High ammonia high pH

I've just recently moved and have had to move Sushi into a new tank thats only been cycling for about 2 weeks (I know...pretty pukey) ammonia is reading between .25 and.50 and pH is readin 8.4. What can I do to lower these? I've been doing water changes every day but it doesn't seem to help. At first I was worried because Sushi didn't move for 2 days straight and now he's swimming around erratically and going to the surface for gulps of air.

Should I take him out? My fridge is too cold for him. He hasn't shown much interest in eating, though I hadn't expected him to since his trip was a bit stressful. Every once in a while I'll look at him and the tip of his tail will be curved and then other times it will be straight.

The temperature is fine, ranging from about 66 at night to 70 F during the peak of the day.

Also, his gills look extremely red...more so than usual and his tail has a fleshy color as well (He's a gold albino).

I know AmQuel Plus is safe for amphibians and lowers ammonia, but what can I do about the pH? The water here is also very hard (about 300 ppm) and so is the alaklinity (300 ppm). Are these unhealthy? If so, what can I do about these.

With each water change, I've been dechlorinating the water before putting into his tank so I don't think it has anything to do with chlorine. His skin looks fine as well.

What can I do?

to lower your ph put some real logs in the tank , or some sea shells in the filter, and it´s normal that your axie isn´t as normal as you are used to , travel and changing tank can be really stressful , he is just adjusting to the new conditions of the tank and to the new tank.
by the way axies like hard waters.

So you don't think things are bad enough to remove him from the tank? I've done a second water change today and the ammonia is now to .25. Hopefully I can keep it from getting higher.

And is a pH of 8.4 something that I should try altering or is this within tolerence? Also in a previous thread, someone said that sea shells in the filter make the pH higher. Were they just mistaken?

Thank you for your input Joao. I feel a little better now

yup my mistake sea shells do make the ph higher, sorry but if you don´t want your axie to be stressed take him out and put him in a container and cover the container with a net o something, until your tank is suitable for him.

just buy a ph test kit for 10 aus dollars. youll prob find one in america for like 5 american dollars. its worth the money ants is really cheap, i advise getting them. if not go down to you pet shop and they will do a check and then hopefully. give you a free samble to lower or rise it.

Aimee - I would remove the axolotl from the tank to a food safe container (with a lid) that you can change the water in daily.

Your tank still has quite a while (as long as 30 + days) to finish the cycle and adding an ammonia blocker will only add to the time it will take it to finish.

I would not try to lower the ph. Be aware that a high ph makes ammonia more toxic so your tank will require frequent monitoring.

If you are worried about the temperature in the small container try and find a mesh cover for it and run a fan so it blows over the top of the water.

If I put him in a food safe container with a lid, do I need to worry about him not getting enough oxygen?

Thank you for all of your input

just put in a air stone and thast should help him out.

Aimee - Since the water will need changed pretty much daily, no you don't need to worry about him getting enough air but you do need to watch the temperature.

If you can't keep him cool enough you can put him in the fridge.

i cant put mine in the fridge. first off i jsut think its slack to have him in a small tube in the dark fridge like a crazy person in isolation and secondly my mum would freak.

whats your opinions?

Alrighty. I took him out of his tank and put him into a large plastic food container with a fan positioned over it yesterday. He doesn't seem too thrilled, but I can still get him to eat a little.

I would just pop him in the fridge but since the temperature is 2-3 C, which I hear is too cold, I hope just the fan will suffice.

altering the PH can do more harm than good, first off it masks problems you need to fix and can stress your axie. have you tested your tap water to make sure its ok for him to be in while your waiting for your tank to cycle? the fan should make it a bit better temp wise, why not put him in a cool place ir concrete floor etc?

Yeah, I've heard more bad things about altering pH than good. I just wanted to make sure that a pH of 8.4 wasn't unhealthy? Thats the pH of the tap where i live. Alkalinity and hardness are both 300 ppm.

I live in the second story of an apartment complex so cool concrete floors are in short supply, but the fan seems to be doing a pretty good job of keeping the water of his plastic container below 70 degrees.

Thank you, all, for your help. I really appreciate it

Hello again

Sushi seems to be doing fine despite moving from container to container on a daily basis. He eats and seems completely healthy. My only question is that since I've had him out of the tank, none of his feces have been solid. His poo is all over the container and is extremely light in color. Is this ok?

He seems fine and I'm not overly worried. I was just curious if this is a sign of stress?

its probably just because he moves around in there and that breaks it up