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Ammonia Burns and Stress

Erynn Champion

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I am a new Axolotl owner and could really use some advice. My little guy is about 2-3 inches long and I got him a few weeks ago. I noticed some red coloration on his gills that wasn't normal so I contacted the person I purchased him from and they told me it was ammonia burns. I tested my water and it did come out a bit high so they recommended I put him in a dish with fresh dechlorinated water. I did so and he seemed to react worse (he threw up and was swimming frantically) and when I tested that water, it came out high as well. Not as high as the tank water but between .25 and .5.

He's still eating and doing his business but I can't figure out how to lower the ammonia enough to where it doesn't bother him. I've tried water changes and it comes out high and I've also tried using pellets to reduce it. The pellets helped a little but it's still high. Any tips are greatly appreciated!
 

Erynn Champion

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Update: I bought some Spring Water and tested it, and even that came out high with ammonia between .25 - .5

Nitrate and Nitrite are in the safe levels.
The water is pretty hard.
And it's between 7.8 and 8.4 Alkaline
 

Tarabull

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Keep it in the separate contsiner using the spring water and 100% water changes daily to it until the tank gets under control. It should be fine. Get your water tested by someone else to see if maybe your kit isn't working properly because the spring water should be good for it. You can do tea bathes to help sooth its skin. That information is in the sticky section. Try to keep it in a dark area to keep the stress level down. They normally pull through if you caught it in time.
 

Erynn Champion

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Thank you so much for replying! I've been so worried sick about him but I wanted to make sure the spring water would be safe for him since it too has some levels of ammonia in it. But I'll go ahead and do that!
 
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