Unhealthy tank

My tank has been looking worse for wear over the past week or so. I do weekly 30% water changes, ammonia and ph levels are fine, I hand feed so there's very little excess food lying around.

The water's cloudy, I have those little white worms (planaria?) appearing on the glass, though not many, and the plants are dying. The axies are spending a lot of time at the top of the water, and on/near the filter.

My thought is that the dying plants might actually be causing the water quality, rather than vice versa. Should I get fake plants instead? I've heard real plants keep the algae down, could this become a problem if I did get rid of them?

Any advice appreciated!

Size of tank, temperature, exact readings for pH, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate?

Are you sure the live plants you have are appropriate for the tank? I mean, can they survive in cooler waters and the pH of your tank? Have you rooted them too deeply? A lot of plants will die if improperly rooted... or they may have higher lighting requirements, or you water may be lacking some nutrients they need to survive. What kind of plants do you have and how long have they been in the tank?

Anything amiss besides the cloudy water? Cloudy water could be an indication of a bacterial bloom- you sometimes get this kind of clouding as a tank cycles, but I'm sure yours has long since finished cycling! I think you're probably right and the dying plants are causing the cloudiness, but I wouldn't give up on live plants altogether just yet. Look for some hardy low-light plants (anubias, java moss/fern...) and start from there, but for now I'd definitely remove the plants you do have and see if things improve.

As for algae problems- as long as your nitrates and phosphates don't fly through the roof, any algae growth you get shouldn't be too scary. Your water changes will help this, so I wouldn't worry if you do go decide to go with plastic. One plus: synthetic plants are easy to scrub clean

2ft tank, 16 degrees right now, ph 6.8, ammmonia 0.25mg/L, and dont have a tester for nitrites/nitrates, so no idea.

the plants i had most recently were elodea, one with big purple leaves and one with light green wispy fronds - not sure what they're called. there's no light in the tank, that may be the problem, i guess.

ph aint so bad - very slighly acidic. You could try a bag of ammo lock to bring down the ammonia.
Not good with plants at all, even grass, but a daylight lamp must be of benefit to the plants. If they are rotting that's got to be bad until they are recycled as nitrates. II'd follow Leah's advice and replace plants with something else.

I've found Elodea doesnt do well in lowlight tanks. The last of my hornwort seems to be taking a liking to the tank and growing well. I just let it float about.

Was your ammonia always that high, or did it go up when the plants started decaying? Could be I'm used to keeping scaleless fish so I panic at anything above zero, but I still think 0.25 is dangerous! What is the generally accepted "safe" value for axolotls?

Try here for some good plant info.
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWebIndex/AquariumGardenSubWebIndex.html


If it were me, I'd try some low-light plants that don't need tropical conditions for survival before giving up altogether. Do you have some kind of small quarantine tank you could try them in first, to make sure they won't die and pollute your main tank? I haven't kept a lot of live plants, but with the ones I did have I found that adding a fertiliser to the water made a world of difference. The water in my area was very low in iron, so an iron supplement was just what the plants needed to thrive! Once you've got the light sorted for the tank, it may be worth calling your water treatment plant to see if they can give you an analysis of the water?

There are different kinds of Elodea, most are suited to cool waters, but there is one tropical species which might be what you've got? Here's some info on the different species:
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/PlantedTksSubWebIndex/elodea.htm

Live plants are great if you can get them to grow, don't give up on them too quick

on my test kit it 0.25 is the first reading above zero, so it's the closest the kit gets to zero without actually being nothing. it's usually between 0.25 and zero when i test it, but may be slightly higher due to the plant thing.

i think for now i'll get rid of the plants, maybe get a fake one or two, and just change the water til it goes clear over the next week or so. i might look at getting more later, but i can't afford a light right now, so will have to wait a little.