Axie guidance, ammonia, fuzz, poop, behavior

So I have had my axie for 2 weeks this Friday. And a few concerns have come up for me:

1. While my tank levels are good for everything else ( nitrate, nitrite, and ph- ph is above neutral but not dangerous from what I've read) my ammonia levels are increasing. I did not really " cycle" the tank before so I expected having to watch the tank, I'm just confused with the other levels being normal today my test kit read around .5 - 1

2. There is a white fuzz growing on my hides, my filter and one side of the tank. My guess is that the filter or the tank wall were the first place. Tonight was first time I noticed a large chunk of white/ clear fuzz on my hide. I look pretty closely every day. I suction out unbeaten food and poop to the best of my ability each day ( I have sand as substrate) should I do large water change, small one daily??

3. My axie's poops have been typically pretty small I would say maybe a bit larger than a mouse poop? But today when I came ome there was a very long ( about an inch long poop in there) I did feed him frozen blood worms today ( I have been alternating between these and pellet food

4. Acting odd has been part of my babies charm, but tonight he was almost uncoordinated in his swimming. He would haphazardly swim using his arms then stop and nose drive ( gentely) into the sand. Usually he will swim nd float down not plant his face.

((Also I say "he" not knowing the sex of my axie))

Thanks so much!

It sounds like your tank is still trying to cycle and has not yet developed enough good bacteria to cope with the ammonia.

Are you able to post pictures of the fuzzy white stuff?

One inch poops are nothing to be concerned about, axolotl excretions can be impressive!

1. I don't think you tank is cycled properly - Ammonia is the first product, then NO2 then NO3 - so you need ammonia before you get the other 2. You could try adding some 'friendly bacteria' solution or pearls, but daily water changes will be needed in the short term.
2. photos of the fuzz would be useful, but a gentle wipe with a damp cloth should remove it.
3. Poops vary in size - mine regulary produce kidney-bean size nuggets, sometimes little sausage shaped ones too. All normal.
4. Unco-ordinated is normal! Swimming funny, bumping into things, landing on their heads - all quite normal behaviour. Ever seen one try and do a U-turn? Not exactly elegant....!

auntiejude said:

4. Unco-ordinated is normal! Swimming funny, bumping into things, landing on their heads - all quite normal behaviour. Ever seen one try and do a U-turn? Not exactly elegant....!

Click to expand...

Lol for such a small animal they have the turning circle of the Queen Mary! Also have no concept of what space will be needed to move thru something. the Aussie saying ,
"She'll be right" seems to fit their way of thinking quite well :wacko:

Thanks everyone! I will try to post pictures of the fuzz later on tonight. Perhaps the little guy has finally gotten use to his new home so is becoming regular with his poop (today they weren't as large but still larger than they have been), he was in a tank with a lot of siblings before so I think he has been a bit confused and lonely.

I have been doing every-other-day water changes so I will switch to everyday ones. would you guys suggest 20% or is that too much for daily?? 10?

I really do appreciate all of the help, I am a worrywart!

As a side note: does anyone have anything in there tank for their axolotl to play with? Example: a ball or something that they would be able to move around and such?

Things for axies to play with:
bubbles, marimo balls, shrimp or feeder fish, plants to 'hang out' in, slate or ornaments for them to lounge on, hides to swim in and out of, other axies to chase.

I couldn't figure out how to post a picture of my own on here, so this is not my tank, but that is what a few spots look like. mainly they fuzz is small though and located on the tank walls.