Ammonia Levels too high!!!

Hey I have one axolotl who is approximately 6-7 inches in a 20 gallon long. I have an internal filter for a 20 gallon tank in there and I do a 20% water change weekly sometimes twice a week yet I'm still struggling with keeping the ammonia levels down. I even bought some plants hoping that would help about a month ago and it hasn't. He filter runs 24/7 and doesn't seem to bother him and the temperature is always between 62-66 degrees and the room he is in has Windows but I keep the blinds always shut. All his other water conditions when tested are where they should be but the ammonia is at at between 4and 8 ppm and the water was just changed 4 days ago. I use safe start plus and prime and nothing seems to be improving. I need suggestions bad. I don't know what else to do.

Re: Amonia Levels too high!!!

Would you mind doing a full test and telling me what your parameters are exactly? Ammonia, NitrIte, NitrAte... The fact that you have ammonia showing up at all means that your tank is not cycled. So, you're going to need to be doing more daily water changes. Once a week will not keep the ammonia levels down enough, and it could present a dangerous environment for your axolotl. I'd change probably 20% daily, though someone else can feel free to correct me on a better number. Essentially, you're going to be doing a fish-in cycle. Test regularly, do your daily water changes, and your tank will cycle eventually. Also, plants aren't going to help with anything other than NitrAtes. So, those won't really help the ammonia levels. All you can do to take that out of the water is to do water changes. It's a lot of work, but better than your pet suffering from a lack of a proper environment.

Re: Amonia Levels too high!!!

Safe Start Plus is not beneficial for your cycle, bottled bacteria tends to cause more problems than anything. If your ammonia is that high you should perform a water change at over 50%, then test to see how low the ammonia is. You want to have the ammonia under 1ppm, ammonia is toxic, it causes stress, ammonia burn, and death.

Read these articles on cycling:
Caudata Culture Articles - Water Quality
Caudata Culture Articles - Cycling

Read this thread for a more user based experience on cycling:
http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-beginner-newt-salamander-axolotl-help-topics/f48-axolotls-ambystoma-mexicanum/105507-new-owner-cycling-help.html#post461143

Re: Amonia Levels too high!!!

Hey here's the water test results I just did: ph=6.2 amonia=6ppm Nitrite= 0ppm Nitrate= 10ppm. Doing a 50% water change tonight. I just don't understand why the amonia is so high.

Re: Amonia Levels too high!!!

Take your Axolotl out of the tank, 6ppm is deadly. Keep it in a large container and do 100% water changes every other day. Don't cycle with your Axolotls in the tank, it's just cruel if your exposing it to 6ppm ammonia