Seeking a Mentor

LittleDragon

LittleDragon

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I am hoping to find ONE person with tons of experience to be my mentor as I navigate caring for my axolotl, ESPECIALLY with tank parameter issues and maintenance. I have been working on this tank since August and am continuously running into strange issues. I think it might help to have one person I can go to and troubleshoot with and who will become familiar with what my journey has been like instead of explaining my situation ad nauseam and trying to crowdsource advice every time something is weird. Which is often. Ugh.

Anyone up for it?? 🤓
 
LittleDragon said:
I am hoping to find ONE person with tons of experience to be my mentor as I navigate caring for my axolotl, ESPECIALLY with tank parameter issues and maintenance. I have been working on this tank since August and am continuously running into strange issues. I think it might help to have one person I can go to and troubleshoot with and who will become familiar with what my journey has been like instead of explaining my situation ad nauseam and trying to crowdsource advice every time something is weird. Which is often. Ugh.

Anyone up for it?? 🤓
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honestly, i think that myself, @wolfen, and @Autistic Catholic would be some of the best sources that are regularly online. having just one person's opinion can leave things open to potential bias and mistakes, while a small panel of people can better circumvent those possible issues
 
it is always better to get the opinion of multiple people rather than just one when it comes to axolotls as there is no specific golden rule to raising them.
 
Can anyone tell me why my ammonia and nitrites have spiked just 2 days after putting my axolotl in? I did 3 days of testing, water changes over several days to lower nitrates, dosed ammonia one more time to make sure things were still cycling….and still this has happened. For the second time. I don’t want to tub her again, it’s getting ridiculous. We dod a 75% water change after seeing the spike yesterday afternoon and this morning the levels are right back up.
 
My filter is rated for a 40gal and I have a 20. Is it still possible I need a bigger filter???
 
how was the tank originally cycled?
also what type of filtration is it? ie.. air-sponge, internal, external, hob etc..
it isn't unusual to have a spike as the ammonia is being produced is by the break down of solids rather than chemical, what was the ammonia/ph/temperature level, the nitrites are more of concern though, what was the level? be aware that even though dechlorinator dechlorinates the water it still takes a period of time to do so, so when a large water change is done there can still be chlorine remnants which can damage the bacterial filtration.
filtration wise always make sure that there is a large enough biological filtration and that the water is oxygenated enough, good ph helps ie.. 7.4-7.6, good temperature no lower than 10°c, it is always worth while using bottled bacteria a couple of hours after a water change.
never do a water test straight after a water change as the dechlorinator can cause false readings, always wait until at least 24hrs.
using holtfreters solution will make the water more comfortable and also help to protect from ammonia and nitrite spikes as well as numerous ailments that axolotls seem to be susceptible to.
 
The tank was cycled fishless using fishless fuel as ammonia source, a ridiculous number of bottled bacteria, including fritz and stability. I had a heater in for the first round, but when I had to do a mini re-cycle after the first failed attempt at introducing the axolotl (again after successful 3-day test), I left the heater out and re-cycled.

My filter is HOB technically I believe ( it suctions to the inside wall of the tank). I replaced the flimsy cartridge after the first failure because it was looking shredded but also had a sponge and a second cartridge-like filter from my office axolotl’s rock-solidly stable tank that I gently shook out in the tank water and put back in the filter.

I add bottled bacteria after every water change

Temp has been 62-64F

last PH check done 4 days ago was 6.8

the tank has sand substrate and a few large rocks, a java moss ball and little round java moss carpet thing, a small java fern and a sword plant, I believe? All plants are healthy with no signs of decay. There is an airstone going at all times.

Fern did her first poo in the tank sometime between last night and this morning, I manually removed as much as I could (she loves to flail and stir it all up whenever I go to remove her poos) she is not showing any signs of stress, ate a worm this morning.

This is my first time hearing of holtfreters solution, I will look into it.
 
your ph is bad which is probably why you are having difficulty, use bicarbonate of soda for now to increase the ph slowly to 7.4-7.6 until you get the ingredients to make up holtfreters solution.
with the ph as it is the ammonia break down will be very slow which will cause a reduction in bacteria colony size, on the positive side because of how low the ph is the ammonia is harmless even at high levels.
the ammonia measured is TAN (total ammonia nitrogen, no3 + no4, no3 (free ammonia) is toxic, no4 (ammonium) is non toxic), free ammonia (no3) breaks from ammonium (no4) and is consumed/converted by the bacteria in the filter, ph and temperature can affect the break down of ammonium and therefore can affect the tank cycle.
java moss and fern should be fine with 50% holtfreters where as the growth of the amazon sword will be stunted.
always remember to go through sand substrate regularly with a fork to aerate it and to prevent any anaerobic bacteria growth.
for info on holtfreter see here.. Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity
 
wolfen said:
your ph is bad which is probably why you are having difficulty, use bicarbonate of soda for now to increase the ph slowly to 7.4-7.6 until you get the ingredients to make up holtfreters solution.
with the ph as it is the ammonia break down will be very slow which will cause a reduction in bacteria colony size, on the positive side because of how low the ph is the ammonia is harmless even at high levels.
the ammonia measured is TAN (total ammonia nitrogen, no3 + no4, no3 (free ammonia) is toxic, no4 (ammonium) is non toxic), free ammonia (no3) breaks from ammonium (no4) and is consumed/converted by the bacteria in the filter, ph and temperature can affect the break down of ammonium and therefore can affect the tank cycle.
java moss and fern should be fine with 50% holtfreters where as the growth of the amazon sword will be stunted.
always remember to go through sand substrate regularly with a fork to aerate it and to prevent any anaerobic bacteria growth.
for info on holtfreter see here.. Axolotls - Requirements & Water Conditions in Captivity
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Ok, thanks. Is it safe to dose baking soda with the axolotl still in the tank?
 
yes but do it gradually as it isn't so much the bicarbonate of soda that can cause issues but the sudden increase in ph, bring the ph up to 7 first then leave for a few hours then increase to 7.2 and so on.
 
Ok, here are my levels as of 10 minutes ago. My partner did another big water change today since readings were looking like at least 1ppm of both ammonia and nitrite at noon, which is the same as it was at around 6AM. PH looks like 7.0? This is without having added baking soda.
I also just added filter media from my office tank’s filter.
my newest question is, if the lower PH makes the ammonia ‘safe’ for my axolotl, will raising it with her still in the tank put her in big danger? I would like to avoid tubbing her yet again, but I will if there is no other way.
 

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although the ammonia becomes more toxic at higher ph the level your ammonia is at safe even at 7.8ph and 20°c, the main issue are the nitrites which are bad at any ph/temperature and at 1ppm are double tolerable levels, at lower ph there is a reduction of nitrite break down so a good ph should increase the nitrite breakdown.
the calculator for working out free ammonia is here.. Free Ammonia Calculator and the table to work out toxicity is here.. Your Guide to Ammonia Toxicity - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community
 
Tubbed little Fern this morning 😭.
Ammonia is approaching 4ppm, nitrite 0.25ppm. Ph was about 7.2, added a bit more baking soda and now looking about 7.4.

Is Seachem Replenish comparable to holtfreter’s solution?

Anything else I can do? I am a bit discouraged having this happen twice.

I appreciate all the advice so far
 
seachem replenish has the same minerals and salts as holtfreters + magnesium chloride although the salt level is very low compared to holtfreters and doesn't contain any bicarbonate of soda.
it does look like your cycle crashed by the escalating ammonia levels, whilst your axolotl is tubbed keep the ammonia levels topped up to 4ppm or empty the tub water into the tank when you do a daily water change on the tub (any excess water can be removed prior to adding the waste tub water) this will allow for the bacteria to be fed and cycle the tank without risking your axolotl, make sure to keep an eye on the ph. you may need to add more biological filtration, do you know what the make/model of your filter is.
 
wolfen said:
seachem replenish has the same minerals and salts as holtfreters + magnesium chloride although the salt level is very low compared to holtfreters and doesn't contain any bicarbonate of soda.
it does look like your cycle crashed by the escalating ammonia levels, whilst your axolotl is tubbed keep the ammonia levels topped up to 4ppm or empty the tub water into the tank when you do a daily water change on the tub (any excess water can be removed prior to adding the waste tub water) this will allow for the bacteria to be fed and cycle the tank without risking your axolotl, make sure to keep an eye on the ph. you may need to add more biological filtration, do you know what the make/model of your filter is.
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I would like to figure out why it crashes every time I put the axolotl in even after multiple successful days of 4ppm ammonia and subsequent nitrites converting in 24hrs.

My filter is an Aqueon QuietFlow for 40gal, and I have an extra media pad in it and just added loose filter media from a cycled tank.
 
there doesn't seem to be a lot of biological filtration, perhaps replacing the course sponge with bio-media would increase it.
 
Why would a filter rated for double the size of my tank with extra media in it and a tank with sand substrate and other decorations not be enough? Genuinely asking, because the 40 gallon at my office has less media and is doing great.
 
main difference would be water, this could be different ph kh gh, different amounts of chlorine and chloramines, office tank is established so there would be micro organisms such as algae, unless the office tank is checked regular there could be issues from time to time but the axolotl is more hardy. unless both tanks are set up exactly the same, everything from the water to the lighting, then anything could make the difference.
also what are your nitrate levels.
 
The office tank is probably only a month older than my tank, no algae in it (none has ever grown), I check the parameters at least once a week. My tank actually has algae, haha. It just boggles my mind how uncooperative it has been!
Last Nitrate check was 2 days ago after ammonia and nitrites showed back up, and was about 20ppm
 
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