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Question
I hope you get this with my previous question.  I also changed back to the Filstar when I did the 20% change this morning.

Answer
Oops. I missed the words "in place of the filstar" in your first question. You should not have turned off the filstar. It was the major source of beneficial bacteria to consume ammonia that the fish make. I think that's probably what happened. The Vortex XL cannot replace your filstar. They do different things. The vortex is a temporary filter and removes microscopic things from the water column. Odors, color, old medicines, cloudiness, etc. It is used for a few hours and then removed. It  is not a biological filter. Your fish still need the filstar to do that.

Make a 50% water change and monitor the levels of ammonia and nitrite for the next 2 weeks. Make more changes as needed.

Let me know what's going on. Sorry I missed that important detail. Followups welcome.....

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins