High Ammonia After Partial Water Change

[sk26]

Hi there!

My juvenile axie is roughly 7 inches now. He's in a 20-gallon tank and last night I did a 30ish% water change. I conditioned the new water with Aqueon Ammonia Neutralizer.

I have the API Ammonia Test Kit. It's not the one with the strips, but I've had my water tested before at the pet store when I was cycling the tank. The ammonia was at .25 last night so I did a partial water change. Now, the ammonia is between 2.0 and 4.0. I will be going up to the pet store later this evening to see what my nitrates and nitrites are.

My axie has his gills curled but his tail is not. Should I take him out of the water and put him in a different container for now? I really don't know what to do. :/

 

[Purpletotodile]

Sometimes ammonia neutralizer can cause a false reading, but the stress is showing otherwise. The ammonia is definitely way too high, and I think the best course is to use a hospital tank.
Did you cycle your tank completely prior to adding your lotl? A tank that hasn't been fully cycled will have problems that only show months after adding an axie. When I first got my lotls I had only cycled for two weeks, and about two months later I had a major algae bloom due to excess nitrates.

 

[sk26]

I was quite positive that my tank has completely cycled before I added him. I had my pet store test the water several times and once everything looked good, they told me I could add him. I'll be buying my own master test kit and will test the water daily to keep a much closer eye on it myself this time around.

I have moved him from the tank and into a small tub for now. Will do 100% water changes and hopefully it doesn't stress him out too much. I'm worried that he sat in the high ammonia for too long. He was in there for a complete day before I removed him from the tank as I wasn't sure what to do. I'm really new to all of this still and am not sure with what to do now. He's been sitting in this new tub for a few hours and his gills are still curled. He's eating and acting normal. I just worry that he's taken some damage and I don't know what to do to help him.

I don't know what caused the ammonia to skyrocket overnight. I do go in several times a day and get the waste out of his tank. There was nothing in there that would have caused it to jump so high so quickly. I have sand substrate and I do sift through it a bit every day to make sure no food or waste is hiding underneath the sand.

I think I'm going to get the sand out, keep it bare to keep it simple, clean out the filter and replace the bio pad, and fill it back up and hope for the best.

Thank you for your help!!!

 

[Blackbun]

Your filter pad should have a beneficial population of microflora which breaks down ammonia during the nitrogen cycle. This population takes about five weeks to get going. I'd be very reluctant to 'clean' the filter. You can read about this on the tropical fish aquaria web sites.

 

[sk26]

Hi Blackbun,

I haven't touched the filter yet.

I'm still really confused after looking up what to do. Should I leave the filter alone entirely and get rid of the sand and do a 100% water change? Should I leave the bio bag alone and just rinse the sponge and everything else except the bio bag?

I don't want my little guy stuck in his hospital tank any longer than he has to be.