What is the difference between tonic and phasic firing?
Tonic firing typically occurs without presynaptic input and can be viewed at as background activity. Tonic activity is often characterized by a steady action potential firing at a constant frequency. Note that not all neurons may have tonic activity at rest. It may serve as keeping a steady background level of a certain neurotransmitter or it can serve as a mechanism where both an inhibition or increase in presynaptic input can be transmitted. When a neuron is silent at rest, only an increase in presynaptic activity can be transmitted postsynaptically.

In contrast, phasic firing occurs after a neuron is activated due to presynaptic activity and it incurs activity on top of any background activity a neuron may have. It is typically restricted to one, a few, or a short burst of action potentials, whereafter the activity quickly returns to the resting state. 

Reference
Tsai et al., Science (2017); 324: 1080-4