holdonbaby
New member
Clearly (no pun intended) I'm doing something wrong to have such consistently cloudy water. See attached pictures for proof of my ongoing, miserable failure and my poor Trent's living environment.
Here are my current parameters:
Species: Leucistic Male Axolotl
Age: ~2 years
Temp: 68.4 F
Size: 20 gal filled to about 13
Filtration system: Ovation 700
Substrate: Roofing slate
pH: greater than or equal to 7.6 so tested High pH which is...
High pH: 8.0-8.2
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrates: 0 ppm (probably due to the water changes)
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Phosphates: 0.25-0.5 ppm
The water also feels somewhat slimy. When I put the drops in to get the parameters, they disperse more slowly so I'm pretty confident the viscosity is different from normal water.
My initial thought was bacterial bloom, but it seems the phosphates should be higher. The water literally looks like someone dumped milk into it and you can sort of see clouds moving with the current from the filter. Other than bacteria, I'm not sure what else it could be.
Trent has also started standing in a weird way where he arches his back up. I know axolotls get in weird positions all the time but I'm paranoid because of his water conditions that this might indicate something bad. One of the pictures attached shows him doing it.
Any advice? At this point I'm about to drain the whole tank and put him in an isolation tank and start over. This will require re-cycling the entire set up, though, plus nearly daily water changes in his isolation tank. As of a few days ago, I'm doing about 20-30% water changes every other day or so but I'm seeing little to no improvement.
TL;DR Help! It looks like I dumped milk in my axolotl's water and I don't know what to do.
Here are my current parameters:
Species: Leucistic Male Axolotl
Age: ~2 years
Temp: 68.4 F
Size: 20 gal filled to about 13
Filtration system: Ovation 700
Substrate: Roofing slate
pH: greater than or equal to 7.6 so tested High pH which is...
High pH: 8.0-8.2
Ammonia: 0.25 ppm
Nitrates: 0 ppm (probably due to the water changes)
Nitrites: 0 ppm
Phosphates: 0.25-0.5 ppm
The water also feels somewhat slimy. When I put the drops in to get the parameters, they disperse more slowly so I'm pretty confident the viscosity is different from normal water.
My initial thought was bacterial bloom, but it seems the phosphates should be higher. The water literally looks like someone dumped milk into it and you can sort of see clouds moving with the current from the filter. Other than bacteria, I'm not sure what else it could be.
Trent has also started standing in a weird way where he arches his back up. I know axolotls get in weird positions all the time but I'm paranoid because of his water conditions that this might indicate something bad. One of the pictures attached shows him doing it.
Any advice? At this point I'm about to drain the whole tank and put him in an isolation tank and start over. This will require re-cycling the entire set up, though, plus nearly daily water changes in his isolation tank. As of a few days ago, I'm doing about 20-30% water changes every other day or so but I'm seeing little to no improvement.
TL;DR Help! It looks like I dumped milk in my axolotl's water and I don't know what to do.