Wriggly things in my tank, and how do I change to sand?

Hello! I'm still relatively new to this forum (and axolotls), and have hundreds of questions to ask, but I'll start with the two most pressing ones...

Just today I woke up to say hi to my two little axolotls, and noticed loads of wriggling wormy things in the tank. They basically look like the bloodworms - but really tiny. They 'swim' in a screwing motion and are red. I have been regularly cleaning the tank, but a week ago tried feeding them some other food that they didn't seem overly enamored with and just scattered it about the tank, and the tank quickly got murky over a couple of days (i've been doing 20% water changes once a week) so I cleaned it two days ago, and then again today once i noticed the squigglers.

Just want some advice - are they safe? Common? Or should I panic?

I currently have two very grumpy axolotls sat in a separate container until I'm happy they can go back in.

Second question is, I was given a wealth of information from the aquatics store when I bought the fellas, and about 10% proved true. One piece of 'advice' is that gravel is best, but I've subsequently realised this isn't true (and not to trust pet shop owners )

So I would like to change to a sand substrate. How on earth do I go about this? Should I simply transfer the 'lotls to another container, rinse out the tank and start again, using the culture tank cycling treatment as when I bought them? A nice guy in another aquatics store told me that sand can be dangerous as pockets of ammonia can develop and when I am cleaning I might disturb it and kill the 'lotls.

Other than that - what wicked cool pets they are! I love them to bits, and hopefully I'm not asking too many stupid newbie questions and making you repeat yourselves!

Thanks in advance!

mew x

Welcome to the forum!

The wiggly things are probably midge or gnat larvae. They're attracted to the water to lay eggs, whether it's in your tank or a mud puddle or an old tire. If you're worried about it, and this will help the cloudy water too, you can do more frequent water changes: 20% twice a week, or 10% 3 times a week.

The midges themselves are not dangerous, but when they metamorphose, they can be annoying flying around the house/your head. You can try sucking them out as you see them individually with a turkey baster.

As for the substrate, sand can develop pockets if it's really thick. If you keep your sand layer thin (mine is maybe 4cm), this won't happen. Also, stirring it frequently, such as when you do water changes, will prevent this too. I don't think it's anything to worry about unless you have extremely thick sand, over 15cm deep.

thanks Kaysie!

i'll pick up some sand - would you suggest just getting it over with quickly? when I bought Chester and Roscoe they gave me no advice on cycling the tank, so I bought the solution to help - if I take the fellas out, and basically start again with the tank/water is that just going to stress them out?

i'll go for more frequent water changes for a while then!

and as it happens, those wrigglers are currently getting devoured by Roscoe, who thinks its all splendid fun.

If your tank is already cycled and you keep your filter and ornaments/ hides etc in a bucket of tank water while you switch and dont clean them before putting them back, your tank will cycle again in no time at all

Another note about sand, you will want to sift it for wayward gravel and rinse, rinse, rinse, rinse!...A popular method is to put the sand in a bucket, insert the end of your garden hose down into the middle of it and turn the hose on. Mix it around every so often until the water runs clear...This will take literally hours but the cleaner you get the sand, the better off you will be when putting it in the tank.

thanks for the advice folks

the 'ornaments' will be transferred so glad to know the tank will cycle quickly. added some moss balls today - couldn't resist after seeing the thread on them, and the 'lotls are currently charging about quite happy.

tomorrow morning i'll go grab some sand and make the most of my extortionate glasgow council tax rates by running water through the sand for ages!

btw - the wrigglers all appear to have been eaten by the 'lotls, or are hanging around in the gravel which i'm getting rid of.

i do appreciate the replies - i'm fairly precious about these little guys so good to get reassurance!

x

Yeah midges can be quite a bugger with gravel, I had a problem a while ago with my big gravel for C.orientalis, they just get under the stuff and seem to be everywhere, you'll probably find a lot of them as soon as the gravel comes up so make sure you've got a hood ready or some sort of cover, it's not very pleasant to have them flying around your face.

It only took me about 15 minutes to clear my 6kg bag of sand with the bucket and hose technique, you don't really need to run for hours once it runs clear, just an extra few moments to be sure Depending on where you get the sand, of course.

Crysta said:

it's not very pleasant to have them flying around your face.

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Bleuurgh, and today was that glorious day!