Dead damsel

[ironmanxl1]

A few days ago i noticed blotchy whitish patches on one of my yellow tail damsel. A few days later the other damsel had a patch on him as well. Today I dropped some flakes into the tank and I didn't see them come out to eat. So i looked around the tank and saw them both at the back, one by a rock, the other stuck on the intake of the MJ1200. He was still alive but barely. I put him out of his misery. Now these two fish made it through the cycle without blinking even when the ammonia spiked. Was it the white patches that weakened the fish or did it just get unlucky and get caught in the intake? They were the only two fish i had in the tank. I had the two in there for 3-4 weeks. I recently added snails and hermit crabs to cleanup. I checked my water and it tested fine. All the snails and crabs seem to be fine.
Any ideas?

SG-1.025
PH-8.4
AMMONIA-0
NITRITE-0
NITRATE-20

75 gallon, 50lbs of live rock, fluval 404, two MJ1200's

 

[LIMentality420]

protein skimmer ?

 

[ironmanxl1]

protein skimmer ?

seaclone 100. I know I need to upgrade it but I only had two fish so I figured it would do for the time being.

 

[mjvincent]

It wasn't a protein skimmer issue. Probably stress from the cycle and they caught some disease. Watch the others carefully and don't add anything until you are sure all are well.