What Happened To Phoenix?

[attibones]

I was doing a water change when I found the snail. I had put it it in the tank maybe three days before when It was very much alive.

I scrubbed the decor over the sink, but I didn't use soap. However, it is perfectly plausible in my teeny bathroom (which I used because I really need to do the dishes) that the decorations touched something they were not supposed to touch, like toothpaste, I suppose.

I now believe I will never know what happened to Phoenix. However, I do have a few questions regarding the safety of my tank. Of course I will do a very large water change, but how should I go about safely cleaning the decorations (in case there were any contaminants)? Should I also clean the glass with vinegar and water?

 

[rpgmomma8404]

I was doing a water change when I found the snail. I had put it it in the tank maybe three days before when It was very much alive.

I scrubbed the decor over the sink, but I didn't use soap. However, it is perfectly plausible in my teeny bathroom (which I used because I really need to do the dishes) that the decorations touched something they were not supposed to touch, like toothpaste, I suppose.

I now believe I will never know what happened to Phoenix. However, I do have a few questions regarding the safety of my tank. Of course I will do a very large water change, but how should I go about safely cleaning the decorations (in case there were any contaminants)? Should I also clean the glass with vinegar and water?

I wouldn't use anything but hot water to clean everything. Make sure you clean out your substrate as well. Just as a precaution I probably wouldn't use q-tips to clean the decorations anymore either. Unless the fish are sick with something like ich or what not. I just use my fish bucket and clean everything off with the dirty tank water once in a while during water changes or when needed. 

 

[Wildbetta]

So sorry to hear about Phoenix.     It is often very hard to know for sure what makes some fish pass away especially if they are not having other issues before hand.  I am not sure I believe it was a contaminant or just him coming to the end of his natural life.  The fish at the petstore are bad to have had very stressful times before coming to someone who cares and that does affect the lifespan greatly.  Since you do not know for sure what happened, I suggest you clean the tank and all decor with either a vinegar/water mixture or a hydrogen peroxide/water mixture.  Both are pretty gentle but effective at cleaning.  For the future I recommend having a sponge that you use only with your tanks and use that to wipe down your decor with.