Two out of two fish died in two days

[Jmm07e]

i spoke to someone from worldwide corals on the phone, he said that i should turn my protein skimmer off to build up good bacteria. Could it be that since I had my protein skimmer on, it removed all of my good bacteria, and my ammonia ran too high, and that's what killed the fish?

 

[Uncle99]

While some would be in the water column, the vast majority would be on the hard surfaces of your system and not subject to the skim, but true, you will save some.

 

[Jmm07e]

alright, i got my ammonia test strips in today.
The reading on the current tank is 0, I also saved some of the water from before i did a water change, that reading is zero too.
It's not to say that the ammonia could have been higher at time of death. Maybe it dropped since then in both water samples.
I also have a phosphate test kit coming in the mail soon.

The key here, is that now I know to test the ammonia. I was focused on testing nitrates and nitrites.

Going forward, I do plan on purchasing a pygmy possum wrasse in the future, I set up the tank now, so he has a few key places to hide.

As of now, I'm going to continue dosing with bacteria. I'm only going to run the protein skimmer after dosing the reef biofule, as directed, for 24-48 hours, once i get the corals.

I'm about to purchase the corals, and continue to dose. I have some kalk that I'll put into the reservoir ATO. But still dosing any other supplements not included in the calc, being careful to test going forward.

This was a good learning experience.

 

[Jmm07e]

also i cut the auto feeder to about half the dose, it's the smallest amount of food i could add to the tank, just a few flakes a day

 

[Uncle99]

I am really not sure why you need to continue to dose bacteria.
You have very small volume, no rock, no sand, no home for low oxygen processing.

6 gallons is a bit small for that wrasse IMM, I would have though at least 15-20 with lots of Rick work.

 

[saltcats]

What was the condition of the fish when they died? Visible injuries, marks, etc? I wonder if with the lack of hiding places, they have nowhere safe to sleep and can be attacked overnight? Or if they hide behind the heater, could they have gotten burned?