2 Juveniles weird behavior

[omgitsmogo]

I just got 2 juvenile axolotls about a week ago and all was fine for the first 5 days or so. I had quickly cycled the tank using bacteria from my other axolotl's established tank and all levels looked fine with good bacteria growing on the new filter already.

Just yesterday the smaller of the 2 started acting strangely, very passively floating, seeming to shake his head, acting lethargic. Today he still looks lethargic and the other keeps continually swimming towards the output from the filter.

I checked levels and nitrite and nitrates were fine but ammonia was high yesterday (slightly below 1) so I added some Prime and did about a 50% water change. The smaller guy is still looking very lethargic/barely moving.

I held off on feeding not wanting to add more ammonia (I am currently feeding frozen brine shrimp which I suspect could be the cause of the problem)

Should I take them out of the tank? I have never had to do this before and am nervous about putting them in 100% new water so quickly with no filter.

Thanks in advance

ALSO - i ordered some API quick start that will be here tomorrow, will that be of any help? I figured adding more bacteria would help level things out

 

[Skudo09]

Could you clarify what you mean by cycling the tank with bacteria from the other already established tank? If you are getting a reading of ammonia, your tank is not cycled. I would remove the axolotls from the tank and place them in a tub of clean, fresh, dechlorinated water and do daily 100% water changes whilst they remain in the tub. This will allow you to monitor them closely and give them the best chance of recovery whist you can get the tank's parameters in order.

Placing them in new water should not be an issue as long as you acclimate them to the temperature first. For daily 100% water changes, it may be easier to have a second tub pre-prepared each day next to the tub the axolotls are in so each day, you transfer the axolotls to the fresh tub of water and replace the tub they were moved from with fresh, dechlorinated water ready for the next day.

Everyone has different opinions on the Quick start bacteria. Personally I don't use them (I feel they can give a false sense of security) and prefer to cycle tanks naturally. If you can get some filter media from your already established tank and add that to this tank's filter, this will help speed up the process. However, whatever method you use, cycling takes a long time. You will need to be patient. I would keep the axolotls in the tub until the tank is fully cycled and use a fishless cycling method to cycle the tank. Below is a link on fishless cycling:

The (almost) Complete Guide and FAQ to Fishless Cycling - Aquarium Advice - Aquarium Forum Community