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New to this, worried about the state of the tank

lpc17

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Hi everyone,

So I got my first axolotl a little over a month ago, and due to some terrible communication on the part of the pet shop, I didn't even know there was such a thing as the nitrogen cycle, and put the poor guy straight in an uncycled tank.

Now, there's nothing wrong with the axolotl himself (I don't think), he's not showing any typical signs of stress, eating normally and all that, however I am getting more and more concerned about the state of my tank. The ammonia levels are continuing to rise, and according to my test kit there are still no nitrates developing (after a month!) I'm changing the water regularly to try and control the ammonia, but it's getting pretty tedious. Is this at all normal? Has it happened to anyone else or do I really need to start panicking?

Please help me out!

Thanks,
Louisa
 

Skudo09

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Ammonia and nitrite will spike whilst the tank is cycling. Nitrate is the end part of the cycle. So bacteria that eats ammonia will colonise first and concert ammonia to nitrite. Then bacteria that eats nitrite will colonise and covert nitrite to nitrate. Nitrate is the end part of the cycle. A cycled tank will read zero ammonia, zero nitrite and a presence of nitrate but you will want to keep nitrate below 40ppm with regular water changes.

Whilst the tank is cycling though you will need to monitor the parameters very closely and do more frequent water changes. Cycling a tank takes some time and takes longer with aquatic life in the tank. If you have access to filter material from an already cycled established tank and place it in your filter this may help to speed the process. Or ornaments or substrate from a cycled tank can also help. You may find it easier to cycle the tank without the axolotl in the tank and doing a fish less cycle. If you do this, keep your axolotl in a tub of clean, dechlorinated water and change the water in the tub daily (100% of the water daily)until the tank is cycled and the parameters are good. This way you can rise the ammonia to 4ppm in the tank without harming your axolotl and speed it up a little. Read up on fish less cycling. How often are you changing water and how much? What are the actual readings you are getting?
 

cabbysarus

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I was in a very similar boat. My little guys have been very happy and eating well despite the water not being cycled. Just stay on top on the water changes and keep an eye on the ammonia. I've been working on this for a little over a month now and it just now started showing nitrites in the water. ^.^
 
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