Cloudiness

[lauren]

How do people get their water crystal clear? I do 20% water changes once or twice a week, and remove waste with a turkey baster when I see it. The temp in the tank is usually 68 F, and the parameters are perfect. Yet my water is constantly cloudy. It's a 10 gallon with only one axie.

I've had this problem with other aquariums as well. Is there any way to make the water clear again?

 

[nathan]

how long have u had this aquarium?? is it new? have u recently done a complete water change?

 

[lauren]

Its been up about 3 weeks, and I've done 3 20% water changes. Its fully cycled already.

 

[edward]

Hi Lauren,
How are you determining that the tank is already cycled. Cycling is considered complete when ammonia is zero, nitrite is zero and nitrate is present. (see http://www.caudata.org/cc/articles/cyclingEDK.shtml for more information).

It is unusual for a tank to be cycled in three weeks particuarly if you are still having cloudy water in the tank. Cloudy water in a new tank has been called new tank syndrome since the early 1950s. If your ammonia, and nitrite are zero and there you are overfeeding the animals.

Ed

 

[lauren]

I put bacteria in when I started the tank (The packets were called "cycle" by nutrafin) and have added another packet every time I've done a water tank. My parameters are Ammonia .5, Nitrate 20, Nitrite 0, Ph 7.6 On 10/17 my parameters were Ammonia .5, Nitrate 20, Nitrite 0, Ph - 7.2. The numbers were the same on 10/10. I think the numbers above zero may be caused by my test strips, since they are so stable. The tank water was cloudy at first, and then it did clear for a while. Now it's cloudy again.

How much waste does a single axolotl make? He's a 3 month old juvenile, so I can't really feed him less than 2 or 3 small pellets a day, can I? Should I be doing more water changes?

 

[edward]

Your tank has not cycled (as long as you have any ammonia readings the tank has not cycled). I would suggest stop using the cycle when you perform a water change. You are adding more nutrients to feed the bacteria. Because you are performing water changes this may be in part what is keeping the levels even. Personally I do not like the test strips (as they are not usually sensitive enough) and recommend using a better test kit (I personally prefer the dry tab test kit by aquarium pharmaceuticals).

Ed

 

[lauren]

Ed - How will I know when it's actually cycled if the levels remain even? The cycle page you posted said that if there are only nitrates if it has cycled at least once, and nitrites are always zero.

 

[edward]

For a tank to be cycled the bacteria need to be converting all of the ammonia as fast as it is produced to nitrite and all of the nitrite as fast as it has been produced to nitrate. In other words ammonia and nitrite need to be undetectable. If you are still detecting either nitrite or ammonia then the tank has not cycled or there is something else wrong with the tank. A normal timeline for a fast cycling of a tank is usually about 30 days, 60 days is often more normal but it can also take months if there is something disrupting the cycle.

Ed

 

[leah]

When ammonia and nitrite are zero, then it's cycled, not before. Your water changes are slowing the cycling process, but don't stop doing them! Since your axie is already living in the tank, you do need to do water changes to keep the waste levels from harming him, but it's going to take longer to cycle. Keep it up and you should see the ammonia come down

Just a thought- the .5 ammonia could be a false positive due to the dechlorinator you're using. Not all test kits are compatible with all water treatment products. The better kits will usually say which chemicals will cause false readings. Like Ed already said, the test strips aren't very accurate. See if you can get yourself some chemical test kits, or take a water sample to your fish store and compare your results. If that doesn't sort things out, it's possible that your guy is just messy! Axolotls are filthy creatures

What sort of filtration are you using?

Careful with bottled bacteria, I've known a few stores to ship it in frozen, thaw, and sell. I've always wondered how well the bacteria survive the freezing... I've never bought a bottle of Cycle that did me any good, but Bio-Spira is a good product if you're looking for an instant fix. The downside to the bio-spira is it's much harder to come by, but it is everything the manufacturers claim it to be.

 

[lauren]

Leah - I was thinking false reading too because the water was clear at one point after initial cloudiness, and there's never been a nitrite reading. I'll take some water to the fish store for better testing. My filter is an underwater corner filter run by an air-pump, with a carbon cartridge. I think its made by penn-plax.

The cycle came in little packets in a box, so I don't think it was frozen. I don't think it worked either. :/

 

[lauren]

Okay, I took the water to the fish store, and the ammonia and nitrites were both zero. So the tank is cycled. The guy who tested it said that if it was overfeeding, the nitrites would be up. He thinks the axolotl might be kicking up sediment that gets caught under the rocks I have in there, and that maybe I should remove the substrate. Does this stress the axolotls in any way? The bottom would look black like the stand the tank is on if there was nothing covering it.

 

[mik]

Lauren do u use a gravel syphon cleaner once or twice a week to pick up waste? It will lie between the stones and can build up leading to bacteria and fungal growth.

If you haven't try it and carry out a partial water change with water that has been aged.

 

[lauren]

Mik - I siphon waste with a turkey baster as soon as I see it. But I just removed the substrate stones and there were still small particles hidden. I think he was kicking it up between my weekly water changes (in which everything extra is siphoned with a regular pump). I'm just wondering if it's okay not to have a substrate - as the water seems to be clearing a little already.

 

[mik]

I use under gravel filters and therefore substrate is an integral part of it. However, you must keep it 'clean'. Turkey baster probably isn't going to be good enough. Try and get a gravel syphon, you'll be amazed what it gets out.

Try and keep tank cold-ish and be patient. It should eventually clear if you persevere.

 

[nathan]

Lauren,
use a gravel vac to siphon your gravel and I would recommend having substrate in the tank.
A bare glass bottom can stress an axie out. They need to be able to grip onto the bottom of a tank, if they can't grip they will stress.

What are you actually feeding your axolotl?

 

[leah]

Not to mention that the nitrifying bacteria need somewhere to live... If you get rid of the substrate altogether you're probably even more likely to have water quality issues than you are now. Gravel vacs are cheap and easy to use, and you don't even need to do the entire tank when you use it. Try vacuuming the tank in quarter sections once a week, when you do your water change. That way, the substrate is getting a thorough cleaning once a month.

From the sounds of it, your water quality is good and it's your test strips that are the problem. Is there any way of getting a more accurate kit, maybe one of the ones the store was using?

Cloudiness is sometimes caused by bacterial blooms when a tank first cycles. It's nothing to worry about- just the nitrifying bacteria growing like we want them to. If your axie isn't showing any ill effects from it all, I'd guess that's what it is. If not, could be that your filter isn't gutsy enough. I've never used an undergravel filter before, so I couldn't say for sure. If your little guy looks healthy, I'd sit tight for a while and just keep doing what you're already doing.

 

[lauren]

Is there any such thing as a power siphon, or one that's easy to start? I have a manual one, but since I don't have small gravel or high water levels, it's a pain to get the vacuum started.

 

[lauren]

Oh, and he's being fed floating trout pellets. Sometimes he gets bloodworms, but I remove all the excess right after.

 

[nathan]

Hi lauren,
try hand feeding the pellets, as soon as u put it in front of his face he'll gulp them. Blood worms aren't a good idea in the tank he's living in, even if you get excess that u actually see theyre messy, u should feed this in a separate holding tank if u are gonna feed these,.
try feeding him earthworms instead and the occasional tubifex cubes are good but again make sure they eat it straight away.
With the siphon, u can get an industrial type one that will cost u hundreds, i had trouble when i first got mine too but u get the hang of it, to start it make sure its submerged, if u have a shallow tank just put it in sideways it'll still work and jerk it around, kinda like...well i won't mention LOL but u get the idea, this will get it going straight away

it even works in my tiny 1 foot tropical tank whichs is very shallow, not even 30 cms high.
But definately keep substrate in there, like leah said good bacteria need it to live there, otherwise the only thing u can count on bacteria to live in is your filterwhich isn't too bad but i can't see it being too good either.
I actually have two filters, this was recommended to me when mine was constantly clouding, axies are messy.
I have a simple 25 buck hang on and a 10 buck undergravel, they both work so good, although the hang on gets the most of the <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> but also the water current circulates <font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font><font color="ff0000">&#149;</font> that'll never make it to the pipe so the undergravel takes care of that most of the time. I use big garden pebbles in my tank, theyre so quick and easy to vaccuum and clean and they make the tank look nice too.
Just a few suggestions

it's worked for me since i made those changes my tank is always crystal clear, i reckon it could go for months without getting the slightest bit of floating matter or cloud in the tank watsoever, but of course i don't let this happen i do about a 30 % water change in my 2ft tank every 3 to 4 weeks. U do the water change simultaneously as i'm vacuuming the gravel.

good luck

 

[lauren]

Nathan - Don't your axies get stressed from all the water flow? Or does the current not reach the bottom. Thanks to you, I'm now thinking about getting an undergravel and using it with my internal filter - that way I could run them off the the same air-pump.