My Clownfish and Firefish died

[Garbonzo]

Looking at the pic of your firefish, it looks like his scales are looking flaked out meaning his scales look white and puffy in spots. Check out monogenean parasites. It is a fluke that typically will infest the gills first, and cause very labored respiration

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[Ashlee & Ricky]

Bulkreefsupply.com or any other online store will carry all those brands I mentioned earlier. Probably cheaper online TBH but always a fan of supporting a LFS. If you're looking into being in this hobby long term it might be worth it to invest in an rodi system. Not only is it far cheaper in the long run, you know what's in your water as you're the one who mixes it. Also you know for a fact you're starting with true 0 TDS water before mixing. Just a thought worth looking into

I’m just now getting around to finding a tester kit, and I found that one you mentioned, the Red Sea one, on bulkreefsupply but do you think this one would be good too?
API SALTWATER MASTER TEST KIT 550-Test Saltwater Aquarium Water Test Kit https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001EUE808/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_hZnCAbP5MWQPW

This one is cheaper and has way more tests in it.
If testing the water is something that needs to be done by a certain reliable brand, I will go with the Red Sea one, but I was thinking that as long as they test for the same thing, then it doesn’t matter the brand? Correct me if I’m wrong though!

 

[JoshH]

This is one of the rare cases where you get what you pay For, API test kits in almost everyone's opinion are really only good for cycling your tank and even that's questionable. Hanna, Red sea, elos and salifert are the way to go for more accurate tests. I love my Red Sea kits for everything but my Hanna kits for alk and phos

 

[Ashlee & Ricky]

This is one of the rare cases where you get what you pay For, API test kits in almost everyone's opinion are really only good for cycling your tank and even that's questionable. Hanna, Red sea, elos and salifert are the way to go for more accurate tests. I love my Red Sea kits for everything but my Hanna kits for alk and phos

Okay thanks so much!!!

 

[JoshH]

No problem, salifert are pretty reasonably priced between those options. BRS did a video comparison between the three for ease of use, cost per test and accuracy. I'm sure it would be an easy video to find on there site look in the BRS investigates section of BRS Tv

 

[Sailaway]

Hi and welcome to R2R.

A couple things of note is the size of the tank, honestly that is too many fish for that size of tank. There is no where for more passive fish (fire fish) to hide or get away from more aggressive fish such as clowns or aggressive crabs and shrimp.
Another consideration is diseases, fish housed in too small of a tank and in a newer tank may become stressed and that allows some of the more common diseases to set in.
The open brain played no part in the fishes demise, it was just coincidental.
Generally the majority of clowns will show some aggression even if it's just posturing. Fire Fish/Dart Fish are shy and initially reclusive, they would not put much of fight against a dominate clown.
For future reference, members are going to want to know tank chemistry, Ammonia, Nitrites and Nitrates, so it would behoove you to test for those.

The learning curve is a large one in this hobby. We want everyone to succeed and enjoy the hobby. Please feel free to seek any kind of assistance you need on R2R.

I second that. My LFS strongly recommended getting 1-2 fish for my 13.5 and no more. Most fish set up “territory” and like any other animal, don’t take kindly to intruders. it’s possible that after dark, the fish were getting into little fights that slowly led to intense amounts of stress.