Illness/Sickness: I think my axolotl may be sick. Please help.

I've just done another water test, the nitrate is 5.0. When I checked saturday I now realise that I stupidly misread the instructions and didn't shake bottle 2 for 30 seconds. Could the nitrate reading have anything to do with them swimming round.
 
Yes, the nitrate will stress them.

Do 2 25% w/cs. So 50% total, or if you do large water changes regularly I would do a 50%. Then tomorrow another 50%.
 
Thanks for your reply. I have been doing 30% water changes every night for the past couple of week because I'm trying to get the ammonia reading down, I was given duff info from the pet shop where I bought them from which resulted in my tank not being cycled, but thankfully I'm being helped by someone fantastic on here and the ammonia is now under control, but I noticed they have started swimming frantically today, following each other round, rubbing against each other, doing laps of the tank and bumping into the tank walls, poor babies. They are both about 6 month old, not sure of the sex.
 
Aw, I do hope that your tank cycles soon so they relax and you don't have to worry or do so many water changes!
 
5.0 nitrate is nothing to worry about. It's actually quite low since it can safely go up to 40. If it was nitrite or ammonia, that would be bad and large water changes would be needed. Nitrate is the end product of the cycle and least harmful of the three (ammonia, nitrite, nitrate). That amount of nitrate after all those water changes you've been doing is actually a good sign that the cycle is starting to work.

Since you didn't shake the bottle the test result might be a little of in that testing and any future testing you do with that bottle. But I don't think that one time would affect too much in the future and since it's just the nitrate it's not that crucial to get an exact result anyway.
 
Do 2 25% w/cs. So 50% total, or if you do large water changes regularly I would do a 50%. Then tomorrow another 50%.
Click to expand...

Just wanted to point out that taking out 25% of the water, filling up the tank and then doing another 25% water change is not the same as doing one 50% water change. It means you're changing less of the dirty water because you're basically taking out some of the clean water too with the second water change.
 
Thanks for that. Liam calmed down after last nights water change, I only did 30%. Before I went to work this morning Noel was still swimming frantically (like he did when my ammonia was high). So I came home at lunch and did a 95% change, I didn't know if I was doing the right thing but it has calmed him down.
 
That's good. I wonder if you used a water conditioner when you did the water change before they started swimming around a lot. It's easy to forget when you're doing a lot of water changes and the chlorine can cause them to act like that too.
 
The readings from this lunchtimes water change was, ammonia 0.5, nitrite 0, nitrate 5 and ph 7.6. The ph has climbed since I last changed it (which was only last saturday) , it was 6.8/7. I'm not sure if that's bad. I did change about 95% of the water at lunch tho.
 
I definitely used the tap water conditioner.
 
I've just been reading up on ph and it says that it's ok up to 8, but ideally around 7.6, would you agree with this. X
 
Yes the pH is fine. If it's changing a lot that can cause some stress too, but it's also normal for it to change while the tank is cycling. Once the cycle is ready it should stay relatively constant.
 
I don't understand why they were swimming around frantically then, especially when the water was ok. What makes it even stranger is that the big water change stopped the weird behaviour. They were constantly swimming and banging into the side of the tank, they were swimming as if they were stressed, it was awful to watch. The water temp is always ok too (it rose a bit last week when I was using the water I had already prepared) but even so I still kept my eye on it and it was never high. Very strange axies. Would it hurt to keep doing 95% water changes each week to keep them happy or would it interfere wth the cycle.
 
You can do 95% water changes, but it might make the cycling process even longer because it brings the ammonia and nitrite level very low (=no food for the bacteria). I'd suggest doing the smaller water changes to keep the ammonia and nitrite at about 0.5, and doing a huge water change if there seems to be something wrong.
 
That's what I will do then. I've just changed the water again and the nitrate reading had dropped, it was between the 0 and 5 reading, the colour didn't match either 0 or 5, it was in between. They are a bit more active again today, but I'm gunna stop stressing about it, the water is ok so it's obviously nothing to worry about, especially if your's do it too. Can I ask, do you have your spray bar above or below water level? I've read different things on that, I've tried a few positions.
 
You haven't mentioned the water volume in your tank. Since you're having so much trouble weeks after the filter sponge replacement (which I'd expect to be at least partly reseeded with good bacteria from other tank surfaces by now), I wonder if the real problem is that they've outgrown their tank. Do you have at least 30 gallons water volume?

If you do, one thing to try, if you haven't before, is testing your clean new water before adding it to the tank. I found out this way that my water conditioner takes more drops than it says on the bottle to get the chloramine out (shows up as ammonia on water test). I was changing with water that still had low levels of ammonia. After adding a bit more conditioner, it got down to zero. I agree that smaller water changes (under 25%) will be less stressful to your animals.
 
I keep the spray bar a couple centimeters below the water surface, but it's really a matter of preference. Try a few different positions and see what works best for your tank. As long as there isn't too much water movement for the axies, it's all fine.
 
I've just measured my tank and it is: length 36 inch, height 18 inch and width 14.5 inch. I was told by the pet shop that the tank would comfortably house 2 adult axies. They are only about 6 month old, It's about 2 thirds full at the moment with roughly 58 litres in. Do you think that is ok.
 
I've just done the test that christine recommended and the ammonia reading was between 0 and 0.25 (nearer the 0). At the moment I only add 1 Api tap water conditioner drop per 3.8 litres of water. Should I add anymore.

It says to remove chlorine add 1 drop per 3.8 litres

To detoxify chloramines add 3 drops per 3.8 litres

If I understand right should I now be adding 4 drops per 3.8 litres?
 
I probably change 25 litres a day. That means putting roughly 25 drops in?!?!
 
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