I kind of feel like an idiot here, I thought I was better than this, but I don't want to lose another fish, so I thought I'd ask for some help.
I bought two baby monos about two weeks ago, shortly after I received 4 orinos from Rick. The monos were from a lfs. They seemed fairly healthy from what I can tell and were eating frozen bloodworms. Ricks were slightly bigger when i got them and are eating pellets. They're all in a 55g with a common pleco.
Last week, the smallest mono started breathing heavy and then died about a day later. I should have done more for him, but just left it be. Now my other mono seems to be developing the same problem. He was fine last night, I fed him some blood worms, and while feeding him, he started breathing heavy and then stopped eating. This morning he was still breathing heavy, he ate a few bloodworms but not the normal amount.
The tank temp is at 85f, weekly 50% water changes - changed on friday, and all my parameters seem ok
Nitrates around 20, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 7.5 ph - which I know is high, but thats the southwest, which is where the lfs is located and where Rick is located. Everyone eats twice a day, hikari frozen bloodworms and hikari cichlid gold. the bloodworms are thawed in a cup of tank water before feeding.
Anyway, I just setup a 20g and transferred an hob filter. I set the temp at 86 and am gonna transfer the mono here in a second. Should I add salt or do anything else?
I bought two baby monos about two weeks ago, shortly after I received 4 orinos from Rick. The monos were from a lfs. They seemed fairly healthy from what I can tell and were eating frozen bloodworms. Ricks were slightly bigger when i got them and are eating pellets. They're all in a 55g with a common pleco.
Last week, the smallest mono started breathing heavy and then died about a day later. I should have done more for him, but just left it be. Now my other mono seems to be developing the same problem. He was fine last night, I fed him some blood worms, and while feeding him, he started breathing heavy and then stopped eating. This morning he was still breathing heavy, he ate a few bloodworms but not the normal amount.
The tank temp is at 85f, weekly 50% water changes - changed on friday, and all my parameters seem ok

Nitrates around 20, 0 ammonia, 0 nitrite, 7.5 ph - which I know is high, but thats the southwest, which is where the lfs is located and where Rick is located. Everyone eats twice a day, hikari frozen bloodworms and hikari cichlid gold. the bloodworms are thawed in a cup of tank water before feeding.
Anyway, I just setup a 20g and transferred an hob filter. I set the temp at 86 and am gonna transfer the mono here in a second. Should I add salt or do anything else?