Help With Cleaning Infected Tank

[BettaFishGirl]

My betta Luna passed away from what I think was an internal bacterial infection. This happened about 4 days ago and I haven't done a water change yet on the tank... It's a cycled heavily planted 5 gallon. I'm going to do a large WC and gravel vac tonight, but should I do anything else? I plan to get another Betta in there and I don't want it to die from the same cause. There also a few ghost shrimp and snails in there.

 

[SushiRollsAquabuds]

I am sorry for your loss.

 

[Colin_T]

If there are still fish in the tank, then the bare minimum is doing a 75% water change and gravel clean every day for a week.

If there's no fish in the tank, you can do a 100% water change and gravel clean 3 or 4 times in a row. You should wipe the inside of the glass down before doing the water changes. This dilutes any pathogens in the tank.

You should clean the filter too.

If there are still fish in the tank, make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the aquarium.

If there are no fish in the tank, you can refill it with chlorinated tap water and leave it for 24 hours, then add a dechlorinater. The chlorine/ chloramine in the ta water will help kill most pathogens in the water. It will knock the filter bacteria around a bit but some should survive and recover quickly.

You probably won't have a lot of filter bacteria any way in a well planted tank with only 1 small fish.

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If you want to do a thorough clean, then take everything out and wash the tank and everything out with tap water and reset it up after it's clean.

 

[BettaFishGirl]

I re-scaped the tank just before I got her, so if I don't have to take everything out and wash it that would be nice. The only thing that's in there are a lot of snails and ghost shrimp.

I could move the ghost shrimp, but I'm worried about the chloramine in the tank. Would it affect the plants? And it would not affect the BB too much? I stuffed the filter with filter sponge and before Luna I had a Betta and 6 neon tetras. The tetras have been moved to a bigger tank but Im just scared it would undo the cycle.

 

[Colin_T]

Wipe the inside glass down.
Do a 75% water change and gravel clean every day for a week.
Clean the filter.

 

[GaryE]

Chloramine is a biocide. It kills. So you have to use one of the many products available to neutralize it.

Internal bacterial infections, if that was the problem, are dirty water issues. The only real exception is Mycobacter, which is common in Bettas and incurable. It'll be in the tank forever, as it probably is in most tanks. If conditions are good, it won't develop.

I would empty the tank, do a wipe down as @Colin_T suggested, and refill with neutralized water. If it's Myco, that creature can survive bleach, so you just move on. Any fancy Betta you buy will have its own issues already, but if you run the tank well and have a little luck, he'll live for years. You could nuke the tank, and buy a Betta that would be a carrier of all the problems you eliminated. So you have to gamble a little, and be an optimist.

 

[BettaFishGirl]

Maybe it was bad genetics then? The water quality was always great (Ammonia-0 nitrite-0 nitrate-10). I will be cleaning the tank like you and Colin_T said.

 

[Colin_T]

If the next Betta dies about 6 months after you get it, from the same thing, you probably have Fish TB in the tank and will need to bleach everything.

 

[BettaFishGirl]

If the next Betta dies about 6 months after you get it, from the same thing, you probably have Fish TB in the tank and will need to bleach everything.

Ok...I really hope that not the case, I only had Luna for about 3 weeks