what has gone wrong?

[tara]

I have two adults and two juvies in a 3ft tank, sand, live plants, cannister filter, the tank has been cycled for months now, last 3 weeks there has been a reading of 0.25 ammonia in the tank, all other readings are.....nitrite 0, nitrate 10, ph 6.6, temp 20c,. I was feeding them small amounts every day and thought this caused the ammonia spike, i have cut back the feeding to 3 times per week and have been doing daily water changes 20%-30%, 3 weeks on and the ammonia is still the same. I stir the sand every other day , the axies are all hand fed so it's not uneaten food causing the problem. Any ideas as to what has gone wrong ? and how to fix the problem?. Thankyou.

 

[Saspotato]

Not sure, these are just a few things I thought of:

Is there any ammonia in the water you use to replace the 20-30% water change? Sometimes water will already have ammonia in it.

Secondly, are your live plants ok? I had a plant start to die in my tank and that was causing low ammonia readings. I took it out and my tank went back to normal. If any plants are starting to die, take them out as that can cause ammonia. Well, it did in my case.

 

[Kaysie]

Also check to see if your testing supplies are out of date. If you're using test strips, these are notoriously inaccurate anyway, and the liquid test kits can expire.

 

[MRIGUY]

I think the others have given you a few good places to start looking. I'd bet on the plants or your axies are just putting out a lot of waste. You say it is a 3 foot tank so I will assume 30G. Is is full to the top. A half full tank is 15g and 2 axies in that could very well be messy. Also, what media are you using in the filter. Some folks like ammocarb, but I am a big fan of carbon only. Charcoal is better if you can get the good stuff.

 

[tara]

not sure

I'm not sure what is in the filter, hubby does that side of things,the filter is an eheim 2213, the tank is full to the top, the test kit is the liquid test kit, its new. There are no rotting plants, Anything else i could try to get rid of rid ammonia ?. Thankyou

 

[tara]

plant problem?

Well i have just taken out 3/4 of the live plants, some of the roots were rotting under the sand, so maybe that was causing the ammonia?. I have some questions....by taking the plants out will that change the water conditions a lot? what sort of plastic plants can i get? do i need to wash them with anything before putting them in the tank?, are plastic plants safe?. I will keep doing the small daily water changes and see if the ammonia goes down, now that most live plants are gone. Sorry for all the questions, but i love my babies and want the best for them. Thankyou.

 

[digger]

plastic plants are fine just give them a wash in dechlorinated water or some old tank water.
hopefully with the dead matter gone and daily water changes things will now settle.

 

[Saspotato]

Yes rotting roots can cause ammonia. That was the main source of my constant but low levels of ammonia. It was just one plant too... and it raised my ammonia from 0 to 0.25.

Plenty of aquariums sell plastic plants which are fine with a quick wash. They are usually not as nice looking unfortunately but won't cause water quality problems.

Not sure by how much removing your plants will change the water parameters, however perhaps just monitor your water conditions closely for a few days to make sure nothing goes wrong.

 

[tara]

will keep an eye on it

Thankyou Frances and Sarah, i will test the water every 2 days to keep an eye on the parameters. Now i'm off to buy some plastic plants, will keep you posted of the ammonia problem, let's hope it will go back down now!.

 

[Lisa]

Hi Tara. I'm considering removing my live plants too as they require light to grow, and this heats the tank (am also in Perth) which is an issue here. And when they don't get enough light they die, and cause water quality issues. Apparently they do utilise some nitrate, though as your level is low you probably have room for a potential small increase there. Also they produce some oxygen, but this is not necessary for axolotls. Apart from that I like the look of them over the plastic ones, but may just have to come to terms with that.

 

[Daniel]

I have to admit that I am no big fan of plastic plants, I like the real ones (as already mentioned - they consume ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and phosphate; produce some oxygen and have a better look).

The thing with rotting roots and lights as a heat source may be a problem but there are several plants that do not need much light and will do fine floating in the tank (don't know the english trivial names... Egeria densa, Ceratophyllum) - or bound to some aquarium wood (Java fern "Microsorium pteropus", even some Anubia do fine with less light).

 

[Lisa]

Thanks Daniel for those plant names. Will see if I can get some. We had some purple leaved ones some time ago that seemed to do really well with very little light, don't know what they were called though and haven't seen them since. Really want to dispense with the light over summer other than for display purposes if possible.

 

[MRIGUY]

I am a big fan of Salvinia natans (aka floating water moss). It prefers higher light but will grow well in lower light it will just not color as nicely or spread as fast. That said, I still need to remove it semi-monthly from tanks with just diffuse room lighting. It removes waste efficiently and the roots that hang down are a great breeding spot for the little beasties that seem to magically appear in most mature tanks. I have it in 6 tanks and have never seen it rot.

 

[tara]

looking for plants

Thankyou for the plant names, i will look for them, i had a look at the plastic plants, i didn't like them. Live plants look so much better(my opinion), i will visit our fish shop over the weekend, he has a good supply of live plants. Are there any live plants that i should avoid .Thankyou.

 

[MRIGUY]

I am sure you already know this but as my wife says pointing out the obvious is what I live for. Whatever live plants you buy need to be quaranteeded for a period of 30 days. Now some people just rinse them and feel safe with that. I have done so without negative effect but the eggs of many creatures or small larvae of predatory insects etc may not be rinsed off easily so waiting is better. Nothing elaborate, a 5 gallon tank or a clean plastic tub will suffice.

I also recomment you test the water you keep them in before removing them to the display tank. You never know what can leach out of plants.

Happy Frida... Oh hell it's still Thursday. Nevermind.

 

[tara]

didn't know that

Thanks MRIGUY, i didn't know that i had to keep the plants seperate for 30 days. Thankyou.

 

[tara]

ammonia still present?

Well i now have plastic plants in the tank and still the ammonia is there, o.25. I am doing daily water changes, i don't know what else to do, other readings....nitrite 0, nitrate 20, ph 6.6 , water temp 20c, does it take a while for the ammonia to drop to 0 ? shall i keep doing the water changes? Thankyou.