| pvtdonut, sorry to hear about your loss.
Honestly, I think having two puffers and an eel in such a small tank was a recipe for disaster. I think what you're seeing is what happens when a tank is overstocked. The water gets all gunky and the fish get stressed out.
As far as your other fish surviving the cycle, perhaps they will. But health and wellness encompass more than whether a creature is dead or alive. You could live if I put you in a closet and shoved the minmum amount of food in daily. There is a difference between living and existence.
I notice that a lot of your concerns and decisions are based on the amount of money that you have available to spend. If money is tight for you, then you really can't afford to not do the requsite research and planning to set up a saltwater tank properly.
Part of the fun of all this is watching you plans develop slowly over time and being successful.
__________________ James (Check out my Blog: Loose Associations)  "Human subtelty will never devise an invention more beautiful,
more simple or more direct than does nature"
- Leonardo Da Vinci "I am made of the dust of the stars, and the oceans flow in my veins"
-Neil Peart "The strenuous and dogmatic are the moral enemy of the good. They demand that we believe the impossible and practice the unfeasible" - Christopher Hitchens "Do, or do not. There is no try."
- Yoda 14 Gallon Biocube | 
