Help, Nitrite Spike

leandrah

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Hey guys,
My Axy tank was fully cycled, but obviously from changing the substrate to sand, getting a new filter and doing frequent water changes - its messed it up somewhere along the line.

I understand the whole cycle, but I have this one question,

I have a fully established big fish tank, would it help if i took my new filter out of the Axy tank and left it in the big tank for the night? - to get the bacteria to start growing properly, and I do a big water change from the Axy tank and I add fish water from my other big tank into the Axy tank?

The other tank is 110% healthy, there is no fungus or any of that stuff.
And the water that would be put back into the Axy tank would have bacteria in it,

What are your thoughts?:(
 
Hey it is okay to leave the new filter in the old fish tank to help it cycle but it will still take the 4+ weeks to reestablish enough bacteria for it to handle your axolotl tank. You should have kept the old media from the first filter to help seed the new one, thats why your cycle crashed. Even though you have no signs of disease or anything in your old fishtank it doesn't mean its not there and its just not a risk that needs taking. Also your old fish tank water will have some level of nitrates in it which is still not good for a messy axolotl. Do a large dechlorinated water change for the axolotl keeping ammonia and nitrite under 0.25ppm and check everyday. You basically need to redo the whole cycling process. Leave the new filter on the fish tank for a few weeks if you want to help it along a little but you can also keep it on the axolotl tank since it will take roughly the same amount of time.

Its going to be a pain but you're looking at daily water changes for the next few weeks. Sorry :/
 
My understanding is that the bacteria mainly live on surfaces such as filter media, substrate, ornaments etc as opposed to water so I don't know that adding water from a cycled tank would be of great benefit.

I am cycling my tank at the moment and it is almost there. I replaced the substrate in one of my cycled tanks and put the old substrate in the cycling tank. As it is gravel and not safe or what I want to use for axolotls (I have sand for them), I placed it in new, clean glass bowls in the tank so that it would be easy to remove once the tank is cycled. Putting the filter in the cycled tank would help from what I have read but I am not sure whether 24 hours would be enough. Someone with more knowledge would be able to advise :)
 
Thank you so much for replying,
I can take the old filter out of a new tank i was setting up and put it back in the tank?

that might be a much better idea.
Then I will have 2 filters in the Axlotl tank, one is the new one - and the other is the old one

Would that be the best solution?
 
Yes that would be the best way because the old filter should already be cycled and contain most of the bacteria. This allows the new filter to have time to colonize bacteria without having to worry about recycling the whole tank. Always monitor your tank whenever you add anything new to make sure nothing spikes up too bad. Axolotls are sensitive to any ammonia/nitrite but won't look like anything is really wrong until the levels spike up a lot. It also depend on the axolotl, only one of mine curls its gills when ammonia/nitrite go above 0, the others won't change until its much higher. I use the sensitive one to indicate when I should check.
 
My Axolotls are all fine, eating and everything,

How much of a water change should i do?
and will it affect the bacteria if I put the other filter in there too?

Also, how often should I change the water now that the other filter with the established bacteria is going in?
 
You want to get a liquid test kit. You basically always want to keep the ammonia and nitrites under 0.25ppm, and nitrates under 40ppm if you have anything in the tank. If you do not have a test kit I would do an 80% water change just to be safe. The old filter should be cycled meaning that it should keep ammonia/nitrites down, but always test just in case.

The easy way to think about it is your old filter has more than 90% of the beneficial bacteria in it, while the rest is on stuff in your tank. The bacteria can only reproduce at a certain rate, so if you are starting with 10 bacteria and need 1000 it will take some time to get to that number. If you are starting with 1000 (just figurative numbers) in your old filter and the new filter needs 1000 as well, it will not take nearly as long since there are so many bacteria available to reproduce. This is the reasoning behind seeding a new filter with old media. A fully cycled tank will still need water changes at least once a week for an axolotl.
 
As for your axolotls still eating, My tank a while back had a large ammonia spike (+4ppm) and they were all still eating and only one showed curled gills. Axolotls are not the greatest early indicators and usually indicate when its too late.
 
Oh and its very important to use dechlorinated water! Any pet store sells dechlorinaters for lik $5-10. If you add any water that has even small amounts of chlorine or chloramines itll kill your beneficial bacteria.
 
Thank you so much,
its much appreciated.

I'll do a big water change when I get home, that should help things.
I only use dechlorinated water :)
 
One more thing, If i do a big water change, and I add the other filter
will this bring the Nitrite down?
 
The old filter (as long as it has been kept wet) should still have the nitrifying bacteria so it will help bring nitrites down. BUT it will most likely not be fast enough. If you test your water and find its at 4.0ppm nitrate or ammonia a 50% water change will only bring it down to 2ppm. Its really important for the axolotls safety that it at the most 0.25ppm.
You can see the importance of the test kits now, I test every other day on my cycled tank just to be safe. Big water changes can do no harm, always test the water before though. I personally would do more than an 80% if its an uncycled tank, even when adding the old filter just to keep it safe. how big is your tank?
 
Its a 3foot tank - so its around 180litres,
the Nitrite is closer to 0.3mg per litre - Not sure what that means?!

How much is that compared to "ppm"?
 
Its about a 40 gallon tank in your terms (we use litres here)

Im just confused about the reading, the close to 3mg per litre, what is that Nitrate in your ppm reading?
 
mg/L is equal to ppm

so my readings right now would be 0 mg/l ammonia 0 mg/l nitrite and probably 20 mg/l nitrate. nitrate is the safer of the three.

40 gallons is pretty large for one axolotl so nitrates should take a little longer to build up. if you only have 3 mg/l of nitrates you shouldn't worry too much. if thats nitrites though you should be doing more than 90% water change to bring it below 0.25 mg/l
 
Its nitrites unfortunately. Going to get started on the water change now. I have 2 in the tank. And some guppies
 
I did the water change. And ive got the other filter in too, does the old filter need to be on?
 
I did the water change. And ive got the other filter in too, does the old filter need to be on?

Yes, definitely. But be very careful and monitor your ammonia, if that filter has been sitting, gotten dry, or been without enough oxygen ( generally its said the bacteria only live an hour in water outside the tank when you're borrowing media for seeding) the bacteria can very well all be dead and it can create dangerous spikes, so keep an eye on it.
 
Hi Kaini, it has been in another tank with my arowana and alligator gar. The tank looks a lot better today, the axies seem stoked. I dont think that there will be an ammonia spike because the other filter has been running for a year, and I literally took it out of the other tank and put it straight into the axolotl tank. Should I still do a 20% water change? And what should my nitrite levels look like today after the big water change?
 
Just tested the water, everything is perfect :). The other filter in the tank has obviously done wonders as well as all the water changes. Do i need to still keep doing the 20% water changes a day?
 
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