I'm so sorry for your losses. A stable salinity of either 1.023 or 1.025 will not kill fish (though swinging between the two will be stressful and will certainly not help fish health). I have a few questions.
Does your tank have an auto top off (ATO) set up? If not, is somebody manually topping the tank off with RODI water every day?
ANSWER: No. It is a closed system.
Where does the RODI water for topping off come from?
ANSWER: () only time RODI water put in was when new guy did so on his first visit.
Can you post a list of all the fish you had before they started dying?
ANSWER: Yellow tang, yelloweyed tang, two clowns, two designer clowns, yellowed head sleeper gody, foxface, bicolor pseudochromis, two pj cardinals and two yellow tail damsel. Remaining foxface, one damsel, one gody, none of which look good.
Were the fish quarantined before you got them? If so, what was the quarantine procedure followed?
ANSWER: no but had them for three weeks before die off.
How often do the maintenance people come check on the tank?
ANSWER: former one once a month and he was not thorough.
What do they maintenance people do when they check on the tank?
New ones will come twice a month. Hopefully clean filters (biomaster 250 (2), do partial water change, etc. We should learn....result could not be worse if we did.
Do you do anything to the tank in between their visits?
ANSWER: Test and worry
What prompted you to switch to a different company?
ANSWER: Did not return phone calls or emails re our concerns. Did not address concerns verbally while here. Never gave exact date when he would show up, etc. Another neighbor with freshwater tank (90 gal) fired him also.
Are you the one asking for certain fish or are they choosing the fish?
ANSWER: me
If you're picking fish, will the maintenance company tell you no and explain why (fish needs a bigger tank, tank is already fully stocked, etc.)?
ANSWER: hope new one will
When were corals added to the tank?
ANSWER: February. One Duncan hanging one.;
Going forward: can you find out the precise numbers from all tests the maintenance people perform? Not just "everything's good" but what the actual numerical values are? Ask them what kind of test kits they are using, and what brand of salt they are using (if they are the ones mixing saltwater).
ANSWER: yes I see I must be more diligent.
It may be impossible to figure out what happened to cause the deaths of your fish but going forward it should be possible for you to be able to help ensure that the tank parameters remain stable, that the tank is not overstocked, and that you are doing what you can to limit the possibility of disease outbreaks.
