Weird pacing and swimming?

[jymma84]

I'm new to axolotls and so I'm still not sure what's normal or not. I got this guy one week ago. He swims up/down/along the tank wall with his nose on it and when he's in a corner he seems to have a hard time turning himself around and kind of flails a bit until he's turned in the right direction -_- Is this normal axolotl behavior or is he stressed? It seems to be mostly after I feed him, but I couldn't say if he's doing it while I'm at work or not. His water temp is at 68 and all his parameters were normal when I did a water change on Saturday, he just seems to pace with his nose on the tank. Also, does he look healthy?

 

[Noodlethenewt]

Thats pretty normal behavior of “begging” for food. They come to the front and give you puppy(water) dog eyes until you feed them!

 

[jymma84]

Thats pretty normal behavior of “begging” for food. They come to the front and give you puppy(water) dog eyes until you feed them!

• #3

Thank you! Should I go ahead and feed him more? I'm giving him half a blood worm cube every day. I ordered axolotl pellets so he could get some variety, but they won't be here until tomorrow

 

[Calgarycoppers]

1 week ago?

Was the tank fully cycled?
What are the following...
temp
ph
high range ph
ammonia
nitrite
nitrate

No test strip - liquid tests only

Behavior could be stress from chemical toxins

 

[jymma84]

1 week ago?

Was the tank fully cycled?
What are the following...
temp
ph
high range ph
ammonia
nitrite
nitrate

No test strip - liquid tests only

Behavior could be stress from chemical toxins

He actually isn't doing that anymore. I foolishly rinsed ALL my filters in tap water and now I'm having an ammonia spike (I'm using the API freshwater kit). He dies still walk around, and while he IS eating, he's not eating as much. I've done multiple water changes, I put in a sponge filter to also help colonize new bacteria, dumped a couple of bottles of nitrifying bacteria in the tank, clean any leftover food, body waste, or dead plant material and am using an ammonia binder daily to keep him from getting sick. However, the ammonia won't seem to go down, it hovers at 0.5ppm. My nitrites are zero and nitrates are 5.0ppm. I don't know what to do except keep adding the binder daily until the ammonia decreases again. Any helpful advice would be awesome. I'm thinking about tubbing him with daily water changes because maybe he doesn't like the ammonia binder? I don't know. He just isn't as active as previously though his gill floofs have been growing in nicely, l since I got him - he was in a tank with other fish and I think they nibbled his gills.