Tank Troubles

[Apollo]

Hello Caudata,
Looks as if I need some help again. I know, I know, my rep is very terrible and all of you are thinking oh jeez another noob who has no clue what they're doing. Well it's not far from the truth I'm once again looking for some advice. I've had my axolotl for about 6 months now. His name is Apollo, he is healthy gills healthy, healthy appetite. My problem is with my tank. I'm going to post some pictures and I just like to know if what I'm seeing is normal. Ive had bad luck with two crashed cycles. I have a liquid API testing kit and am diligent about water changes and perimeters. As of right now im in the middle of a cycle. My nitrate is at 0 my ph is at 7.5 and my nitrite was at a 0.5 and my nitrate was around an 8. I just did a 50% water change so I'm assuming that those Nitrite and Nitrate levels are going to go down once again. I keep having an issue with this gooey white mucus like substance that comes up and coats the glass in my tank, in gungs up the filter and then proceeds to clump together and float around in the water. I've had this problem almost 3 times now. I'm going to post a few pictures, one is of Apollo and the others are of my filter and then perhaps someone can tell me if this is normal. I can't say how thankful I am that I have a network I can reach out to.

 

[axys]

so im going to be honest, from the picture i cant really see wht u are referring to. i dont know if this is the same thing but yesterday i posted about a clear mucousy substance in my axolotls tank aswell. mine looked mostly clear jelly like and slightly white too. i was told tht it might possibly be a bacteria covering. i cleaned it all out and will make sure to take pictures of mine if it happens again. it was over some axie poop tht i had not seen and cleaned up over the weekend so maybe look to see if there are any pieces of uneaten food hidden somewhere in the tank or axie poop thts in a corner somewhere or under the hide etc.

again im not sure if its the same thing but just a thought. also whtever the jelly like stuff in my tank was it was absolutely the most foul smelling thing i have ever experienced in my life. sounds gross but give it a sniff. it literally smelled worse than rotten eggs.

good luck!!!

 

[Cacique]

I'm not sure exactly what it could be, but when was the last time you cleaned the filter? Just swishing it around in old tank water, maybe rubbing it with your hand or a sponge. I mention this because when I first got my axolotl, it was my first tank since I was a child. I read everything and had everything down but I opted to wait before cleaning the filter. It was a really small filter and not cleaning it early caused it to gunk up and I think it could have possibly looked a bit like that. Hopefully someone more experienced will come by and know what it is.

 

[Xtophr]

As of right now im in the middle of a cycle. My nitrate is at 0 my ph is at 7.5 and my nitrite was at a 0.5 and my nitrate was around an 8.

Is your nitrate 0 or 8? 8 sounds like an ammonia number (unless you're interpolating, in which case congrats, because I find some of the API values hard to read anyway), but that's way too high for ammonia.

Could be a lot of protein buildup?

Are you overfeeding, not cleaning waste, etc.?

Yes, water changes should linearly lower the ammonia/nitrite/nitrate levels. If you replace half of the water with fresh, clean (0 ammonia, nitrite, nitrate) water, then the numbers should be half of what they were.

How did you establish your tank? Using bacteria-in-a-bottle? What water treatment do you use before adding water to your tank? Lights? Plants?