Tubbing and water smelled bad, changed and looking better, also cycling question

[hannarm06]

My tank is cycling right now so my baby is in a tub. I've been doing daily water changes and so far no issues (I had to switch from a sieve to a bowl cause there was a little blood in the tail area, healed now). I didn't do a water change last night like I was supposed to because I wasn't able to so I did one this morning and did same as usual (may have added a little too much conditioner as it was dark but not a crazy amount). Anyways all seemed fine but when I went back to check how my baby was doing the water smelled really weird and the child's gills were really pale so I guess ammonia levels spiked but I have no idea how. My axie pooped but usually poop is fine for at least a few hours without issue so I'm not sure. I redid the water change and the kid has been doing good for the past 12ish hours and gills are nice and red and food got eaten quickly. Should I be worried/how can I prevent something like this from happening again as I had a terrible moment of panic. I'll likely change the water again tonight so I can get back on schedule.

Also for cycling a 10 gallon tank do these levels seem good? (This is a few hours after adding a gallon of water and a dose of conditioner cause I have an evaporative cooler so water levels got a little low, haven't done a full 20% change in a few days since ammonia is relatively low):
Temperature: 68-70
Ammonia: 0.25-0.5ish
Nitrite: below 0.25 but higher than 0
Nitrate: 10-15ish

Also I added a dose of fritz turbostart after testing to add some bacteria to the mix

 

[wolfen]

water conditioners/dechlorinators tend to reduce the oxygen in the water so when you accidentally overdosed the tub it would have reduced the oxygen causing the water to go stagnant and smell (the added faecal matter wouldn't have helped).
a ten gallon tank is a bit small, twenty gallon is now recognised as the minimum size, this is due to the size that some axolotls get to with even twenty gallon tanks being too small in some cases.
how are you cycling the tank? ie.. with live fish, fish fish, prawns, ammonia chloride.
whilst the bacteria colony required for dealing with waste is growing doing a water change can harm it, better to wait till cycling has finished or the nitrates are 110ppm or higher.
based on the nitrate levels you have a long way to go till the cycling is done.
the ammonia levels need to be 4ppm to cycle an axolotl tank, the reason for this level is to ensure that once the axolotl becomes an adult which can produce up to 4ppm in waste (in a ten gallon this will be higher) the filtration is able to cope with the levels.
ph is also very important and should be monitored whilst cycling and after as it can affect the biological filtration.

 

[hannarm06]

water conditioners/dechlorinators tend to reduce the oxygen in the water so when you accidentally overdosed the tub it would have reduced the oxygen causing the water to go stagnant and smell (the added faecal matter wouldn't have helped).
a ten gallon tank is a bit small, twenty gallon is now recognised as the minimum size, this is due to the size that some axolotls get to with even twenty gallon tanks being too small in some cases.
how are you cycling the tank? ie.. with live fish, fish fish, prawns, ammonia chloride.
whilst the bacteria colony required for dealing with waste is growing doing a water change can harm it, better to wait till cycling has finished or the nitrates are 110ppm or higher.
based on the nitrate levels you have a long way to go till the cycling is done.
the ammonia levels need to be 4ppm to cycle an axolotl tank, the reason for this level is to ensure that once the axolotl becomes an adult which can produce up to 4ppm in waste (in a ten gallon this will be higher) the filtration is able to cope with the levels.
ph is also very important and should be monitored whilst cycling and after as it can affect the biological filtration.

Ph is almost always 7.6 sometimes 7.8 and I've been using turbostart which is a form of nitrifying bacteria. According to most things I've read nitrates during cycling shouldn't be higher than 40 ppm? 110 seems really high. Also I'm not sure how to increase ammonia with current setup. I currently have a ten gallon as I got it as a gift and the people they bought from said it would be fine for now but we'll do a size up if needed. I currently have a juvenile axie and there's still plenty of room to grow.

 

[wolfen]

when an animal is in the tank having low nitrates (by using water changes) is desirable but whilst the tank is cycling having high nitrates is fine so as to keep the tank disturbances to a minimum, doing water changes normally requires using dechlorinators and conditioners which can affect the bacteria as can straight tap water.
over the period of cycling the water can become acidic which will lower the ph, the lower the ph the slower ammonia is consumed/converted, ph can also go so low it stalls the cycle.
adding bacteria helps but they have to colonise the filter media so it still take time.
you will need to get a larger tank asap as axolotls grow fast and some can get up to 18 inches in length.
the most popular method of adding ammonia is with ammonium chloride (most use dr tims)

 

[hannarm06]

when an animal is in the tank having low nitrates (by using water changes) is desirable but whilst the tank is cycling having high nitrates is fine so as to keep the tank disturbances to a minimum, doing water changes normally requires using dechlorinators and conditioners which can affect the bacteria as can straight tap water.
over the period of cycling the water can become acidic which will lower the ph, the lower the ph the slower ammonia is consumed/converted, ph can also go so low it stalls the cycle.
adding bacteria helps but they have to colonise the filter media so it still take time.
you will need to get a larger tank asap as axolotls grow fast and some can get up to 18 inches in length.
the most popular method of adding ammonia is with ammonium chloride (most use dr tims)

Well as for adding new water I kinda have to because I have an evaporative cooler so I have to add a gallon or 2 of water about once a week to keep the water levels up. As for the tank my axie is only about 4 inches and the tank is ginormous comparatively so if I need a tank change I'm going to wait a while, like at least to 6 or 7 inches. I'm already on a tight budget so adding new products left and right isn't an option and we still need to get the substrate and plants/decor

 

[wolfen]

if you are adding water you can always fill a jug/tub etc.. with water and leave it to vent of the chlorine for 24hrs before adding to the tank (no dechlorinator required), also when cycling it is quicker to use a heater to bring the temperature up rather than a cooler which will prolong cycling.