Need Advice on Switching My Substrate

[ChelseaRose]

Ok hello everyone. I posted something on here the other day about my axolotl itching and a simultaneous ph drop and I THINK I found my problem. I have some anaerobic sand which I believe is causing my ph to drop and releasing some gases which are probably causing the axolotls gills to be irritated. I minister my water parameters very closely and today I found small amounts of ammonia (barely .25) and small amounts of nitrite (also barely .25), but I also have good nitrates(5), which just makes me think that I'm right about the anaerobic bacteria being my main problem. SO... My gameplan is to put them in temporary holding containers ( I bought 2 5.5 gallon tanks for the occasion) and remove all the sand and replace it with new sand. The ph in their tank right now is 6.8 and the ph coming out of my tap is 7.6 so I don't know how to acclimate them to the new ph. I was thinking about only filling their holding container up halfway and then slowly adding dechlorinated tap water to raise the ph. If anyone knows a better way or can think of something I'm missing I would love to hear from you! Thanks!

Chelsea

 

[auntiejude]

Sounds like a good enough plan to me - or gradually changing their water a pint at a time.
But TBH the change from 6.8 to 7.6 is so small they will probably not even notice.

Don't forget to keep your pump wet if you are emptying your tank - otherwise you''ll need to cycle it all over again. What sand are you using this time?

 

[ChelseaRose]

It's one of those already cycled sands I used it when I first set up my tank. I didn't know to stir it. Oops. Taking them out of the water and doing such a drastic change to their tank seems so scary to me I hope they're going to be ok


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[auntiejude]

They should be fine - I rearrange my tank furniture every time I clean!

What do you mean 'already cycled' sand? Do you mean washed?

 

[ChelseaRose]

It's something I got from the pet shop it's a bag of wet sand that had beneficial bacteria in it


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[auntiejude]

It won't have beneficial bacteria by the time it's been sitting in a pet shop for a couple of days! Unless they got it fresh out of a tank while you waited and you went straight home and put it in your tank - the bacteria will die within hours as they need to be bathed with fresh water continuously.

You can get starter bacteria though - I get mine in jelly pearl form, like suspended animation, and you can get liquid nutrient with bacteria in it too. Maybe they added that to the sand.

 

[ChelseaRose]

Thanks for your advice I already put the sand in I also put my sponge filters in there I'm going to run them in there for a day before I put the axies back in. There are some good bacteria in the sponges


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[layna]

How thick did you have your sand?
Generally you dont get gas pockets when its maybe 1/2" or less as i discovered ahha i used to have 1" and was getting them all the time, so i removed half of it and now i have no problems

 

[ChelseaRose]

It was probably about an inch and a half thick. I didn't vacuum or stir it for a few weeks because I had a drop in my nitrates and the pet shop advised me not to disturb any surfaces while the bacterial colony was re establishing. Ill keep this sand cleaner!


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[layna]

Ive never heard that one before haha as most of the bacteria is in the filter, i never stir my sand and i only just recently got a siphon, but ive not come across any more gas pockets since lowering it

Good luck!

 

[ChelseaRose]

Did your axies ever react to the gas pockets? I didn't have any gas bubbles that I could see but their gills were itchy and their water parameters were wacked out!


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[layna]

Just put your fingers in the sand like a rake, and move them all over the tank, a gas pocket will have turned the sand black and you will smell an 'off' smell

 

[ChelseaRose]

I will def keep an eye out in the new substrate! I just put it in today they are currently in a temp holding tank how long are they usually ok in those?


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[layna]

Well if your cleaning the water 100% daily and cleaning the tub out, you can leave them in there for a good few weeks, but the substrate should settle in a couple of days.
If you keep on top of your daily water changes you can just do a fish in cycle and get them back in their tank sooner

 

[ChelseaRose]

Thanks for all your help Layna! I will keep you posted


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