What am I doing wrong?

[fire_newt]

So I have 2 axolotls that I rescued over the summer. I was a bit unprepared for them and have since had to learn a lot about caring for them. I have been cycling their tank and tubbing them for the last few months. I nursed them back to health. (Put a lot of weight back on them and got their gills all fluffed up). I was so proud of myself. I finally got the tank cycled (converting 4ppm of ammonia to 0 overnight with 0 nitrites). I replaced water until my nitrates were down to 10 and put the girls in their new tank! I’ve been keeping an eye on parameters everyday (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 10 nitrates, 8.2 ph). I have a few issues. 1) my tap water is 7.4 ph, but as soon as it goes into the tank it spikes to 8.2. And 2) within 24 hours of being placed in the tank both the girls started losing their floofs….. what is going on?! I read on here that 8.2 ph isn’t that high and shouldn’t be an issue as long as it doesn’t gets higher…. But obviously something weird is going on with my tank water. Please help!

 

[WaterLily05]

So I have 2 axolotls that I rescued over the summer. I was a bit unprepared for them and have since had to learn a lot about caring for them. I have been cycling their tank and tubbing them for the last few months. I nursed them back to health. (Put a lot of weight back on them and got their gills all fluffed up). I was so proud of myself. I finally got the tank cycled (converting 4ppm of ammonia to 0 overnight with 0 nitrites). I replaced water until my nitrates were down to 10 and put the girls in their new tank! I’ve been keeping an eye on parameters everyday (0 ammonia, 0 nitrites, 10 nitrates, 8.2 ph). I have a few issues. 1) my tap water is 7.4 ph, but as soon as it goes into the tank it spikes to 8.2. And 2) within 24 hours of being placed in the tank both the girls started losing their floofs….. what is going on?! I read on here that 8.2 ph isn’t that high and shouldn’t be an issue as long as it doesn’t gets higher…. But obviously something weird is going on with my tank water. Please help!

Hi! What is the temp? What is the GH? White kind of filtration have you got? Loosing the gill fluff can be a sign of stress. My axolotl lost his gill fluff and I think that in my case my tank was too warm and my GH too low. This photo shows it on mine. I fixed the issues and hes growing them back.

 

[fire_newt]

I keep the temp at about 69 degrees. It’s about as close as I can keep it to their recommended temp. I have a standard hanging filter. I’m not sure about my GH. I’m going to take some tap water and a tank water sample to the pet store tomorrow and have them do a general test. I know that my water it pretty hard (lost of mineral scaling from faucet water). your little guy is so cute!

 

[WaterLily05]

I keep the temp at about 69 degrees. It’s about as close as I can keep it to their recommended temp. I have a standard hanging filter. I’m not sure about my GH. I’m going to take some tap water and a tank water sample to the pet store tomorrow and have them do a general test. I know that my water it pretty hard (lost of mineral scaling from faucet water). your little guy is so cute!

Is the filter causing a lot of water motion? The temp sounds ok, but if you wanted You could try hooking a clip on desk fan to the tank, mine keeps mine at a chilly 64. Thank you, I adore him!

 

[fishkid]

do you have any rocks or sand in the tank that could be causing the pH to rise. That shouldn't be a big problem but could be contributing. As stated above check gH and kH. how did you acclimate them to the tank? do you think they could be struggling to adapt to the higher pH if they were tubbed in almost perfectly neutral pH?