How to clean aquarium equipment??

[Michele]

Hi. I've just discovered Ich in my 10 gallon (quarantine) tank. I use the same hose & vacuum for both my tanks & was wondering what is an effective method of cleaning my equipment so the ich (or anything else) doesn't get transferred from one tank to another? Thanks.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Run it under hot water and let it dry out.

 

[heresmike]

I'd suggest letting the equipment sit in very hot water for a while. Maybe I'm overly cautious, and I don't know how long it takes for parasites and bacteria to die, but I don't want to take any chances. In fact, I recently had to treat a tank for fungus, and soaked the syphon and other equipment in water with bleach. Then rinsed very thoroughly in dechlorinated water.

 

[canarsie11]

With bleach, I thought that was a no-no?

 

[thecichlidaddict]

Ich won't survive drying out, and they die quickly under hot water. Bleach is fine as long as you make sure there isn't a trace of it left when you are done rinsing.

 

[heresmike]

With bleach, I thought that was a no-no?

No-no, bleach is not a no-no. It's better than fine. IMO, it's the best and safest thing to use. Yes, you have to rinse thoroughly, but it rinses easily. You can tell you're done rinsing if you no longer smell it on the item.

 

[Nidge]

You should really have two sets of equipment, nets, hose's, vacuum's, That way you can't spread disease.