Axolottie
New member
Hello!
So I'm going to try to explain my cycle problem as well as I can, its a long story, but I'll summarize it and I'll explain further if necessary.
Well basically I experienced a tank crash a little over a week ago and I've been struggling to keep my ammonia down. At the initial crash, it read either 4.0 or 6.0, I immediately tubbed my axie who showed no signs of stress what so ever, and did a 80-90% water change which brought it down to around a 2.0, but then it kept rising. So I then removed one plant which I believed was rotting since I didn't have any live animals in the tank and I hadn't been "ghost feeding" (putting fish food in the tank). I was able to get it down to 0.5 for 2 days then it started rising again so I removed my other plant probably 1-2 days ago, all that is left is my decor which are plastic plants or hides and 1 marimo ball and I have left my tank alone since then, no more water changes in hopes by leaving it alone it will just cycle on its own (I believe it was at 0.50 at this point). This morning I tested my water and its either 1.0 or 2.0, but I noticed my nitrate and nitrite basically have been at 0 since the crash..
What should I do?
Should I basically just start over from scratch or just keep trying daily water changes?
I believe I may have weakened my cycle a week earlier because I changed the sand and ran some water over my decor, but I didn't touch my filter media at all. I did scrub my glass because of hard water build up. When I added my water after the change of sand, I only used Aqaueon Water Conditioner, but I usually add Tetra Safestart which I chose not to this time because I read somewhere here that I wasn't safe for axies and only caused problems in the future, so I think because I didn't replace the bacteria I killed, my tank just couldn't keep up anymore. I've kept fish my whole life, both fresh water and salt water and I've always used Safestart for my fresh water tanks without a problem, but he's my first ever axie.
So I'm going to try to explain my cycle problem as well as I can, its a long story, but I'll summarize it and I'll explain further if necessary.
Well basically I experienced a tank crash a little over a week ago and I've been struggling to keep my ammonia down. At the initial crash, it read either 4.0 or 6.0, I immediately tubbed my axie who showed no signs of stress what so ever, and did a 80-90% water change which brought it down to around a 2.0, but then it kept rising. So I then removed one plant which I believed was rotting since I didn't have any live animals in the tank and I hadn't been "ghost feeding" (putting fish food in the tank). I was able to get it down to 0.5 for 2 days then it started rising again so I removed my other plant probably 1-2 days ago, all that is left is my decor which are plastic plants or hides and 1 marimo ball and I have left my tank alone since then, no more water changes in hopes by leaving it alone it will just cycle on its own (I believe it was at 0.50 at this point). This morning I tested my water and its either 1.0 or 2.0, but I noticed my nitrate and nitrite basically have been at 0 since the crash..
What should I do?
Should I basically just start over from scratch or just keep trying daily water changes?
I believe I may have weakened my cycle a week earlier because I changed the sand and ran some water over my decor, but I didn't touch my filter media at all. I did scrub my glass because of hard water build up. When I added my water after the change of sand, I only used Aqaueon Water Conditioner, but I usually add Tetra Safestart which I chose not to this time because I read somewhere here that I wasn't safe for axies and only caused problems in the future, so I think because I didn't replace the bacteria I killed, my tank just couldn't keep up anymore. I've kept fish my whole life, both fresh water and salt water and I've always used Safestart for my fresh water tanks without a problem, but he's my first ever axie.
