Floating. Preference or Something Wrong?

Hiya, I've mentioned that my axie tends to float quite a bit elsewhere, but I wanted to make a main question out of it. I feel like she does it because that's her personality, but I want to see if there's anything I'm overlooking. I've had her for a month and shes a little over a year old and she spends about 70% floating and chilling near the outlet of the sponge filter feeling the bubbles and the other 30% sitting at bottom (sometimes standing) or on medium height plants. The tank is currently a 10 gal, she's moving soon I think she may stay at bottom more when there's more room, the water is filled basically to the top because the sponge filter is tall so it needs a lot of water to cover it (i think the tank is 13" high so its about 12" filled)-------
So could the height make her float or affect the oxygen near the bottom?

She does not seemed stressed in any other way at all, no unusual behavior. She eats just fine. The tank IS cycling and I change it daily 20-30%, and its about the third week of cycling and I'm still seeing ammonia? Can you still see ammonia in stage 2 or does it just take longer than I thought?

I am afraid I don't know much about the floating habit, but I can answer the questions you have on water parameters.

Given that you are using a sponge filter and the temperature of the water that people keep axolotls at, you should have more than enough dissolved oxygen in the water. 13" isn't deep enough to make a noticable difference in oxygen content versus depth to the system and the sponge filter would keep the water circulated quite well.

As to the cycling of the tank. It can take up to 6 weeks for a tank to be fully cycled. I would be interested to know when your ammonia spiked and what level it is reading at now though. Are you testing for nitrites? Either way, given the timeline you have given, as long as you do not have high enough ammonia levels to kill off the growth of bacteria you should be into the second stage. Which means the ammonia level should be dropping off quite quickly to unreadable levels.


Something you should concider though, and I do not see why it wouldn't carry over to axolotls given their gill structure. Ammonia burns tissue, particularly sensitive tissue. If it is damaging your axolotls gills this could be why it is hanging out near the surface. What is your pH at? Ammonia toxicity will drop as pH is lowered and it could give an indication if this is a problem. Also check to see if the gills look inflamed or reddish (hard if it is albino).

Also, nitrites, the next portion of the cycle, cause brown blood disease in fish. Meaning it prevents fish from uptaking oxygen from the water. Typically the gills look brownish (hense the name). That could also be contibuting.

I hope that helps a bit

Thank you, this is quite helpful. For the ammonia spiking: That is tricky because I used to use AmQuel Plus (I have since stopped, carson on these forums mentioned that it may have been the cause of his tank cycle crashing, and other people are iffy) so that could have given false readings. The absolute HIGHEST I've seen it at is around 2 ppm. I obviously immediately changed it, but it has stayed around .5 max. I figure its about 9 gallons full so I generally change 2 to 2.5 gallons daily.

I have not started nitrite testing, I was waiting for a reading of zero. I will start testing that, though with the amount of water I have been changing I think it should have been fine. Also I have 1 moss ball and one java fern for a 10 gallon, and the sponge filter (this would be enough right for bb growth?), is there a rule for number of plants per 10s of gallons?

She is black so it is difficult to see any discoloration. Her gills seem perfectly healthy, theyve grown since the sponge filter, and she does not gulp a lot. Brown blood disease does not sound very pleasant, I do not think it's that (I hope not), she seems perfectly fine otherwise.

Thank you for all the info and help sir

Also, probably a dumb question, should the filter outlet be a certain number of inches from the top of the water? Does it matter how far the bubbles travel?

Kenneth said:

Also, probably a dumb question, should the filter outlet be a certain number of inches from the top of the water? Does it matter how far the bubbles travel?

Click to expand...

Typically speaking a spong filter outlet can be completely submerged and it is fine. Too high out of the water though and you stop getting water moving through the sponge at a decent rate. I wouldn't go with more than half an inch above the water, any more than that and you will see a drastic decrease in efficiency (from my experience).

I don't know what AmQuel Plus is, but I will assume it is something to help cycle a tank, and yes... those are money grabbing garbage products. I rate those up there with a certain medication line that will remain nameless lol.

0.5ppm for ammonia isn't too bad. It isn't great, but it isn't likely to be making your axie too uncomfortable, but maybe someone else can comment on that. I don't own one myself and my knowledge is just general fish husbandry knowledge. Though gill growth could indicate that she is trying to get more oxygen from the water. It is a tough call.

"Also I have 1 moss ball and one java fern for a 10 gallon, and the sponge filter (this would be enough right for bb growth?), is there a rule for number of plants per 10s of gallons?"

you will have to forgive me, I am terrible with acronyms. What does "bb" mean? benificial bacteria? Generally, the more surface area in the tank the better. As far as I am concerned you can't have too many healthy plants. Just make sure nothing is dieing off (that will contribute to poor water quality). As long as your axie can still move around then you are fine.

*edit*
I almost forgot to ask. What brand of test kit are you using? This is surprisingly important since some kits are known to give... slightly inacurrate readings..

I think I worded it wrong. My spong filter is sumberged, the tube that outputs bubbles is only like an inch FROM the top, not out of it. But I still think you answered my question lol. I use API test kit, I've heard it is the best.

AmQuel Plus came with my NovAqua Plus(detoxifies chorline and chloramines and provides slime coat) whereas Amquel plus does that AND detoxifies ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. It says it does not interfere with cycle, but I dont know :/. I dont really use it now. My java fern always gets knocked and just floats around, I dont THINK its dead/dying..it still looks pretty green, its only a little torn from when she knocks it all over the place. Some bits do float away but I don't think its dead. Maybe i should get rid of it and just use a few moss balls?

lol you may not own one, but this is all helpful

lol, I am glad that my info answered your question, I think lol.

API is a good brand, one of the simplest to use and most accurate. It is what we used all the time in the fish room I worked at. It does tend to have a bit of a false positive though. EI. It will still read an ammonia concentration of 0.25 when it is actually 0. It is just a artifact of the colour of the test charts in some kits. Given the closeness of the colours it could be that your ammonia is actually lower than you think it is. Which is why I asked about the brand you were using and if you had tested for nitrites yet. - Take this info with a grain of salt. It is just something we noticed at work with some of the kits (we used ALOT of them).

Java fern is pretty hard to kill. As long as the rhizome is still nice and healthy you are golden. you might concider tieing it to some driftwood or a rock so that it isn't knocked around as much. Fishing line or unflavoured dental floss is good for this. It allows the plant a chance to route to something.

First, Kim, that's an excellent graph! Very helpful visuals.

Sponge filters do best when they're completely submerged. Your outlet should be under the water, but how far under is really up to you. My outlet tube is only a couple inches long, so mine's way under water.

Floating is usually only an issue when the axolotl cannot get back to the bottom willingly. If your axolotl floats, then walks around on the bottom, and then floats some more, but can easily go back and forth, I wouldn't worry. When the animal is floating and cannot get back to the bottom, or floats up quickly like a fishing bobber, then it's time to worry a little.

It is good to hear from someone with experience that this isn't something to worry about. It is a curious habit of Kenneth's little guy and I was worried for him.

Thank you Kaysie for posting that information

I think preferential floating occurs in tanks that don't have strong filtration. The amount of dissolved oxygen is lower because there's a lower turnover rate, so the axies hang out where there's more dissolved gas exchange, like by the filter or at the surface.

Thank you both for taking the time to answer my questions, much obliged. And thank you Kim for the options in tying the plant down, I was mostly concerned with the idea that I thought it could die easier if it floated around more. There's no stuff that's good for it in my sand I assume, so tying is just for look and convenience mostly?

Thanks kaysie again and she can stay at the bottom, in fact she was just doing it for a bit. I've heard of their rear end floating and all that, but this has not been the case. She willingly goes up or down i t seems. And what would u recommend to fix the filtration? I want to stick with a sponge filter, but like I mentioned I'm upgrading soon so I will probably have two filters or one larger one. Would that help the filtration problem, if that is indeed what dictates her floating? So its a bad thing with less dissolved oxygen? Uncomfy for them?

even if the substrate were more geared towards plants you still wouldn't want to bury the root system of that plant. It needs to have good water flow around it to get nutrients. Tieing it down is mostly cosmetic. Some people also wedge them between rocks or in a piece of wood as well.

less dissolved oxygen means that it is harder for them to breath, so yes it is a bit uncomfy for them.

Hmmm, maybe ill try an airstone, those work from the bottom up. Sorry I'm just a fountain of questions: can there be too much oxygen?