frogenjoyer
Member
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- May 14, 2022
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- Location
- Pennsylvania
- Country
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Hello everyone,
I am an experienced keeper of terrestrial newts, salamanders, and frogs. I love building intricate terrariums, but decided to wade into the waters of aquatic salamanders by purchasing my first axolotl in early April. I had a heavily planted 29 gallon tank with ghost shrimp and white cloud minnows established for 4 months before finally getting my axolotl. The axolotl was doing incredibly well in the tank from the beginning of April, through May, and into June, however the first week of June I noticed the tank became a bit cloudy, likely from a bacterial bloom. I measured the levels as I did weekly and all of the parameters were great. I observed the tank and axolotl closely for several days until I noticed the bloom worsening and a small puff of white fungus on my axolotl's gill, which resulted in a bit of a panic. The fungus wasn't there the day before and fell off in the process of moving the axolotl to the tub hospital, and luckily the fungus hasn't come back since then. The tank however has not become any less cloudy since then and has only gotten worse despite seemingly trying everything. First, I removed all dead leaves from any plants and even removed plants that were still alive but seemed to be outcompeted by other plants for nutrients. At first I tried many water changes until I learned that supplying the bacteria with fresh water was actually counterproductive to my goal. So then I followed the advice of many others of just letting the tank take care of itself and use SeaChem Prime to offset spikes in water parameters. That hasn't worked either. I purchased Fluval Bio Clear and have been using that every few days with the SeaChem Prime and am not seeing any results. My water levels have remained unchanged from beginning to end, so I'm completely baffled on what to do. I feel horrible every day having my axolotl in these tubs. I can practically see them longingly staring at their old tank from the tubs. Does anybody have any advice on what to do or a reliable course of action to restore order to my previously healthy and established tank? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Matt
Extra details:
Besides getting rid of the bacterial bloom, I'm also interested in figuring out the root cause of the bacterial bloom. The only thing that changed prior to the bloom is that I introduced two surface plants a couple weeks prior (duckweed and frogbit), however the duckweed and frogbit I received didn't exactly look like duckweed or frogbit I'm familiar with. I foolishly added them to the tank anyway thinking maybe they were just a different species or subspecies or just a similar plant that would work just as well. While I don't know if this was the cause or not, this is one possibility as it is the only thing that changed near the time of the bloom. Does anybody have any experience with blooms caused by the introduction of plants or decor? If so, how did you solve the problem?
I am an experienced keeper of terrestrial newts, salamanders, and frogs. I love building intricate terrariums, but decided to wade into the waters of aquatic salamanders by purchasing my first axolotl in early April. I had a heavily planted 29 gallon tank with ghost shrimp and white cloud minnows established for 4 months before finally getting my axolotl. The axolotl was doing incredibly well in the tank from the beginning of April, through May, and into June, however the first week of June I noticed the tank became a bit cloudy, likely from a bacterial bloom. I measured the levels as I did weekly and all of the parameters were great. I observed the tank and axolotl closely for several days until I noticed the bloom worsening and a small puff of white fungus on my axolotl's gill, which resulted in a bit of a panic. The fungus wasn't there the day before and fell off in the process of moving the axolotl to the tub hospital, and luckily the fungus hasn't come back since then. The tank however has not become any less cloudy since then and has only gotten worse despite seemingly trying everything. First, I removed all dead leaves from any plants and even removed plants that were still alive but seemed to be outcompeted by other plants for nutrients. At first I tried many water changes until I learned that supplying the bacteria with fresh water was actually counterproductive to my goal. So then I followed the advice of many others of just letting the tank take care of itself and use SeaChem Prime to offset spikes in water parameters. That hasn't worked either. I purchased Fluval Bio Clear and have been using that every few days with the SeaChem Prime and am not seeing any results. My water levels have remained unchanged from beginning to end, so I'm completely baffled on what to do. I feel horrible every day having my axolotl in these tubs. I can practically see them longingly staring at their old tank from the tubs. Does anybody have any advice on what to do or a reliable course of action to restore order to my previously healthy and established tank? Any help will be greatly appreciated.
Thank you,
Matt
Extra details:
Besides getting rid of the bacterial bloom, I'm also interested in figuring out the root cause of the bacterial bloom. The only thing that changed prior to the bloom is that I introduced two surface plants a couple weeks prior (duckweed and frogbit), however the duckweed and frogbit I received didn't exactly look like duckweed or frogbit I'm familiar with. I foolishly added them to the tank anyway thinking maybe they were just a different species or subspecies or just a similar plant that would work just as well. While I don't know if this was the cause or not, this is one possibility as it is the only thing that changed near the time of the bloom. Does anybody have any experience with blooms caused by the introduction of plants or decor? If so, how did you solve the problem?