Ammonia

i am having trouble with the ammo in my tank. i am doing 40%water changes daily and it doesn't seem to be improving. it stands at 1 at present and did a change about 3 hours ago

pls can someone give me a few hints

How long has your tank been setup and what size (measurements pls in cm/in/mm)? Has it cycled or is it cycling? Also, what is tank temp? And what companions, if any, do you have in your tank with your axie/s?

As well as waterchanges have you cleared up any food and other wastes (check under decos, between plants, buried in sand or gravel)

about 2weeks size is 90x45x25 thats the water. 2 a
axies and about 6 small feeder fish. the temp is about 18c pulled some gravel out 2 days ago but didn't look under the decos

OK your tank is cycling. Temp is good. The feeder fish, as far as I'm aware will also add to your ammonia load. Pulling out the gravel may also have a/effected your cycling if bacteria was starting to grow in your tank. Axie poo tends to disintegrate pretty fast. If you don't have one, invest in a turkey baster, it will become your best friend where tank spotcleaning is concerned.

How big are your axies; how often do they eat and do you feed them anything else as well as the feeder fish?

Also, what are your nitrite levels? Any rise or still at 0?

axies about 16cm.been feeding daily but now every second day. feeding them beef heart and liver and worms occas. haven't got nitrite levels but going to invest in tester tomorrow. very new to this and am learning as i go along . ur help is appreciated

ammonia still at 1 my golden seems stressed sitting near the outlet pipe gills are up and quite red

If they aren't eating the feeder fish take them out and put into another tank if you're able, that might also help. Also, be careful about feeding too much feeder fish they can pass on parasites or make your axies sick; esp. if you don't know where they've come from/who bred them prior to getting them from petshop.

Every 2nd day is fine at that size. Once they reach about 20cm + feed them every 3rd day.

If yours eat earthworms, try that more as a staple than the feeder fish (do you hand feed or just drop them in)? Try not to overfeed and remove food if any remains in tank after a half hour.

With gravel being in your tank alot of food/gunk/waste will get trapped between/underneath. River rock/pebbles will also have the same problem. Also, I'm sure you may have read gravel can block them and cause problems later on.

If you are able to remove gravel replace it with sand, no substrate or very large pieces of rock or stone. You could put some of the gravel back in the tank in a kneehigh knotted at top or plastic mesh bag with small holes so gravel won't fall out.

Other alternative is place your axies in a smaller plastic tub and airstone; and change water completely each day. Let your tank cycle (no waterchanges, testing once or twice a week).

thinking of putting pieces of slate in and leaving rest bare. might be better to put them in tub for a while.how much water do i put in and how long can they stay in there

<blockquote><hr size=0><!-quote-!><font size=1>Quoting bev hudson on Friday 13 October 2006 - 13:06 (#POST108464):</font>

my golden seems stressed <!-/quote-!><hr size=0></blockquote>

Is she gasping or flapping her gills continuously and floating oddly near the surface of the water, or has she just been fed? Do you have an airstone in tank?

Maybe try an airstone at other end of tank from filter. Also, axies gills generally do go red when they're active (at night/when feeding or waving gills to get oxygen); and lighten up a bit when they are resting or sleeping.

They can stay in the tub until the tank is cycled (which can take from 4-8weeks); but make sure to do the waterchanges daily on tub (my sister did 75-80% changes using a small plastic jug to scoop the water out rather than complete change). You can add a hidey hole as well if you want and but if you cover the top with something, so it doesn't jump out or cat get to it, you don't need to. We did 100% by moving them to either 10litre buckets or tubs of aged (left overnight after dechlorinating) dechlorinated water.

Half fill the tub with water.

shes not gasping just sitting near the outlet at the bottom of tank. i have an airstone. she did not eat today.i have an eco filter and have put a spraybar along the back of tank but the end furthest from the outlet seems to have a stronger smell hang on shes on the move but the smell is very strong at the far end of tank

If she didn't eat it might mean she's had enuf and the food is still digesting in her gut. Try her tomorrow or see how she goes next day.

The pieces of slate will look good, can't seem to find any but have large stones that I was given, and picked up a few from petshop) they're about 4inches long x 3 inches wide with rounded edges. They're easier to lift of the sand if need be than trying to find riverstones buried in the sand (which happened alot until I siliconed them together!)

If there's a strong smell at the end of the tank, check round that end for any uneaten/regurg. food or waste amongst/under decos, amongst the gravel (use turkey baster/siphon to move and lift things).

If unable to get nitrite test kit then take a sample of your tankwater to petshop and ask them to test for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates (get the no.s).

(Message edited by kapo on October 13, 2006)

thank u for ur help tonite kapo i will c how it goes tomorrow and will keep u posted. off to bed now

Same! Goodnight, I'm a bit bleary eyed (working late) and never got chance to come on here earlier. I hope that some of it helps. If in doubt ask here and hopefully someone will be round to help out.