I recently removed a plastic fern from the tank, if that has anything to do with it?
Is my level of Nitrate bad? You said 10-60, but mine reads as 0...
Thanks for the other help Jacqy.
No, it's not bad at all.
The process of cycling has two sets of bacteria. The first group breaks the highly toxic Ammonia to the less toxic (but still dangerous) Nitrite. The second group of bacterias break the toxic Nitrite to the non toxic form Nitrate.
When the nitrate is between 10-60 this means the beneficial bacterias are doing their job of breaking down the Ammonia and Nitrite to Nitrate. It will take a while for the Nitrate to start to climb - it tends to occur more toward the end of the cycle.
While the tank is cycling, you need to be doing daily partial water changes to make the Ammonia and Nitrite levels acceptable for the axolotls living in the water while the tank is cycling.
When cycle is complete, these water changes need only be done about once a week.
If the Nitrate ever climbs above 60 (it may actually be 80 - but I'll plug for 60
) then this is toxic and will need more frequent water changes to bring down to the safe levels 10 - 60.