How do you sterilise tanks and equipment?

[Salty&Onion]

just wash the tank out with warm soapy water a couple of times and then rinse well. that will get rid of any worm eggs and most parasites 9assuming there is any).

or you can use straight household bleach. slosh it around the tank, wait 5 minutes then rinse out well.

white vinegar can be left in contact with silicon for hours and won't affect it, but will kill most things.

70% alcohol will kill everything too and you can wipe a heap of alcohol on the inside of the tank. leave it to dry then wash with soapy water and rinse well.

Welcome back Colin!
When you were away I have been you

 

[Lajos_Detari]

@Byron , @seangee
Carrying on with my anti-worm crusade, I was wondering what to do with the small bits of driftwood I was waterlogging in the quarantine tank with guppies before I saw worm signs. Didn't want to throw it away. I decided to try scrubbing them with salt. I figure salt is both drying and abrasive, so surely might help break apart or remove worm eggs. Then rinsed well and poured boiling water all over it. Allowing it to dry out too before use. That'll probably be fine, right? Have heard of people salt dipping things to sterilise.

I don't expect you to confirm that that will 100% work of course, it'll be my choice to risk using it, and it sounds like even bleach isn't 100% guaranteed to kill all worm eggs. I'm just tying to stack the odds in my favour without turning things toxic, and wondered if you would trust the wood after doing that.

I think Colin did mention of soaking driftwood in salt water for a few days. Then soak in fresh water for a few days before using any driftwood.
I guess this is a good idea.

By the way, I forgot to mention that you can neutralize bleach with water conditioner (if I remember correctly).

Take note also when using vinegar as the fume is also bad as its an acid.
Nowadays we even have artificial vinegar which I believe is made of pure acid.
Its sold for probably $1 per bottle.

Vinegar is also used in cooking but in a very diluted form.

 

[Essjay]

By the way, I forgot to mention that you can neutralize bleach with water conditioner (if I remember correctly).

Since bleach is a source of chlorine, dechlorinator will remove it.


I once spilled bleach on the carpet tiles in the bathroom. I poured neat dechlorinator over the spillage, then lifted the tile and ran it under the outside tap. Apart from looking cleaner than the other carpet tiles, you couldn't tell which one it was afterwards.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Since bleach is a source of chlorine, dechlorinator will remove it.


I once spilled bleach on the carpet tiles in the bathroom. I poured neat dechlorinator over the spillage, then lifted the tile and ran it under the outside tap. Apart from looking cleaner than the other carpet tiles, you couldn't tell which one it was afterwards.

Ooohh, that's great! I wonder if that would work when I've splashed it on clothes? I try to remember to wear old clothes if I'm going to be using bleach, but we've all splashed a droplet on something we really didn't want to bleach I'm sure.

Shrimplets - last couple of water changes, I haven't sucked up any.. any one of those was a big 80% water change. Instead of being happy that I apparently avoided them all, now I'm not happy, wondering if it means there aren't as many shrimplets are before.

Hopefully it was just that they're big enough now to avoid, but once you're used to sucking them up, it's weird when you don't find any!

 

[AbbeysDad]

I'd use 50/50 chlorine bleach in a spray bottle. Spray well, let set for 15-30 minutes, then rinse well. Let air dry, then fill and dechlorinate as normal.
There's no need to fear chlorine bleach as it readily dissipates which is why so many municipalities have switched to chloramine (and why I have to keep adding it in the pool and hot tub). You might treat accessories the same way. For the siphon, make a quart or two of bleach/water solution in a bucket and siphon into another bucket.
Best wishes to get things back on track.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I'd use 50/50 chlorine bleach in a spray bottle. Spray well, let set for 15-30 minutes, then rinse well. Let air dry, then fill and dechlorinate as normal.
There's no need to fear chlorine bleach as it readily dissipates which is why so many municipalities have switched to chloramine (and why I have to keep adding it in the pool and hot tub). You might treat accessories the same way. For the siphon, make a quart or two of bleach/water solution in a bucket and siphon into another bucket.
Best wishes to get things back on track.

Thank you so much! We're on day three of the second and third meds, so have a few repeats to go. I've already bleached the used tank, but still have a lot of buckets/nets/syphons to clean, and bleaching does seem most effective, and perhaps unexpectedly, safer

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Since bleach is a source of chlorine, dechlorinator will remove it.


I once spilled bleach on the carpet tiles in the bathroom. I poured neat dechlorinator over the spillage, then lifted the tile and ran it under the outside tap. Apart from looking cleaner than the other carpet tiles, you couldn't tell which one it was afterwards.

Wow, that's very effective.

I just remember now. Bleach scientific name is Sodium Hypochlorite.
So, one part of it is Chlorite (Chlorine).

"Sodium hypochlorite (NaClO) and sodium chloride (NaCl) are formed when chlorine is passed into cold dilute sodium hydroxide solution".

Sodium hypochlorite - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

According to Wikipedia, make sure you don't mix it with Acid or Ammonia which can create toxic fume or come into contact with your eyes..

 

[FishGuest5123]

I'm currently treating two aquariums of livebearers for worms after seeing some symptoms. I now have two empty tanks, one of which is probably contaminated with worm eggs, and all the equipment I've used on the tanks that can apparently transfer worm eggs, like nets, buckets, syphons, a heater, sponge filter... How do you guys sterilise equipment or tanks after a disease outbreak, to be sure it's all gone?

I'm tempted to take the empty tanks outside, wipe them down with bleach and let it sit for a while before rinsing incredibly thoroughly. Then filling them and using declorinator, rinsing some more, and letting them air dry.

I know I can do the same with most of the equipment, but not all of it. I just really want to be sure I've eradicated any eggs on the equipment and tank, but on the other hand, I don't want to kill my fish with bleach either.... Is there a safer but still effective way? What about syphons? Should I just throw those and get new ones?

Appreciate any advice, thank you!

This is exactly how I disinfected after ich. I used bleach/water at 1/10 ratio and then rinse several times. I then added triple dose of Prime and let it sit a bit. Then rinsed and allowed sun’s UV Rays to do the rest.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

This is exactly how I disinfected after ich. I used bleach/water at 1/10 ratio and then rinse several times. I then added triple dose of Prime and let it sit a bit. Then rinsed and allowed sun’s UV Rays to do the rest.

Thank you, you guys have been so fantastic! You can probably tell I was panicking a bit, lol. I didn't do a thorough enough job last time I dealt with worms, but I thought I'd gotten away with it. But having it come back again/dealing with worms again, I'm not leaving anything up to chance this time! Treating my dad's 55 gallon as well as my 15/16 gal has cost me a small fortune in meds; I had to order second bottles of the ndx and gdex so I can do the repeat treatments since it takes so much to dose the 55, but worth it if it wipes them out and I can relax.

Luckily we're having a hot dry spell, so things can air dry in the garden

 

[Lajos_Detari]

Yes, medications are expensive and especially for treating big tanks.
That is one of the reason I don't like big tank. Even though they are nice, they are harder to maintain and more works and costly for treatment.
For smaller tanks, I can move them easily by myself.

By the way, what worms did you have?
If they don't cause much harm, it may not neccessarily to get rid of them.

 

[FishGuest5123]

It will get it clean. Hot water will kill bacteria.

I never use any chemicals or vinegar (except for cleaning calcium build up) because 1( Chemicals are bad for tanks and 2( Vinegar smells terrible and it takes forever to get rid of. I’m pretty sure the fish don’t appreciate it any more than we do....

Only bleach or aquarium salt will kill ich on equipment.

 

[Airwreck]

Toxic? If it was added to the water I think it would be bad, but vinegar is used in a lot of different cleaning because it evaporates when dried.

As a photographic dinosaur.. I have worked around acetic acid for years..with no ill effects.. unless you count my third eye. If you want to make your own vinegar get some glacial acetic acid.. and dilute to what ever strength you want.. when I mix for my darkroom.. I think it's about a 15% solution
Yes it can put a hurt on your nose, but I have never had any skin problems.

Just use common sense.
Oh as a side bar I agree with the person who said do not mix Chlorine and ammonia. This will produce chlorine gas.. den u be dead.