Worried on tank

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MistressOfAxies

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I've been doing 20% water changes every 2nd day since the last 4 days (so have done it twice) & I'm still trying to bring my nitrite levels down & everything to 0. I did a test tonight on the water & ammonia 1.0, nitrite 2.0, nitrate 5.0, ph 7.6. I'm mainly concerned about the nitrite. What else can I do but do the 20% water changes every 2nd day? I have 10 axolotls living in my tank & they all seem ok, I clean up all the food waste even siphon the bottom every fortnight. Is the nirite ok at that level? Advice needed thanks in advance
 
What size tank have you got and what size are the axies?
20/30% daily is what i do mine when the tank is cycling.
It could be a case of system over load and your filter just may not be able to cope.
I have 5 juvies in a 5 foot tank with external filter and have found this is the most it can cope with.
 
My tank is 6 foot, 18inch wide, 2 foot deep with canister external filter 1200L per hr, plus 2 submerged filters. One does 2000L per hr whilst also acting as the powerhead for the chiller & the other does 2200L per hr. As for my axolotls 7 of them are youngins so I'd say they're about 21 cms & the 3 adults are almost 30 cms.
 
I think part of your problem, from reading previous posts as well, has been the addition of new animals as you've been buying them, without (dare I say it) quarantining them separately.

This has obviously increased the bioload in your tank (and if you hadn't had it cycled beforehand). You will never get your tank back to 0 while it is in the middle of cycling, (which by the sounds of things it is) and you shouldn't try to. Cycling takes time and patience and your four additions acquired over the last few weeks (at least since the end February ?) wouldn't have helped matters.

You should do your waterchanges daily.

If they're 21cms then they're mature enough to be classed as adults, they're definitely not juveniles. How much are you feeding, if daily cut back your feeding schedule for them - this may also help with your cycling tank levels.

Your tank levels sound normal in a cycling tank.
 
I put my axolotls in large storage cases & siphoned the bottom, cleaned the filters out & replaced half of the water. Even after I did all that I did a test & all the results were the same. Is it meant to come good doing all that or do I have to wait awhile?

Also with those test results I don't want to put my axies back in & everything goes up more again. How should I go about this should I leave my axies in the storage tubs till the tanks good? I just don't know what to do I don't want them to die because of those results.

Yes Kapo I have acquired a few additions but I thought with all the filters I had they would do the job. I feed them twice everyday sometimes its prawns the other night it was earthworms. When do you suggest I feed them, as I'm so use to them munching eveyday.

The axies are in the containers with their own tank water which is worrying me as well cause its not up to scratch. Just don't know what to do from here, any advice be appreciated.
 
You need to cut back to every other day once they are adult size. If you can get garden worms they are ideal, 1-2 every 2 days is ample.
This will cut down on your waste and enable the filters to catch up.
EVERYBODIES tanks have to cycle and providing you keep up spot cleaning and 20/30% daily water changes all should come fine and your axies can remain in the tank.
I cycled all my tanks with my axies in them i just kept an eye to make sure hey showed no signs of stress or illness.
Just try to be patient.
1 other thing do not clean anything that is used in the tank or the filter with anything but tank water as you will just start the process off again.
 
Ok cleaning out 50% of your tank and filter wouldn't have helped matters.

Your tank is cycling it should show those levels so stop trying to get rid of them! Your problem has been adding your additions to the tank (both unquarantined and too many at a time for the cycling tank to cope with). Your water levels will continue to show measures of ammonia, nitrite and nitrate until it is cycled. Doing the frequent partial waterchanges daily on a cycling tank (ie tank showing levels of ammonia and/or nitrite) will bring the levels down safely enough for your axies to reside in as long as you don't overfeed (ie daily feeding) or overload (ie putting too many axies in a cycling tank all at once).

Any filter in a cycling tank still has to adjust to any additional companion that gets added to the tank; which is one of the reasons you should have kept the new ones completely separated until the tank had cycled. And then you add them one at a time (ie as each quarantine period ended they could be added to the tank - tank has to be monitored/tested regularly after each addition as it will be adjusting to the added waste from the new companion - which is normal).

The 30 day minimum quarantine period is not for the cycling period by the way. The quarantine period is something that should be adhered to as any one of your new axolotls could be sick or could pass something onto your older axies if they've come from a contaminated tank. Not all petshops are able to watch the pets they sell 24/7 and therefore will not necessarily know whether the axie is sick has any other problems.

Return the original axolotls to the tank (the originals not the new additions you've bought over the past few weeks). Cut back their feeding to once every 2-3 days. Do 20-30% waterchanges daily after watertesting. Do not wash the filters out at all and do not remove the axolotls from the tank when you're cleaning.

The new additions should really be kept separated till the quarantine period is over; in containers of dechlorinated water (which by the way will also have to be changed daily). They can be fed daily but isn't really necessary - Every two days is also fine.

As I said, cycling takes time and patience.

And as for axolotls just because they munch every day doesn't mean they will starve. They're mature enough/adults now so can cope without food for a couple of days, even a week or so if needbe. Axolotls are opportunistic creatures and will generally eat most things they're offered and will continue to eat given the chance (we have 3 out of our lot that will gorge themselves silly given the chance - especially when they're looked after by our friends/family who think they're hungry - and then will regurgitate the lot back up)
 
Thanks very much guys your help has been the best advice even from the aquarium. The aquarium bloke told me to do a half water change so guess it didn't help but I did clean the filters out & all using the tank water so that's a bonus.

I read your advice Kapo, thanks heaps, correct me if I'm wrong I'm abit of a slow nut when it comes to tanks & cycling. So I put my original 6 axolotls back in there then add the additional 4 I bought after 30 days or is it one a time after the tank has cycled back to everything being 0? I just hope I can get everything to be 0. I feed them once every second day. Every day I do the 20%-30% waterchanges but is that until everything comes good when I test it? I also need to do the water changes for the other 4 in the storage container.

I think thats it tell me if I'm missing out on anything lol. Thanks for your patience all you guy's help has been much appreciated. I'll add my original 6 back in the tank tonight when I get home.
 
It sounds like this will all work out well. One of the advantages of a large tank with three filters is you can put in a schedule where you clean out one filter only in rotation at an appropriate interval so you have one failing because it is clogging, one working fine and one clear but re establishing bacteria. I run small tanks which inevitably go into clogged filter crises followed by mini-cycles however gently I clean them. You have spotted and are controlling and correcting a chemical problem before it gets bad enough to become a sick axie problem. Thats what tests are for!
 
Cheers ocean one can never go wrong with a spare filter lol. It's been a few days & I'm keeping up with the 20% water changes daily. The ammonia has gone down a little still present though & the nitrite is the same sitting at 1.0 I don't know if it may be 2.0 seems pretty dark purple in the test to me. How long do you guys predict if I keep up the 20% water changes daily should the nitrite disapear? Everything else is ok, well ok in the sense of being not too big a danger ph is 7.6, nitrate is 5.0 is just the darn nitrite thats ticking me off.

My axies seem ok there's 6 of them in the tank now but tonight I noticed 2 of them occasionally going up to the surface to take gulps of air, this they normally don't do. The chiller is set at 16 degrees I just hope it aint my nitrite getting to them, besides that they're still eating up a storm.

Oh just thought I'd add when I do the water changes I add the solution to dechlorinate the water plus I also add my dosage of "stability".
 
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You should just use the dechlorinator, nothing else, it is best to let nature take its course.
Have you cut their food back?
Dont for get when they are adults 2-3 times a week is ample.
Over feeding will just prolong things as they will be producing so much mess.
 
It's merely a guess but since you want a prediction bow long you will have to keep up the water changes my guess is 10 days, both the ammonia to nitrite and nitrite to nitrate components are working to some extent and there is not a high ammonia level (because of the water changes) so even if the first part of the cycle accelerates you will keep the nitrite under control. I've failed to find "safe" levels of nitrite for axolotls in the literature, but 0.3 is harmless to almost all species and I've had an axolotl in 1.0 mg/l for a few days without obvious harm. Nitrite poisoning causes a brown discolouration of the blood which shows on the gills of albino and leucistic axolotls. If the gills look normal colour do not worry too much. Limiting food is sensible as it will cut the ammonia load.

Meanwhile I'm doing 20% water changes on one tank! Just keep saying it will come right soon.
 
Thanks oceanblue. There's hardly any ammonia in the tank anymore. In fact I'd say its 0 now from the test I did today & my ammonia alert tag I have on the tank isn't picking up any, bit of nitrate about 10 & nitrite I really can't tell if it's 1.0 or 2.0 it's still pretty dark purple from the test. My albino & leucistic axies in there seem ok their gills aren't brown but my black axolotl seems to dance back & forwards frantically in front of the tank. Least they're not taking gulps of air from the surface anymore. I'll keep doing the 20% water changes till it comes good. I only feed them once a day & that's mostly earthworms which they gulp down.

What do I do if I end up with 0 ammonia, 0 nitrate and still the same nitrite? Or is that impossible? I have actually tested my normal tap water for how much nitrite is in it & there's about .25

I've just had a closer look at my white axie's & their gills seem slighty dark but I can't really tell, the colour mainly blends in with their red fluffy gills at the back. Would there be any symptoms if they did have poisoning, what I be able to spot it quickly or does is it hard to look for?
 
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When your tank is cycled your tankwater readings should end up similar to following:

0 ammonia
0 nitrIte
10-40 nitrAte (you should generally always have some sort of reading for nitrAte unless you have live plants in your tank)

I've always found during cycling that waiting for the nitrIte readings to drop down to 0 always takes the longest (longer than waiting for the ammonia to drop).
 
Nitrite takes longer than ammonia to drop. The metabolic pathway in the tank is ammonia goes to nitrite then nitrate. While ammonia can be toxic at high pH one of the reasons for all those water changes is to dent the nitrite spike which can occur as the ammonia decants over to Nitrite. Since nitrite is a heavier molecule than ammonia and at pH 7.2 because it is mostly ionised and non-toxic most aquatic animals can tolerate 5ppm assayed ammonia. If this level converts across to nitrite before the onward conversion to NitrAte is established you get a nitrite level of 13.5ppm. This is one reason why quick ammonia fixes, which often are pH lowering buffers, are a way of creating a disaster days or weeks later.

If your ammonia now reads nil then you are not going to get a high nitrite peak and it will come right soon with luck. Meanwhile I'm watching like a hawk and bailing a tank with a recently gently cleaned limping filter pH 7.2 ammonia 2.4 Nitrite 0.3. I may need to get the one small axolotl out fast as there is potential for a nitrite spike of about 7ppm.
 
Well I'm still doing the 20% water changes. The nitrite is still 2.0 ammonia 0 ph 7.6 but I think I figured out why the nitrite wasn't budging. I errr was just throwing in my 8 buckets of tap water then once it was in the tank I treated it but now I been treating it in the buckets before placing it in the tank so hopefully now it will go down. I'm more worried about my axolotls cause they have been sitting in a nitrite level of 2.0 for awhile now but they're still eating & happy so my thoughts say they're ok, I hope at least.
 
I did notice the other thread! Treating before addition is better. I've failed to find any decent advice on what levels of nitrite axolotls can stand. I had one in water with 1.0 for about a week without obvious harm. Some fish are supposed to be poisoned by levels of 0.3 but when I was setting up a tank last year I started cycling it by adding ammonia drop wise without fish and in the middle of a massive nitrite spike (6-8) found the tank full of white cloud mountain minnow fry, from the plants I moved from their tank. If they do start to look sick Methylene blue is a specific nitrite poisoning antidote and safe in low dose for axolotls. It should not be used in the tank as it kills off bacteria in filters and plants!
 
Eeep hope it don't come to that cheers ocean. They're pretty tough lil things. Getting off the subject abit sory I'm just curious how does this thing work under your name it was green yesterday with the dot now its red saying I've given bad advice or information :s do people have to add to your reputation or take away your rep??
 
Sorry I'm not sure how reputations work. All I can say is it wasn't me and since I've been ignoring the line I probably haven't rewarded anyone I should. I've not seen any comments you've made which were out of order. Perhaps a moderator could intervene. Try looking at user CP for (left of green bar at top) for a clue as to why. I think comments show there and the thread relating to the reputation click is identified. I hope the click on the scales in your post helps!
 
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I think reputation is like feedback on some forums. Eg if someone posts (really)stupid, offensive or misleading comments I give bad reputation, if I find a post to be especialy clever, thoughtfull or helpfull I give positive...
I rarely do it at all tbh, but I do like to recieve - its nice to feel appreciated!
 
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