My problem

[Frog]

My tank is 4 foot long, 1 foot wide and 20 inches tall, with water kept up to 4 inches from the top . I have a little over 1/4 inch of sand on the bottom, hiding places, plastic plants and an internal filter . The temp is 66 degrees F usually sometimes less . 3 axolotls have lived in this tank for 3 months and I had some fish in there before them for about a month . My readings have been ammonia .25 to .50 , nitrite 0, ph 7.6, nitrate 0 . I change 20 % of the water every day if not every other for sure and get rid of the poo when I see any . I would think by this time my ammonia would have dropped to 0 but no it hasn't . I was wondering if any one uses ammonia chips or ammonia filter inserts to remove ammonia ??? My 3 axolotls seem very happy but this tank is driving me a little bonkers . Thanks for any help . Dianna

 

[kclinton]

I have not used the chips in my axies tanl before sorry but I do have another idea. What kind of test are you useing? The stick kind or the drip test? Do you stir up the sand? You might be getting little gas bubble.

 

[Kaysie]

I would do a couple of things. For one, changing that much water isn't ideal. A 20% change once a week is adequate.

Second, I would get a professional reading of both your tank water, and the water going into your tank (tap water?) before and after any treatment. It may be that your tap water contains ammonia, especially if it is treated with Chloramine (amine = ammonia), and you use dechlorinators to remove the chlorine (but this leaves the ammonia).

 

[Frog]

???

I use the test tube kits for testing my water and I thought that if there was any ammonia I was to change 20 % ... Good grief could the pet shop actually be right and I should let things be for a week before testing again ? Yes I make sure to stir the sand while I'm taking water out ... The problem with taking my water some where to be tested is that the closest pet store, which is an hour away, uses the 5 in 1 strip test and they tell me my water is fine ! My tap water comes from a personal well , not treated with any thing .

 

[ianclick]

Hi Frog,

It sounds like your tank is not cycled yet. From what you have said you are doing all the right things. I agree with Kaysie about the water changes though, removing that much water on a ddily basis may be slowing down the cycling process.

The best thing for tank cycling is time. It will happen.

Good Luck

 

[kapo]

I agree with both Ianclick and Kaysie's remarks.

Your tank does sound like it's still cycling (the longest tank I've heard of take cycling is 10.5 weeks).

What I'm concerned about with your readings is there seems to be no nitrIte readings at all, which would show in a cycling tank somewhere especially after 4 months and even with daily or every other day waterchange.

Don't buy the ammonia chip insert, as it won't fix whatever problem is wrong with the tank.

How often do you feed your axolotls and have you cleaned your filter out at all over the last four months?

===

What you are doing sounds right, and I would normally still advise 20% daily or every other day waterchanges, but under these circumstances leave the tank waterchanges a bit longer as Kaysie suggests (do the watertesting though every two days to see if the ammonia levels change and your nitrite starts to rise). Very surprised that you haven't seen a change at all in nitrite, over the period. Even with frequent daily partial waterchanges on our cycling tanks the nitrite levels still rose within a few weeks.

It could be your test kits may be faulty and a bit unfortunate that your nearest petshop is an hour away and they only test using the all in one types!

Keep an eye on the levels, and keep us posted!

 

[Frog]

I'll try

I've cleaned my filter twice , changed the carbon insert pad but only swished the other pads in the bucket of used tank water . I know I probably feed them to often , once a day or every other , they get 3 crickets or 1-2 earth worms each , they sure act hungry . The axolotls are 6-7 inches long . Thanks for the help.

 

[tkromer]

If your tank is still cycling (which it sounds like it is) don't even rinse your filter pads, that's where the majority of the nitrifying bacteria builds up.

If you're really having trouble getting the cycle going, buy some Bio-Spira. Some people have mixed results with this, but it's always worked well for me at jump-starting the bacteria population.

Keep in mind I have limited caudate knowledge but I'm a pretty experienced fishkeeper and the process is the same here. I'd do 20% water changes every 2nd to 3rd day until the ammonia level is down, you really don't lose that much of the good bacteria in the process, but daily is probably excessive.

Hope that helps!


--Tommy

 

[ianclick]

Hi again,

There are many and varied quick fixes available.

The unequivocal best is the natural way, patience and time.

 

[Frog]

Now what ???

Finally !!! I have ammonia 0 mitrite 0 and nitrate between 0 - 5 . I cut back to feeding to every other day . Spot clean any poop I see. Test the water every day , but was wondering : Do I change 20 % water once a week or do I wait till there's a change in the water ??? And when do I start counting the week > From today as it's the first time I've had 0 ammonia or do I start counting the week from when I first started not doing the dailey changes which was last Thursday ??? Thanks again for all the help . I didn't use any thing in the tank to help the cycle just worried and watched .

 

[kclinton]

Change the water once a week it will help prevent water problems. I think start the week from to day.

 

[Daniel]

I think that one day more or less won't be that crucial. Pick a day you normally have most time (maybe saturday...) and start the week with a change of water the next time this day comes