This may be long, and I apologize.
When I first got my axolotl, my tank wasn't quite finished cycling, and ammonia was a tad high, but not at dangerous levels.
After about a week, the water cleared up and my readings on test kits were normal. (I used water conditioner and a bacteria supplement)
It's been over a month now.
It's a 10 gallon tank, though I only have it filled up around 2/3 (7 gallons worth about) of the way, my little guy isn't much of a swimmer, he prefers to crawl around the bottom.
I do regular water changes about once a week I take out 2 gallons worth and replace it with tap water with some water conditioner, and I occasionally drop in a few crystals of aquarium salt. I'm really good with removing waste, and he always appears to eat all of his food.
I have a standard 10 gallon HOB filter (not a bio one), and an air stone in there to keep a little water movement.
Around 2 weeks ago, I realized that my little guy wasn't very active and his appetite had lessened. Following a simple pH test, I realized that my pH was high. I couldn't fathom why, but I simply put in some pH down. After about a day, he was back to normal.
A few days ago, I realized his water was a tad cloudy. At first I assumed that he was playing and kicked up some sand (it's really fine so takes a while to settle), but once the cloudiness didn't go away I did an ammonia reading. IT WAS CRAZY HIGH. Around 8ppm! It was so high I literally looked at my little guy and asked him how he wasn't dead yet! Freaking out, I immediately put in some more water conditioner and a few crystals of aquarium salt.
I then went to test our untreated tap water. The ammonia was high, around 2ppm, but not AS high as in my tank. I then set two buckets of tap water to the side, treated them with water conditioner, and let them sit overnight. I tested the ammonia in the buckets the next morning, and it barely budged! I went to my local pet store with a water sample for a free test to see if anything else was out of wack. She said my nitrates (or nitrites, one or the other, she didn't seem too sure of herself) were a tad high, but not at dangerous levels. At the pet store they basically told me to do everything that I've already been doing... But that's obviously not working.
Currently I'm doing daily water changes of about 2 gallons, and treating my water with water conditioner, and a little extra bacteria supplement.
...Did my cycle crash? Am I doing something wrong? Ideas as to why this happened?
I have no live plants in there because I hope to move him to a bigger tank soon, and don't want plants to root themselves and have to be torn out. I was hoping I could achieve the same thing by just adding the bacteria supplement.
The thing that confuses me most, is that my axolotl seems perfectly fine. I never would assume something was wrong with him by the way he looks or acts. I know with fish you can tell easily that water levels are off because of their behavior. Everyone is telling me to calm down, that axolotls are hardy and he'll be fine, but I can't help but be afraid that I'll lose him. Am I freaking out too much?
Again, sorry it was so long, I just want to be sure that all detail is there. Any ideas or tips will be greatly appreciated. Thanks!
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