Help with mysterious death

[sloogan]

Hello,
Recently I finally stocked my 65 gallon tank after cycling it for about 5 months with 4 damsels snails and etc. I traded in my damsels for some fish and then some I purchased a Coral Beauty, 2 firefish, 2banggai cardinal and a tiger pistol shrimp. Before buying I tested all my parameters everything was good. Ammonia 0 Nitrate 0 Nitrite 0.25 calcium 500-600 Ph 8.2/8.3 phosphates 2.0 (I'm assuming cause of dry rock I added after soaking for 2 days). Now 2 days ago my coral beauty died from ich when acclimating I'm assuming he got stressed from the drip acclimation, I've read angels are notorious for catching ich. My firefish I literally hadn't seen in a week after digging through the tank today I found what was left of a carcass and the other was MIA. Also I constantly tested for ammonia because I heard sometimes firefish crawl in holes and die. I was worried about my corals and none of the days did it even bump a little in ammonia. All that is left now is my crazy pistol and my banggai. The banggai's tail fins look to be literally fraying, the membrane between their fins is decaying. I assume their death is imminent. Anyone have any possible clue as to why this is happening. No I do not have a QT system no I do not have space for one. This was a fresh batch of fish

Thanks!

 

[Jdub968]

During the 5 month cycle did you test water parameters to make sure your tank cycled? 0 nitrate indicates to me there was no cycle, which would be odd since you had damsels in the tank. Another possibility is the ick killed all the fish and the banggai's fin condition could be from bacterial infection from the ick. Imo if you don't qt your fish this will be a possibility every time you add something to the tank. The DT will have to remain fallow for 76 days to starve out the ick. I would buy a 10 gallon qt set up they don't take much room and slowly qt 1-3 fish at a time adding 1-3 small fish to the DT every 30-45 days (the time it takes to qt a batch of fish) will also allow the biological bacteria to adjust slowly and not cause an ammonia spike.

 

[luckyk0505]

You probably had disease outbreak or bought unhealthy fish. From my 15 years of experience, healthy fishes do not die overnight in cycled tank. I would start with source of your fish.