Bubbles after his fridge holiday

Here is bubbles coming out of the fridge and waiting to go back in the tank, i assure you the water is not cloudy its the container

You need to keep your little axolotl in the fridge longer. You need to make sure the problems with your tank are completely sorted..and it will take longer than a day.

I have got the water level's right down ammonia is .25, nitrite is .25and nitrate is 20, and I will keep an eye on him/her, I have moved tank to a better spot. Mel has been guiding me all day and I have left my sick albino in fridge. She has already passed a bit of gravel

He is happily swimming about hunting Bloodworms

Thank you for your concern but I am happier than I was last night

I was just wondering why you have any ammonia or nitrite in the tank. Have you cycled the tank? Just trying to look out for your little guy... : )

The axolotls give off ammonia don't they? I have also had brine shrimp and blood worms, i think they give off ammonia too.

Also is the presence of nitrite not a good thing, I have been changing about between 20-30% water daily, but all the tank, equipment and decorations are only a week old,

I have a couple live plants in there if this might explain I will do a water test before and after my change today, hopefully I only need to do a small change

Thank you for your comments I'm sure I will need more advice on my albino, she passed 6 bits of gravel already but has not eaten the Bloodworms I left with her in the fridge, her gills are still pointing forward after nearly a day in there, my whites are fine and he was only inside about 6 hours!

Ammonia, Nitrate and Nitrite are always present in the tank, even in your average tap water. They are part of the natural process of "waste management" in the water you might say :happy:
The only thing you gotta be concerned about is not having too much of it in the water.

I think you are doing fine by the sounds of it, if you keep up regular water changes the tank will soon be cycled through and everything should be fine!

I wish you luck with the sick one in the fridge, hope it makes it!

Regards Bjorn

I don´t agree with BBJ, that ammonia and nitrite are always present in the tank and in the tap water, too, because both are very toxic. They´re only present during the cycling process and after cycling the readings should be at zero.

I would stay him in the fridge as long as the tank isn´t fully cycled.

Tina

Hey Tina

You are right that when it is fully cycled, the value will probably read 0, and should read 0.
But they are still present, if you dont believe me check with your local water supplier, they usually offer detailed analysis of the tap water in your area. You will find that all three are present, although in very small amounts.

Ammonia is a waste product which is created by the inhabitants/plants/food, any organic waste in the tank, when you cycle a tank, what is happening is that the bacterial population of the tank is building up in order to handle the waste products present in the water. And as such, new ammonia is being added with every piece of organic matter decaying in the tank, the only difference is that a cycled tank is able to cope with this, while an uncycled tank is not.

I am not proposing that they are not harmful in larger amounts, merely stating that it is always present in water with more or less any form of life. :happy:

I would also add that you can cycle a tank while you have inhabitants in it, as long as you carefully monitor the water and do nescessary water changes. While this is not optimal, it is sometimes the only option and it can be done without putting an Axolotl through too much stress.

Regards Bjorn

Hi Björn,

yes, you´re right, but with our normal testing kits for the tank water you cannot detect these tiny little substances which are in the water.
I only wanted to mention that in a fully cycled tank these readings should be zero - measured by a normal testing kit. Otherwise newbies could think it´s normal to have nitrite or ammonia in the water and they don´t cycle their tanks carefully. For me it could be a misunderstanding which I wanted to clarify.

Tina