I am completely stumped on what is going on in my brothers-in-laws tank. He is new to the hobby and becoming incredibly frustrated. He set up a 20g Fusion tank the end of November. He has a ghost protein skimmer, media reactor, heater, AI Prime, and a Jebao 10 wave maker for equipment. Live sand and live rock from a 10 year established reef that is loaded with bio-diversity. He actually started with dry rock that he prepared carefully but later replaced fearing maybe they were part of the problem. Yes he probably should have started with a bigger tank being a beginner, but I have done Nanos for 20 years and thought I could help him to overcome newbie mistakes and the size fit his space requirements and seem less intrusive to my sister. 
His rocks have several mushrooms, sponges, worms, some GSP, and a couple random zoas that were resident on the rocks. These are doing exceptionally well. He has a sand sifting star that has done great since the beginning and his snails seem to thrive along with his emerald crab.
Water parameters seem in-line with an occasional drop in pH to 8.0 and a slight trace of nitrite on occasion. But it never fails he will add a fish and it will do great for several days and then suddenly die. If there are 2 fish they die at the same time. The first one to die was a clown that I had given him that had been in several different tanks over the past 10 years for me so I knew its compete history. So last night the damsel he added to be a Litmus test died again. He is starting to call himself Doctor death as his casualty count is nearing 10. I fear he will leave the hobby soon if we can't figure it out. And to be honest is is cool to have someone to talk about the hobby with.
Thought this group of experienced experts will be able to shed some light on this. PLEASE HELP!!!
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His rocks have several mushrooms, sponges, worms, some GSP, and a couple random zoas that were resident on the rocks. These are doing exceptionally well. He has a sand sifting star that has done great since the beginning and his snails seem to thrive along with his emerald crab.
Water parameters seem in-line with an occasional drop in pH to 8.0 and a slight trace of nitrite on occasion. But it never fails he will add a fish and it will do great for several days and then suddenly die. If there are 2 fish they die at the same time. The first one to die was a clown that I had given him that had been in several different tanks over the past 10 years for me so I knew its compete history. So last night the damsel he added to be a Litmus test died again. He is starting to call himself Doctor death as his casualty count is nearing 10. I fear he will leave the hobby soon if we can't figure it out. And to be honest is is cool to have someone to talk about the hobby with.
Thought this group of experienced experts will be able to shed some light on this. PLEASE HELP!!!
Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk