Hey everyone I have a 36 gallon tank my water parameters have been fine until recently. Over time a few of my fish have died from unknown causes possibly age and 3 from what looked like a fungal infection which I tried to treat but the fish died despite me trying aquarium salt in a separate tank and when that didn't work tried fungus guard tabs but that didn't work either and the fish died 3 bleeding hearts at different times got injured and then the fungus infection started. I lost a cherry barb 2 cories & 4 danios . These deaths occurred over time and what was strange is that my water parameters were fine all along. I do weekly water changes and check my levels weekly. In my current stock I have 19 fish in my 36 gallon. 3 discus that are stunted I rescued them from LFS they are small but healthy and they are all doing well , 5 cherry barbs, 4 cories, 3 bleeding hearts and 4 glowlight tetras.
Over the last 2 weeks I have been getting ammonia spikes but don't know why? Could I have lost some of my beneficial bacteria because I don't have the original fish load I had months ago? I try not to overfeed I do gravel vacs regularly and water changes approx 50% weekly because I was told discus need very clean water. Yesterday I tested the ammonia and it was at 0.5, today after the WC I did yesterday it was at 0.25 ammonia so I did another 50% WC this afternoon tested the water tonight & it's back down to 0. Same thing happened last week but I got the ammonia level down after doing WC'S. I also added this liquid beneficial bacteria product from Top fin to the aquarium water to boost the bio filter. When I checked the sponge last week I noticed it wasn't as gunky as it has been which has me worried. I realize I have to get my 10 g QT going and replace the number of fish that died.
My next question is once those fish go through the month of QT & hopefully stay healthy how many fish should I add back at a time I know it has to be done slowly. I don't want to overload my bio filter I know it has to gradually adjust back to the number of fish I originally had in the tank. Any advise is appreciated.
Over the last 2 weeks I have been getting ammonia spikes but don't know why? Could I have lost some of my beneficial bacteria because I don't have the original fish load I had months ago? I try not to overfeed I do gravel vacs regularly and water changes approx 50% weekly because I was told discus need very clean water. Yesterday I tested the ammonia and it was at 0.5, today after the WC I did yesterday it was at 0.25 ammonia so I did another 50% WC this afternoon tested the water tonight & it's back down to 0. Same thing happened last week but I got the ammonia level down after doing WC'S. I also added this liquid beneficial bacteria product from Top fin to the aquarium water to boost the bio filter. When I checked the sponge last week I noticed it wasn't as gunky as it has been which has me worried. I realize I have to get my 10 g QT going and replace the number of fish that died.
My next question is once those fish go through the month of QT & hopefully stay healthy how many fish should I add back at a time I know it has to be done slowly. I don't want to overload my bio filter I know it has to gradually adjust back to the number of fish I originally had in the tank. Any advise is appreciated.