So I did a big no no..I decided I wanted to go to a bare bottom tank and removed all my gravel. I had plants and driftwood and replaced my 2 filters. Well I apparently got rid of a lot of my good bacteria because I had a bacteria bloom and the water got really cloudy. I did a 50% water change and the water cleared up. However, my ammonia readings went off the chart instead of green it almost black so 8ppm. I have been doing 25% water changes daily and added ammonia lock as one of my discus had ammonia burns and died! The ammonia lock seems to have helped the fish form the ill effects of the high ammonia and I know this will continue to give high ammonia readings. This has been going on for 7 days now. I have and double sponge filter in the tank that was a new addition about a week prior to removing all the gravel. I am wondering if the tank is to heavily stocked to cycle correctly.
The tank is a 46 gallon and has 2 small discus, 1 large discus, 2 German blue rams, 2 chocolate gourami, 4 cherry barbs, 6 neon tetras, 3 hatchet fish, and 3 guppies. Prior to the crash my readings were almost perfect every time. As I usually do a 25% water change 1 a week sometimes 2 twice a week since I recently started keeping the discus fish. So anyway today I have bought some API Quick Start to try to add some good bacteria into the tank. I was wondering if the high levels of ammonia will kill the bacteria? Should I do a 50% water change prior to adding the Quick Start....Just at a loss right now don't want to lose anymore fish not sure what to do. Oh and I use RO water to do my water changes and I have started using Prime and Stability instead of the ammonia lock the last 3 days or so.
The tank is a 46 gallon and has 2 small discus, 1 large discus, 2 German blue rams, 2 chocolate gourami, 4 cherry barbs, 6 neon tetras, 3 hatchet fish, and 3 guppies. Prior to the crash my readings were almost perfect every time. As I usually do a 25% water change 1 a week sometimes 2 twice a week since I recently started keeping the discus fish. So anyway today I have bought some API Quick Start to try to add some good bacteria into the tank. I was wondering if the high levels of ammonia will kill the bacteria? Should I do a 50% water change prior to adding the Quick Start....Just at a loss right now don't want to lose anymore fish not sure what to do. Oh and I use RO water to do my water changes and I have started using Prime and Stability instead of the ammonia lock the last 3 days or so.
