Question: Stressed axies with good water parameters. why?

Ok, so i have two 5 month old axies who are living in the same tank. they've been fridging for a week or so due to insanely high amonia levels that i somehow failed to catch. since then, the water in their tank is around .25 amonia (changing 20-50% water since reading), 0 nitrite, and 5 nitrate. i know my tank has cycled since my previous nitrite readings 5 days ago were pure dark purple, whereas today they're the lightest blue (test kit: blue =0, purple =...more than that), and my nitrate levels have also risen.

during fridging they ate very little, and were kept at around 42-45 degrees, although i offered them food everyday, along with daily water changes. they were also kept in separate containers.

could it be they're upset about being kept together again, and it'll possibly calm down in a couple of days? is the slight amonia the cause, or maybe the lack of eating? i was also wondering if the temp change after such a long fridging could be it; they're back to between 64-68 degrees, fluctuations due to the room's heating/cooling.


any ideas anyone? i've only had them back in the tank for a couple of hours, so maybe i'm having overly protective concerns, but i'm just confused. they keep swimming frantically across the tank, flicking their gills, and curling their gills.

help/ideas are much appreciated. @.@;

How big is your tank?

Did you acclimate your axolotls to tank temperature after taking them out of the fridge? Or did you just plunk them back in?

i acclimated them for at least 50 minutes when i put them back in. but they seem to have calmed down significantly since i first put them in. i think, at this point, they may have just been reacting to being back in their tank after a full 11 days in a dark mini-fridge. all the sudden they were put into a much larger space with more lighting. i put a towel around a corner of their tank, on top of their hides, and they calmed down quite a lot after the addition. i'm thinking after a couple days of removing it, if they still seem to be acting normally and no other elements have been changed; aka, banking on the notion that it was just moving stress.

they're in a 20 gal long for the time. i'm a bit of a newbie, if that wasn't already apparent, so i'm having first time paranoia. -_-;

Glad to hear they've settled down.

Don't worry about the 'first time parent' paranoia. We've all been there!

Kaysie said:

Glad to hear they've settled down.

Don't worry about the 'first time parent' paranoia. We've all been there!

Click to expand...

Heheh. So true!

Glad to hear they are getting back to what passes for normal. Ours sometimes have a mad dash about just for the sheer fun of it, then one will bump into the other, and they'll both be dashing about, then settle back down when they have had enough. Perhaps they were just a little freaked, or could indeed be them feeling energetic now they've warmed up! I guess just keep an eye on them for any changes, and keep an eye on the ammonia too