New Member Needs Help! (Long)

[Jason McK]

First Welcome to CanReef. You will find everyone here very helpful.

My first though was for a 65G tank it seems as though you have a lot of fish. Too many fish can lead to stress and that is what causes ICK. Also with that amount of fish the canister filter would aid the LR in removing ammonia from the water. Once the filter was removed the bio-load may have sent the LR into a mini cycle. This would stress the fish out as well. I would say the advise the LFS gave you was partially good. I agree you don't need the filter, but as EmilyB stated simply removing it one day may cause problem. The feeding advise IMO was not very accurate. But I tend to over feed. I would say feed good food every day, but only enough so that it is all eaten with in 3-5 min.
My advise to you would be to try and sell some of your fish back to the LFS. This would reduce the bio-load. Then remove the filter. If this is not an option I would continue to use the filter and watch your fish very carefully. I think a couple are being aggressive.

Good Luck
J