Originally Posted by
coralbandit
- ammonia reading: 10 ppm
- nitrite reading: 0 ppm
- nitrate reading: 60 ppm (could that be the problem?)
Yea that is a big problem if those numbers are right.
Over 1ppm ammonia can kill fish .. 10ppm your fish should be dead !
60ppm nitrates on a 75g with your stocking means you don't change water or you really over feed.
Most 'common' fish keepers [not discus people] don't want nitrates over 40ppm. Discus people want nitrates under 10ppm. So do their fish ..
The % of the water you change is the % the nutrient will be reduced .
So if you change 50% you will still have 30ppm nitrates and 5 ammonia [your ammonia reading has to be wrong IMO ].
Most who keep discus and want them to grow change 70-100 % daily .
You should be changing no less then 50% daily till you get nitrates down to 5..That would 5 days at 50% assuming you don't gain any which is not how it works ..
Change water .Learn how to make large water changes like 70% +. You need to match temperature very closely .
Most feel less then 50% is useless as you are leaving half the waste in the tank only to grow and get higher and higher with every 50% change ..
I think your main issue is your water quality ..It is not good ..Like Mervin said your husbandry looks like the cause and the treatment is to step up water changes before using any meds . Meds won't work in dirty water anyways ..They get exhausted by all the bacteria in the water column and never get to work on the issue you applied them for usually .