Cleaning Tank

[ron1]

) could anyone tell me the best way to clean out my tank as my fish have gone to fishy heaven?

 

[Durbkat]

What size tank is it and what fish did you have? Do you know if they died of a disease or old age?

 

[Dany]

by clean your tank you mean empty it and whatever or are you getting more fish?
if you are getting fish the best way is buy a gravel syphon which is basicly a pipe with a wide end and a one way valve. if i take you for a compleate begginer..firstly get you water checked. your local fish shop will do this free. only add a few fish at a time depending on the fish. clean the tank once every 2 weeks MINIMUM.
what size tank have you got and what fish are you planning on keeping?
dany

 

[ron1]

10 g tank.the fish were bought from a large pet department--we also have a fancy g/fish in another tank and we bought him from somewhere else and he is a happy chap.Don't think the fish that died were very well right from the beginning.went all slimy looking and blood spots under body.----didn't have all fish in 10g at the same time--1 at a time and they were little goldfish.

 

[Durbkat]

That sounds like spectimaica (a disease) and you should empty the tank and rinse it out with a bleach solution.

 

[ron1]

how much bleach to water do you recommend-----bit worried about bleach

 

[Durbkat]

I'm not sure since I've never had to do anything like this before. Just wait for someone else to tell you how much bleach to water.

 

[ron1]

ok thanks for your advice

 

[Dany]

wow wow, DO NOT USE BLEACH!!!! firstly, Did all the fish die from the same disease?empty the tank, get your water tested and rinse the tank with warm water. try to rinse the gravel and decorations aswel.

 

[Durbkat]

Yes use bleach, bleach kills any disease that may have been in the tank and rinsing it out with warm water won't do anything.

 

[Dany]

you'll never be able to get rid of bleach 100%. the smaller the tank the more concentrated this will be in the water. true that bleach will kill any diseases or bacterial infections. but will probably kill the fish aswel, why would you want to use bleach when warm water will be sufficent. just clean any decorations and gravel aswel. disease is caused by the presence of certain bacteria. bleach kills bacteria. but will kill the benificial bacteria in your tank aswel. the wel being of your fish depend on this bacteria. it takes an absolute tiny tiny amout of bleach to kill bacteria and youll never get rid of all the bacteria in your tank.
just rinse the tank out with very warm water. (not hot) and then fill it up and leave it a little while to cycle. get a cheap fish and if it catches this disease again treat with the recomended medication. bleach will kill your fish one way or another. maybe not directly but by the killing of the benificial bacteria within the tank.
dan

 

[severina]

"you'll never be able to get rid of bleach 100%"

Not true. Its called rinsing. And there's more than one use for dechlorinator. Some people even use bleach to get algea and stains off their light colored ornaments.

Bleach bleach bleach thats the only way you will ever kill what killed your fish...and if you're unsure that you were able to rinse off all the bleach use several cap fulls of dechlorinator in a few cups of water and let your ornaments sit in it for an hour or 2...and then swish it around your tank.

 

[Dany]

what about the medication your suppost to use then. its there for a reason you know.by using bleach you going to hace to starty from scratch and wait for your tank to cycle again because bleach is going to kill the benificial bacteria within the pump and whatever. you can never be to sure with bleach.
DONT DO IT.

 

[BWBettas]

1 thing... HOT WATER ON IT'S OWN WILL NOT KILL THE FISH. how do you think everyone else does it. Do you see them having dead fish. NO, Because they rinse it really well and add overdoses of De-Chlor wchich will eliminate anything left in the water!

Bret

 

[liz2]

You can get some special cleaner in with the medications in you lofs. I always use a brand new spoonge scourer and scrub my ornaments and the tank then just leave the gravel under running water for 3O minutes.