I know, I hate losing fish! I was really hoping he would set a good, algae-eating example for the mollies too. I did a really long acclimation, so I don't think it was osmotic shock. I think he swam into that little gap behind the fake root and got stuck, and died. I've seen that happen before.
Interesting idea, dosing bacteria. I probably won't though, since I've already added biopellets to my canister about 2 weeks ago, to boost bacteria. I've got some water cloudiness, that makes me think I've got a bacterial bloom already.
I think I'll just grin and bare it. Tank's 4 weeks old today. I'll do another 'fun with algae' day and water change in a few days.
It's funny how hard it is to be patient with a new tank. It's like, "this time I want everything to go perfectly". And when the inevitable imperfection comes along, it's so easy to start grasping at straws, to fix it. Then of course, you only make things worse! And if you tried 4 or 5 different things, you don't know where you went wrong.
Better to sit back and let Mother Nature do her thing, and let the cycle complete.
Once that happens, I'll add more snails, including a fighting conch. I may move the blenny up the fish intro list too.