Disinfecting Tank After Sick Fish

[nikkifro8994]

My betta fish died last night of what I believe was an open sore that turned into a fungal infection. I am going to toss the filter media and clean the tank, filter, cave, heater, thermometer and gravel. Should I use bleach for this? or would dish soap be ok? also, what should I do with the live plants? I have 1 amazon sword, 1 moss ball, and 1 anubis. How do I disinfect these? or should I throw them out?
Thanks!
Nikki

 

[elmo666]

Three courses of action you could adopt. Bleach is an option, but surprisingly there is no guarantee it will sterilise your tank, and if you have anything porous this could be problematic. A strong salt solution is another option. This is also a good way of cleaning your plants. Soak for 5 mins then give them a really good rinse. However, the best way to see of any nasties is to let your tank, gravel and decor (not live plants) totally dry out. I have used branded aquarium disinfectant previously, well rinsed and let evrything dry. Gravel is best spread out as much as possible. Please don't use any kind of soap, it is almost impossible to get rid of the residue afterwards.

 

[Crossfire]

My betta fish died last night of what I believe was an open sore that turned into a fungal infection. I am going to toss the filter media and clean the tank, filter, cave, heater, thermometer and gravel. Should I use bleach for this? or would dish soap be ok? also, what should I do with the live plants? I have 1 amazon sword, 1 moss ball, and 1 anubis. How do I disinfect these? or should I throw them out?
Thanks!
Nikki

Don't throw out the filter media! There's good bacteria living in there! If you want another betta, then keep the filter media, and you won't have to cycle it all over again (presuming you know what cycling is)

I'd empty out the water, take everything (excluding live plants and filter/filter media) and run hot tap water on it. The chlorine and heat will wipe out any nasties. Then leave it to dry out in the sun. The UV radiation and heat will kill off anything still alive.
For live plants, just run under room temperature tap water. The chlorine will kill anything. Don't use hot water or bleach, it will kill them.

Don't use bleach or dish soap on anything you are putting back in the tank. It will leech back into the water and kill any fish.

 

[Aquascaper]

Don't throw out the filter media! There's good bacteria living in there!

As well as any residual pathogens and harmful bacteria which were the cause of the problems in the first place.

If you are going to the trouble of sterilising the tank do not re-use the old filter media. As has already been suggested, one of the best ways to ensure everything is killed is to dry things out completely, doing this to the filter media will kill any beneficial bacteria anyway so you would have to do another cycle to mature it so why risk anything surviving.

 

[thereverendturtle]

Bleach is safe to use, I've used it several times in the past. In fact that is how you recharge purigen. If you do use bleach, just soak whatever you've used it on, in tap water and an overdose of dechlorinator. Rinse them well and if it still has a bleach smell, soak and dechlorinate again.

 

[nikkifro8994]

I put about 2 tablespoons of aquarium salt in a gallon of water and let the plants soak for 5 minutes. Then I rinsed them and added them to my planted 1.5 gallon tank. I also took everything out of the tank and rinsed it with hot water. Then I laid it all to dry on a towel on the kitchen table. That's the only place high enough that my dogs won't mess with it. Although, I'm not sure Mom will be to pleased when she gets home tonight. The gravel is spread out on cookie cooling racks that are covered in paper towels.

 

[Wills]

This all seems pretty drastic to me... Fungal infections are not really that much of an issue to a healthy fish - you could have just dosed the tank with something like Melafix or Primafix (i forget which one is for fungal) while topping up the tank with ammonia as per a fish less cycle.

That would keep the tank alive and while the meds are in for a week or two and starve the fungus of a host and kill off the disease.

And then no need to rip apart the tank and risk adding chemicals.

Wills

 

[nikkifro8994]

I didn't use any chemicals. I used salt water on the plants and let everything else dry out.