How to disinfect a tank after HITH

[Sharkloving_aquarist]

One of my bettas died due to Hole in The Head, how should I disinfect my 30 gallon tank she was in for my other betta that I'm moving into the tank from a 10 gallon? I just got done medicating a few loaches in there, so should medication be enough???

 

[Colin_T]

Bettas don't normally get hole in the head disease, which is a cichlid disease caused by Hexamita. Hexamita can be killed with Metronidazole when it's affe3cting fish, or salt if there's no fish in the tank. Drying the tank and accessories (including gravel) will also kill Hexamita and most other fish diseases.

What makes you think the fish hade a Hexamita infection?

What are you treating the loaches for and what are you using to treat them?

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. I just use a couple of tablespoons of aquarium salt dissolved in a gallon or so of warm tap water and a new sponge to clean my empty tanks.

10 Tanks (Now 11)

 

[Sharkloving_aquarist]

Bettas don't normally get hole in the head disease, which is a cichlid disease caused by Hexamita. Hexamita can be killed with Metronidazole when it's affe3cting fish, or salt if there's no fish in the tank. Drying the tank and accessories (including gravel) will also kill Hexamita and most other fish diseases.

What makes you think the fish hade a Hexamita infection?

What are you treating the loaches for and what are you using to treat them?

Bettas don't normally get hole in the head disease, which is a cichlid disease caused by Hexamita. Hexamita can be killed with Metronidazole when it's affe3cting fish, or salt if there's no fish in the tank. Drying the tank and accessories (including gravel) will also kill Hexamita and most other fish diseases.

What makes you think the fish hade a Hexamita infection?

What are you treating the loaches for and what are you using to treat them?

She had a dent in her head that was eating away at her flesh. There was also slight discoloration. She was a petsmart betta so she was kept in dirty water. Im not 100 percent sure if it was HITH tho. I'm currently treating my loaches with paracleanse, which I made sure is loach friendly. I did treat the tank with salt luckily, not my loaches but the other tank I moved her to (hospital tank). Is there a chance she got burnt by the heater and then got an infection? Cause it literally ate away at her head and eye

 

[Sharkloving_aquarist]

Bettas don't normally get hole in the head disease, which is a cichlid disease caused by Hexamita. Hexamita can be killed with Metronidazole when it's affe3cting fish, or salt if there's no fish in the tank. Drying the tank and accessories (including gravel) will also kill Hexamita and most other fish diseases.

What makes you think the fish hade a Hexamita infection?

What are you treating the loaches for and what are you using to treat them?

To add on I got her with the spot on her head thinking it was an ammonia burn, not knowing what ammonia burns looked like

 

[Alice B]

I don't think it was HITH. But there is a something that anabantids get that looks like that, and I got 5 gouramis from the same source and lost all of them in the course of about 1.5 years. I wasn't sure what it was, got myself a TB test at my physical just for good measure. It came back negative.

 

[Colin_T]

If the Betta developed a sore that destroyed the tissue around the head, it sounds more like a bacterial infection that Hexamita. Rinsing/ hosing the tank out and drying everything for a week should kill most bacteria. Filling the tank with chlorinated tap water and letting it run for 24 hours usually kills most things in it too. But you have to remove any fish and it usually wipes out the filter bacteria.