Almost complete re-do.

[foxgirl158]

I’m not sure if this is the right sub forum to post this question on, but I couldn’t figure out one better.
I almost completely re-did my 10g quarantine/hospital tank yesterday because I accidentally left a dead fish in it for almost a week (I feel terrible about it .) The tank was sitting on the floor next to my main 30g. Because it was on the floor, I’ve never had a good suction for gravel vacuuming the substrate. I vacuumed the gravel best I could, and took out half of the water. My mom helped me move it to a small side table on the other side of the tank where I proceeded to try to gravel vac the rest of the water out. Because there wasn’t enough water to get a good siphon it didn’t go very well, but I got almost all the water out. I then proceeded to rise the carbon filter pad, the pad with the spikes on it, the sponge that goes over the filter intake, and both the fake plants in the tank water. I put the fake plants back in and added new gravel in with the old because the gravel in this tank has always been sparse. I dechlorinated new water and filled it back up, turned on the filter and heater, and gave it the rest of the day to get all the junk out. Overall, I probably replaced a little more than 3/4 of the water.

Do I need to add ammonia of some kind to make sure my bacteria isn’t completely messed up? Is this basically a new cycle? I was planning on gravel vacuuming again today to get the rest of the junk out that settled overnight, should I wait on that?
I want to get a couple new fish and a snail and quarantine them in this tank, how long should I wait before getting them so I can make sure the cycle is back to normal?

Thank you!
(Edited to remove spam link)

 

[Slaphppy7]

Was the tank cycled to begin with?

 

[foxgirl158]

Was the tank cycled to begin with?

Yes, the tank has been up and running for around 6 months

 

[Slaphppy7]

Then no need for ammonia, if you are going to get a few fish in the next few days...just keep a close eye on params after adding fish for a few days

 

[foxgirl158]

Then no need for ammonia, if you are going to get a few fish in the next few days...just keep a close eye on params after adding fish for a few days

I’m not sure when I’ll be able to get the fish, I was going to call the fish store today and see if they had them/could order them. Should I go and get a nerite snail now just to have some source of ammonia?

 

[Slaphppy7]

The BB in the tank won't "starve" for ammonia for many, many days, totally up to you...one nerite won't add much ammonia, anyway

 

[foxgirl158]

The BB in the tank won't "starve" for ammonia for many, many days, totally up to you...one nerite won't add much ammonia, anyway

Awesome, thank you! Do you think I should do another gravel vac today or tomorrow to make sureI have all the bad bacteria from the fish out or is it ok?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Awesome, thank you! Do you think I should do another gravel vac today or tomorrow to make sureI have all the bad bacteria from the fish out or is it ok?

Should be fine...we have no idea if the fish was diseased or not, correct?

Just a rotting carcass alone shouldn't cause further issues

 

[foxgirl158]

Should be fine...we have no idea if the fish was diseased or not, correct?

Just a rotting carcass alone shouldn't cause further issues

I spoke to a couple of employees at a couple different fish stores and the general agreement seems to be that she (and my other two that died after having the same symptoms) had some sort of internal infection/disease that I couldn’t have prevented. Because the fish were from different stores and were introduced at separate times and died several months from each other the conclusion was that it wasn’t being spread, but rather something they had anyway.