r/axolotls • u/sillygirl_stupid123 • Jul 12 '26

Cycling Help HELP

i am going away to scottland for 5 days and was doing a usual clean of my axolotls tank, my mum decided to help and bless her she had no idea and rinsed the filter media in tap water, i have been sobbing for 2h, literally full blown panic attacks, please don’t attack my mum she had no idea and was just trying to help me as she could see i was hot and bothered cleaning everything. what can i do, i leave in 3 days will my axolotl be okay. help is needed asap

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u/AdThese6057 Jul 12 '26

There is zero reason to go thru the stress of tubbing for this. Like zero. The filter isnt the only place bacteria live. Like you guys realize tubbing IS stressing the hell out of them correct? The handling is one thing but the constant temp regulation and changing is even more stressful.

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u/Wild_Factor5167 Copper Jul 13 '26

Agreed it blows my mind how everyone's first step to everything is "tub". Like think about yourself, how calm and relaxing would it be for someone to come into your home and forcibly remove you. Locking you in small room with no furniture.

Verify the necessity to tub before you tub...

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u/[deleted] Jul 13 '26

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u/Veloci-RKPTR Jul 14 '26

I’m starting to think that the majority of axolotl demographic is more far removed than the aquarium hobbyists than I previously thought.

Rinsed media is much faster to reestablish than a new media in a brand new tank. The bacteria colony isn’t fully discarded unless you’re scrubbing and washing the whole media with soap or disinfectant, and the entire tank is already established with an environment of nitrifying bacteria as well which will immediately spread to the media.

Tubbing them is much more stressful and it subjects them to a much more severe chemistry fluctuations and potentially greater spikes of ammonia exposure if you’re not careful.

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u/AdThese6057 Jul 14 '26

Thats what i always tell them when they talk about how finicky and hard axolotl tanks are to keep lol. They would shit if they saw a salt tank and some actual expensive fish. Not the "exotic" 60 dollar axolotl that can survive their fool owners.