Axolotl water??? PLEASE HELP!!!!!!?

Axolotls come from the Mexico City area. Like many Mexican waters north of the tropical rain forests, there is a fair amount of mineral in these waters. That is one of the reasons that Mexican livebearers thrive so in many US aquariums. We also have tap waters that are rather mineral rich.

Rain water is too mineral deficient for most aquarium creatures and most all fishes, though it is useful for cutting really hard water. Rainwater shouldn't be collected for roughly a half an hour until the air & roof have been cleaned some.

Bottled water is pretty often recommended but in the hot competition between bottlers, locally I have noticed that the total mineral levels in many bottled waters has dropped by nearly 70% in the last few years as they save even on the potassium, magnesium & calcium compounds by adding less than they used to.. If you use that stuff, add it gradually to the Axolotl tank.

The big issue seems to be that Axolotl don't fair well with chlorine or now-a-days chloramines (chlorine + ammonia) in the municipal water supplies. What our digestive systems may be able to take (but don't mix baby formula in some tap waters), they can't. Treat with a water conditioner appropriate for your tap water. It should expel the chlorine & bond chemically with the ammonia for a couple of days. Since they appreciate cool water, it isn't too hard storing water (maybe in a soap-less 5-gallon bucket. Leave it open at least over night or a day to shed noxious gases such as that chlorine, carbon dioxide & free nitrogen. That also allows the absorption of a little free oxygen in the usually oxygen poor tap water.

Aquarists with a large or several tanks may place a new 32-gallon Rubbermaid trash can or a 50-gallon food quality barrel on a piece of Styrofoam to insulate it from the floor. Water is treated and left to "season." Some leave heaters and an airstone in those.

If these aren't what you can use at the moment, & you have a 10-gallon tank, do buy five gallon water jugs from the grocery. If you have already set up your Axototl in tap water, make your first partial water change two gallons of water gravel vacuumed from the feces right gravel. If you are anxious about shocking the tank's resident & can set the jugs on the top of the tank, start an airline siphon into the tank. Then fill the jugs with warmish tap water, treat it & leave it open. Maybe the next water change take out 4 gallons & replace the water using 2 gallons of treated tap water & 2 gallons of the store bought stuff. Gradually phase the tap water in, doing weekly partial 50% partial water changes.

If you have a box filter in the tank, you can place fresh activated carbon in there & change it weekly. ( It is probably chemically used up by then.) That will take up some of the ammonia coming off of the bond with the water conditioner & also will take a little of the ammonia expelled by the salamander. The water changes are still the major way to get rid of waste products unless you spend serious dollars on ammonia absorbing resins in a filter.

Amphibians, like fish, within limits can be moved from one type of water to another gradually.

Hope you enjoy that axolotl for years. :)

You could use bottled water but that could be expensive depending on tank size. Rain water could work but that's unnecessary effort..

Tap water can be treated with any aquarium water conditioner such as stress coat (that's what I use) or aquasafe (what I used to use). I switched to stress coat because its a little cheaper and I think it's more beneficial.

You can buy both of these products at any pet store and even Walmart.

Good luck!:)

Your new tank will still have got to cycle, for the reason that the useful micro organism adhere to surfaces, they dont waft around in the water. Which you could pace this method up with the aid of including gravel, filter medium, decorations, etc from the historical aquarium.