangerous to your Axolotl.

 

[SeanB]

Okay im trying to upload some pictures, The cold water that comes out my shower is the same as the tank.
Ive always done this before and nothing has happen. I tested my waters and everything is good but i have 40ppm NITRATE(NO3-). which is the highest its been.
I didnt do a 80% water change, i just refilled what was lost from the Fans which was like 10%

 

[SeanB]

Okay heres my set up
Im going to take out the plants and put in a more natural look or even live ones
The cave is getting to smal and im going to put a flower pot in for him

 

[Shizeric]

Those tests don't test for chlorine..which is found in tap water and harmful to your axolotl.

 

[Ken Worthington]

Just to add to Shizeric's post, both Chlorine (always) and Chloramine (usually) are found in tap water.

Chlorine is an oxidizer, which burns an axies gills.

Chloramines, on the other hand, pass across the gills of an axie and into its blood, where the molecule attaches to the haemoglobin.......I won't continue

Very poisonous and very easily prevented

 

[Raven01000]

Depending on where he lives, the water coming out of his tap may be well-water which does not contain chlorine. Not everyone has city water.

 

[SeanB]

I live in Jacksonville NC.
Im sure my water does have chlorine.
So should i go buy bottle water? Wait doesnt that have chlorine in it?

 

[Raven01000]

I guess most people have city water, but I didn't think it was right to assume that you did without asking first. And if you had had well-water and didn't know that it was different from city water, then all this business with Chlorine and Chloramine would have made you go through a lot of unnecessary trouble. But since you do...

It's still not a big deal. You could use bottled water. There's an article on it here: Caudata Culture Articles - Bottled Water for Amphibians

However, It would probably be better and less expensive in the long term to buy some dechlorinator to treat your water...I've heard people recommend Tetra Aquasafe on this forum, but it would probably be good to search around before picking any particular product.

 

[Jacquie]

Hi Sean,

If your water board utilizes either chlorine or chloromine, it is ESSENTIAL that these be neutralized (dechlorinator is the most efficient and quickest method of doing this) BEFORE this water is added to the aquarium. Not only do these chemicals endanger the axolotls, but also your beneficial bacteria collonies. The beneficial bacterias are your cycle, they convert Ammonia/Nitrite (highly toxic) to Nitrate (non toxic if kept below 60ppm).

At a guess I would say that your tank has never cycled as every time you are doing a water change using the tap water from the bath without neutralizing the chlorine/chloromine first, you are killing your beneficial bacterias outright. Chlorine and chloromine do not discriminate between beneficial or harmful bacteria; they kill them ALL.

Large collonies of bacteria live in your filter. When cleaning the gunk out of the filter, it's best to use a bucket of the tank water to clean the filter media - this will preserve your beneficial bacteria. If you use the tap to clean the filter media, you will kill the bacterias living in the filter.

Chlorine should evaporate from your water if allowed to sit overnight. Chloromine however will NOT evaporate, and must be removed by use of dechlorinator - there is no other method to get rid of it from your tap water if your water board is using it.

Water quality is most important to your axolotl's health and well being, I would strongly recommend you read these articles (the water quality article also provides further information on chlorine/chloromine):

Caudata Culture Articles - Water Quality
Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling

The link Cassandra has provided on the benefits of using spring water instead of tap water is well worth a read through.

Cycling and everything associated with it can be difficult to grasp. If you have any questions or concerns, please don't hesitate to ask.

Good luck! Please keep us posted.

 

[SeanB]

So i need to get dechlorinator?
Okay well when i do that, is it not safe to use it when the water is active with the Axy?
Would it be best to take water dechlorinator and let set for a litte that drain my tank and refill with the pure water?

 

[nrmns14]

I would think it would be ok to pour into the tank water with your axie in there as I'm pretty sure it's not harmful for him since he'll be sitting in it soon anyway. Just make sure you know how many litres are in your tank though because you need to know how much dechlorinator to add.
However I'm new to all this so I would check with someone else first

 

[SeanB]

Yeah I did my research and went to Walmart and got me AquaSafe dechloramines.
I cleaned out my old water and put new water in, put the AquaSafe in it and put Janus back in his home.
I replaced his cave and seems alitte TICK OFF that i did.
Haha im sure he will get use to the Flower Pot.
I feel so much better and safe now, Im going to Test my waters and keep up with it till its cycled.
Thank you to everyone who put there thoughts in!
Now im getting my experianced i hope to help others too!

 

[Ken Worthington]

Adding the Aqua safe to the water and making sure that its fully dissolved is always better than adding it straight to the tank.....make sure the water in the bucket is a similar temperature to that of the tank (ideally slightly lower as its July)

Good luck, Sean, and I hope to see photos of him looking better soon

 

[SeanB]

Good luck, Sean, and I hope to see photos of him looking better soon

Thanks! He's looking good just im sure over more time he would have gotten sick.

I have some new plans with a Slate bottom, with Driftwood.
I just want to get a bigger tank, but im short on money and space....
Dont really want to do it to my 20Gallon tank