I need some help with my discus tank

[Hondatek]

So I have 5 5inch discus and a 2 inch in my 75 gallon.I been having ammonia issues for a month or two now but no problems with the heath of the fish. It's between 1 and 2 ppm ammonia 0 nitrite and 20 to 40 nitrate ph is 6. The tank has been up and running for 2 years and about 8 months with the discus in there. It has a 90 gallon emporer hob and. 100 gallon magnum canister for filtration. I have been doing 5 gallon pwc daily for two months to cure this issue but it doesn't help. anyone have any suggestions of what I should do?

 

[mfdrookie516]

If there is ammonia present, it's not cycled. Daily water changes to keep the ammonia below .5ppm should be done. Here's a helpful article- I just learned about cycling but I already have fish. What now?!

 

[Hondatek]

I don't understand how that's possible if the tank has been up and running for two years. Is 6 discus overstocked?

 

[mfdrookie516]

Even if it were overstocked, you shouldn't have ammonia issues. You would have realy high nitrates if so. Your nitrates are high, but most likely due to the fact that you're going through a, what I would guess, mini cycle. I dont think you're overstocked, but I'm no discus expert either.

Have you ruled out a testing error? What kind of test are you doing? Have you tested on distilled or ro/di water to make sure it is reading 0?

 

[Hondatek]

I use API liquid test kit and I just bought more a few weeks ago. And I tested my tap water and other tanks and I get zero on my others and like .5 from tap

 

[Hondatek]

I though 20 to 40 ppm is normal trate readings or at least really close to it

 

[Rosenweiss]

From the reading and asking I've done about discus, 5-6 in a 75 is fully stocked, but not overstocked. But if you're using seachem prime, or tetra aquasafe, or any other dechlorinator that ALSO takes out chloramines, then it should safely neutralize that .5 ammonia in your tap.

 

[Rosenweiss]

I though 20 to 40 ppm is normal trate readings or at least really close to it

20-40 isn't bad, but it's safer to keep it under 20.

 

[Hondatek]

Yea the only chemicals I use is prime , stability and discus buffer

 

[Rosenweiss]

So you're using pH adjusters then? Is your pH stable?

 

[Hondatek]

In the tank yes it never budges but the tap water is 7 so I only buffer that water

 

[Rosenweiss]

Okay, as long as it's stable, you should be fine. To be honest, it's a mystery to me why your ammonia should spike with a tank that's cycled. You don't change your filter media out do you...?

 

[Hondatek]

No just rinse one at a time in the hob monthly and change carbon in canister monthly and rinse that to

 

[Rosenweiss]

Do you rinse in PWC water or chlorinated tap water?

 

[Hondatek]

Tap then I put enough prime for the whole tank to be safe

 

[Hondatek]

How long does it take for prime to work on my pwc water maybe I'm not giving it enough time

 

[Anaxis]

Try this:
Do a 20 gal water change daily on your 75 gallon for one week. Use enough prime on the tank to compensate for 75 gallons one the first day. The next day just add enough for the water that you change. Buy tetra's safe start with the bacteria in it. Add 4 caps full of it once a week. This will ensure that you maintain a healthy bacteria colony.
What may have happened is you inadvertently vacuumed the substrate of the bacteria or when you changed the filter media, you may have changed to much. Generally half of the media should be changed when it's appropriate time is due, this helps to keep the bacteria stabilized in the filter where it lives. Good luck with your discus

 

[thras]

He's not overstocked on discus The rule is 10gal for every one discus

 

[thras]

But you should be doing daily water changes or weekly 90% pwc nitrates and ammo at that level are vary bad for them a good forum for discus is " simply discus " I would check it out they got discus down pat and are dedicated water changers at 20-40% a day while growing out and doing 90% when there adults once a week if not more

 

[Hondatek]

Can I use stability instead of the tetra stuff and 90 percent water changes seems like the worst thing to do but that's my opinion. But i did read that one that site a while ago