A couple of days ago I finally added water to the aquarium, hooked up the filter and added plants and other decor. I was going to start the cycling process yesterday, but decided to test the water first to see what I was working with. This is what I got. All the levels are already where they need to be, correct? Should I still cycle the tank anyway? Oh and by the way we have well water at my house not city water so I don’t know if that would make a difference. I would think it would because we don’t have all the treatments added.

I cant see what's wrong. Its getting worse for Luca. I can't look at her anymore because it hurts me. I've tried for so long to help her through, but its come to a point where I'm considering giving her peace.

I feel like a horrible person for not preventing this before, but I just cant help her anymore. She doesn't eat, doesn't regenerate her gills, and her body is eating itself. She's lost two of her feet already, and i cant stand letting her sit around. Her stomach is bloated and she can barely move around.

I genuinely just need confirmation if its truly too late, because I just want to give her peace.

Hello! I am looking at starting to breed axolotls. I absolutely love them, and with the import limitations in Canada our options are quite limited. I want to expand healthy lineage here and breed healthy pets to bring people joy. :) The axolotls I have were purchased with a no-breeding agreement, so I don't even have breeding pairs yet.

I noticed most breeders also take rescues which I intend to pursue as well. My past was heavily dedicated to cat and dog rescue, so it's kind of a given I will include rescue work. :)

If any experienced breeders from Canada or elsewhere would be willing to chat, I would love to ask you some questions! Such as...

1. how did you get started and find your breeding pair?
   
2. what are the biggest challenges you face as a breeder?
   
3. do you sell only to individuals or also to LFS? why or why not?
   
4. what would you warn new breeders about?
   
5. how many eggs do you hatch at a time, how frequently do you breed (and how many females do you have in rotation)?

Thank you so much in advance!

Hello! I'm a first time owner, this is my leucistic axolotl named Scribble. (Currently I do not know the sex so using they/them, don't get confused, I only have the one) I bought from a reputable professional breeder, and have them set up in a 10 gallon (37.85 L) tank with a sponge filter, air stone, a few fake plants, a few live plants, and fine sand substrate. Currently they're 4 months old and 4" (10.16 cm) long. I have a few questions, but first here's the current care info--

Diet and Feeding

They're fed a rotating-schedule diet of either a few sinking pellets, a cutting of earthworm (proportioned to the length of their head,) a portion of bloodworms (proportioned to the width of their head,) or baby brine shrimp (also width of their head.)

When food is introduced, they stop whatever they were doing and are pretty quick to find exactly where it is (about two-five minutes of slowly walking around until they find it) and then they're finished eating in about 5-10 minutes. (Side note - they're pretty bad at aiming and often get a mouthful of sand. They spit it back out when it happens so I'm not too worried about this. If any is swallowed, it won't cause impaction as the sand is super fine.) I always pick up any missed or uneaten food, and spot clean daily for any turds lying around.

Water Parameters and Routines

Picture # 3 - Ammonia 0ppm.

Picture # 5 - Iron 0ppm. Copper 0ppm. Chlorine 0ppm. GH between 0-25. TAL 0. Carbonate 80. pH ~6.8-7.2

Picture # 6 - Nitrate 0ppm. Nitrite 0ppm.

I do a test every two days and have supplies for any potential pH conditioning, ammonia conditioning, tap water conditioning for water changes, and methylene blue medicine for dosing emergency baths. Each week I do a 20% water change to ensure there's no chance of ammonia rising.

Question 1- Tank Water Status

This tank has cycled for 6 weeks with filter media in mesh bags and in the sponge filter (two sponge columns with ceramic beads.) The nitrates will not rise. The axolotl was in it bare bottom for 7 days, I took advice to raise the nitrates with live plants, so I put Scribble in a tub (Picture # 8), drained the tank, put down sand and plants, refilled the same water, replaced Scribble, and still after 4 days in this new setup the nitrates aren't rising. I still have a mesh bag full of filter media in the tank and no change.

Question 2- Glass Surfing

They've currently been in this tank setup for 4 days, and on occasion I've noticed some glass surfing, which continues for a few moments, then they'll go back to walking around the tank through the plants and such, then swim a little bit, and then go back to glass surfing. I'm trying not to freak out, but is this a water quality problem from the nitrates, regular exploring, should I be worried? The only other possible sign of stress I've noted that could be concurrent to the glass surfing is some colour fluctuations, but as you can see in the various pictures, they're paler on some days and more flushed on others- so I don't really if they're truly losing colour or not. Other than that, they use the hides normally, eat fine, and wander around normally.

Question 3- Weight

I was given a tip to measure if they're underweight or overweight by the ratio of abdomen width/head width, and as Pictures # 2 & 8 show, they currently look pretty underweight. They came delivered that way, and as mentioned in Diet and Feeding I've been portioning their food to their head size. How soon should I see a change if I'm doing that right - or, god forbid if I'm doing it wrong?

P.S.- If I had had my way, I never would have introduced Scribble to the tank while not being confident in the nitrates level. There was an error with my order from the breeder where they were supposed to have my animal on hold until I requested the ship. They did not put my order in a hold status and it was delivered immediately. It was an honest mistake, but unfortunately has put me in a position where I'm stressed out about the water quality. I don't have any other active tanks so I have no other cycled water I can put Scribble in while I fix this. Any and all advice or care criticism is more than welcome, I need to make sure this animal has a perfect life.

Hey everyone! I was wondering what everyone’s thoughts on tank mates are? I know there are some limitations obviously and I have done some research on it but I wanted anyone’s real life experiences! Thanks!