[scubagirl]

I just started a 14G biocube about a month ago.. started with three damsels to get the cycle going and then returned them to make room for a yellow clown goby and a skunk cleaner shrimp. My nitrates are still consistently at 20 but ammonia and nitrites are at 0 and the fish store guys said that it was okay to have fish and stuff in there. I also bought 4 small snails and a red mushroom. I bought all of these from a well known fish store. When the goby was in the tank at the store it seemed kind of sluggish and would sit in one spot for a long time until it was poked or otherwise startled, but I was told that this kind of behavior was charactaristic of gobies. So, I brought the goby home and drip-acclimated it first for about an hour and then placed him in the tank. I also drip-acclimated the cleaner shrimp for the same amount of time and placed him in the tank as well. The goby expressed the same kind of behavior as in his tank in the store. The shrimp was moving around a lot and attempted to clean the goby but the goby would not allow it. I fed them half a cube of frozen mysis shrimp every day. The shrimp had quite an appetite but the goby refused to eat. I tried some flakes but still no luck. On the third day after I got the goby, it died. We went back to the fish store to ask them about it and about 75% of the saltwater fish were dead... of course I was skeptical and went to a different store to buy another fish. I got a purple and yellow pseudochromis, which I was told was pretty hardy, though not as hardy as a damsel. I also added some green polyps, a purple mushroom, a daisy polyp frag, a candy cane coral frag, and a very small toadstool. The pseudochromis picked on the shrimp a little bit and would not be cleaned, but I was satisfied with its appetite. It ate at least 3 mysis shrimp when I fed it once a day. But five days later, this fished died! My nitrates are still at 20, but I thought that invertebrates and corals were more sensitive to nitrates than fish? I have a feeling that the clown goby might have introduced some kind of disease to my tank. Sorry for the long story, just thought it might be necessary to give some background on the tank!