Hi equidorz, your 1st mistake was to wash the cansiter filter and do massive water change at the same time. why is it so? I assume your canister filter has been used for quite some time therefore the colony of bacteria should be matued to handle the tank bioload. washing the filter means killing the colony especially when you washed it very clean, chlorine will kill the bacteria. Next doing a change of 80% of water will change the water parameters drastically which will lead your fish to suffer from either pH shock or temperature shock. pH shock mean a sudden change of pH in a very short time,; like wise for the temperature. After massive water change and cleaning of filter, your tank should undergo the process of cycling again meaning the ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and other elements parameter will go haywire and the biological cycle have to restart. Your tank should also have an outbreak of bacteria bloom whereas the water is cloudy for days. Once the cloudiness clears, your tanks should be up and running. to overcome these, can try to use those bacteria culture purchase off shelf to jump start your colony. Hope my information helps.
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