All Fish Died - Starting New Tank - Please Advise

[seanus]

Hello friends

I had a wonderful 29-gallon freshwater tank going with a bala shark, goephagus cichlid, silver tip shark, gourami, and a couple mollys. All was well, water quality (gH, kH, pH, Nitrite, Nitrate & Ammonia) levels were good, and I had the tank running for 13 months.

After introducing a new tadpole from the local fish store two months ago, he killed off the entire tank with a nasty parasite that medicine & water changes couldn't get rid of! It was a bad week.

So, the tank has been sitting for two months with no life. I am starting over, and want to design the best combination of fish. This is where I'd really appreciate advice from all of you experts!

Do you think it's best to get the fish all at once?

How should I deal with the water in my tank now? It had fish living in it two months ago & I haven't been changing it. I lowered the temp. signficantly and have just raised it again to the original level. Should I change 50% twice before adding fish? I'd love some help about starting over...

Lastly, I am thinking of going with brackish water & a tank with puffer fish. At my LFS, they are $8 for 1-2" fresh/brackish water puffers. What else would you recommend adding with them (I want a VERY visually appealing tank)?

I have never kept brackish water & would love to hear opinions on its level of care...

If you would recommend freshwater instead of brackish, what combination of fish would you go with for a 29-gal hex tank?

I really want a great setup & I love frogs, colorful/unique/beautiful fish. Your advice is very much appreciated...thanks in advance

 

[tttnjfttt]

Personally, I would steralize EVERYTHING before putting fish back in the tank, especailly since you have no idea what the parasite/bacteria, etc. was. From what I've read here, you can boil your gravel for like 30 minutes to kill everything, and some bleach/water or vinegar/water to wash the rest of the stuff. Be sure to wash everything off REALLY well, as it will hurt your fish. Unfortunately, this also means all the beneficial bacteria in your tank will also be killed, which means needing to cycle your tank again, so don't put a full load of fish in at once unless you do a fishless cycle. Sorry. I know it is a hassle, but I'd rather play it safe than sorry. I know I had something in a betta tank that came from one walmart rescue that was unsuccessful. Until I stopped to steralize the tank, as opposed to a complete water change and washing out the gravel, every fish died from the same infection.

I don't know much about puffer fish, although from what I've seen, they are cool looking.

Good luck!

 

[maxpayne_lhp]

It's the only way. then we can start over again, better than the annoying things come back and leaves a disaster behind. No ammount of carefulness is enough! just boil everything up
Good luck...

 

[ncjharris]

if you do use any kind of chems (bleach, disinfectant, vingear etc) remember to rinse thouroghly afterwards!

 

[seanus]

Thanks for the help everyone.

How can I perform a fishless cycle? Never done that one before...

Does anyone know about fresh/brackish water puffers?

Thanks