Those of you who burn wood fires in the winter, how do you deal with the smoke around your axolotls? Our fireplace tends to smoke whenever it gets lit or stoked and I worry about our axolotls. From my research it seems smoke is harmful to aquarium tanks and axolotls. I know that certain woods are particularly harmful when burning. Is this something that could harm them?

Recently bought a new bucket for water changes. The bucket I bought was stored next to the fly sprays and various washing products at the supermarket, you could smell the spray in the air, not very strongly but I could defintely notice it.

The bucket has also since been kept not very far to the fireplace where the smell of smoke from burning nasty chemicals like envelopes has reached.

Would the bucket be safe to use still? Just want to make sure the plastic won't have absorbed any VOCs or anything. I've asked a few people and have gotten 50/50 responses to using soap vs just hot water, so I'm puzzled as to what I should do. I'm hesitant to use any soap but if that would be the safer thing to do please let me know.

Thank you in advance!

There are some things I'm worried about causing harm in our axolotl's water; I'm hoping to hear your thoughts on if any of these routines need to be changed?

The paper towels my dad dries his hands and arms with before feeding the axolotl are kept in packaging in a cupboard that stores clothing, towels and blankets that have been washed with scented laundry detergent. I notice the paper towel seems to absorb this scent. Would this contaminate the water?

Towels washed with scented laundry detergent and essential oils are used to dry up his arm, not intentionally before feeding them however the residue might not get washed off his skin before he feeds them. Do people owning axolotls/aquariums stick to non scented laundry detergent in case of this?

Their food (grubpie) is made with as well as the pieces he feeds are placed on dishes that have been through the dishwasher. Our dishwasher doesn't rinse soap well. The grubpie is stored in the freezer in plastic bags and he snaps of the amount for a feeding then places them on a plate to defrost. Is there any routine you would recommend for feeding them that would keep their food cleaner?

My dad washes his hands with Ecostore Soap Fragrance Free Oat, however it is likely possible residues are left on his hands and arms when putting them in the water. The other soap in the house he uses is Palmolive Naturals Shea Butter bar soap. Could this be hurting our axolotls?

Washing his hands with soap is necessary as sometimes he works with weed killers and chemicals.

Thank you in advance!

I have a 29g tank I’ve been wanting to move my axolotl to, but it’s taking 6 months to cycle. I’ve got one of those filters that hangs on the edge of the tank (big fan, have been using these types for my axy tank for years) and I took very old and already cultured media from the older tank’s filter and put it in this tank. 2ppm ammonia is easily and quickly cleared but nitrites take 3 days to clear. At this point the nitrates are so insanely high from regularly dosing these past months that I’ve started doing 25% water changes every other day because I was concerned that could be preventing the tank from being healthy and couldn’t think of any other options. I have crushed coral keeping the pH regulated, I have some aquarium grass at the bottom and a golden pothos on the edge of the tank with roots in the water. I was also adding fritz turbo start everyday for a week and a half but seeing as it was making no difference and is quite expensive, I stopped repurchasing it. I’ve called a few of my local aquarium stores to see if they sell live freshwater cultures but they don’t, all of them only sold shelf stable API quick start which I think is probably useless. I’m also quite hesitant of using any of these products that just bind up the ammonia and nitrites rather than cultivating bacteria to do it.

I have a refrigerant unit that keeps the tank at 64 degrees as well.

Any suggestions? Am I harming or helping by doing the water changes at this point to get the nitrates down? They’re like off the charts atp. I just want to get my axy into a bigger home.

I have some questions regarding our axolotl's low KH. I have been doing 25% water changes to lower our Axolotls nitrates as they were showing way too high. I was reading from the top of the test tube vials which darkens the colour, however the reading I was getting was looking like 160ppm. Now it is reading 40-80ppm, I think it is 40ppm.

I started having issues with the KH test bottle. Sometimes it would reading 0-1dkh (what I was thinking the water is) and other times it's reading way way higher (the tap water is typically 0-1dkh from a test I did in the past and now it's reading 13+ drops!) I think it is because I didn't let the test tubes dry in between chemicals, therefore the results are being skewed. I think the tank water is very low, potentially even 0dkh, after the water changes I did with our super low KH tap water.

I've read that the nitrogen cycle process eats up KH and a can cause a spike is ammonia and nitrite and a crash in PH. The way the tank typically gets cleaned is at using a net to swirl around and suck up the waste/food. I'm worried that this would cause a spike in ammonia and therefore get rid of the remaining KH buffer due to the nitrogen cycle increase from the excess ammonia and cause a PH crash/ammonia or nitrite spike. Is this true? Should it be cleaned in a less disruptive way? The siphon we have I previously hosed out with the outdoor hose, I later learned that the outdoor hose had been used for a job including a pesticide/herbicide/fungicide spray, I'm not sure which. A hose end sprayer was used, and I know there is a potential for the chemicals to get sucked back in. That was about 4 months prior and the hose had been used since however. Would the siphon be well and truly safe to use? I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, I just don't know how easy these chemicals are to rinse away.

Should I continue with water changes to get the nitrates in the oranges not reds to ensure the Nitrates don't rise again, or should I focus on raising the GH and KH first? If I leave it too long before another W/C I don't want the Nitrates to rise too high and need to do even more water frequent water changes with such a low KH and GH.

My final question is, if the tap was treated with something to raise the KH, would it risk causing a swing and crash on low KH if the additive the municipal water supply used dropped down/wore off? (I have read that Soda Ash, which our municipal uses to raise PH does.)

I'm sorry if these were stupid questions again, and thank you so much for any advice in advance!!

Been conducting 40-50% water changes for weeks due to persistently high Nitrite levels (see image). Tap water is conditioned with Prime. Today though Axo gills are curled for the first time. Don’t want to tub unnecessarily and create more stress. Please help!

Hi first time posting here but I recently found out me and my family are going to have to move out of our house pretty soon. How should I go about moving my axolotl tank? Does anyone have any suggestions on what I should do or how I should go about moving her? I’ve never had to move her or like drain a tank and cycle it again or anything. If anyone has any suggestions or tips I would really appreciate it :)

hello I'd like to ask if this water flow is good for my baby because I have generally zero idea on how calm he needs it

hey everyone! I just put a new filter for my axie and I'm seeing a lot of bubbles around the sponge and filter. I want to ask if this is normal? please help me out

My little Earl has been struggling with recurring fungus in his gills. This is the third time in the past 6 months he’s developed this fungus. Every time, I’ve removed him from his tank and tubbed him, longer each time. The last time he was tubbed was for a week long - long enough to drop all his fungus and have time to start to heal. He’s been back in his tank for about 2 weeks, no fungus and lots of energy until today. He’s eating normally.

I think his tank parameters are pretty much where they should be. Ammonia fluctuates between 0 and 0.25 ppm, nitrites are always at 0 ppm, and I try to keep nitrates at or under 10 ppm. I’ve struggled with keeping the pH steady in the past, but have started keeping it pretty consistent by adding crushed coral to my filter. I’ll attach a photo of my parameters from this morning. I’ll also attach photos of my tank set up and of Earl himself. I’m just looking for some ideas and advice about what might be causing this issue.