But I just came home to find squishy floating vertically with her head touching the surface. Tapped the glass and she slowly floated down to the bottom, and is barely moving. Temps at 20C. Possibly a little warm, but its been 21 for the last few days. Fed her earlier on today. Could this be a result of the 50% change instead of my usual 10-20%? I don't think she's ill, but she's definitely not happy. Is there any other way to lower my parameters without doing such a drastic change?
Hi Aimee,
The only way to bring ammonia and nitrite levels down is doing partial daily water changes. Never use so called 'chemical fixes' sold at aquariums to adjust parameters, these cause more trouble than they are worth and will harm the axolotl.
What sort of filter are you using? If you are using an undergravel filter this may explain the ammonia and nitrite levels being so high as the wastes trapped by the filter are not leaving the water.
If you are using a canister filter, I would take filter out, check it for gunk and give the sponge media a shake in a bucket of the tank water - do not rinse sponges under the tap or use chlorinated water!
How large is the tank? If the tank is small, wastes are not dilluted as efficiently as they would be in a large tank.
Do you have any live plants that may be dying? - dying plants increase ammonia levels.
I hate to say it, but if you are feeding bloodworm every day - this may also be contributing to the ammonia and nitrite spikes - bloodworm is very messy and difficult to clean up.
Cheers Jacq.