cleaned with bleach

[pandora's lily]

after one of my bettas died, i think it was some type of internal parasite, i took all his gravel and plants and cleaned everything in a solution of bleach. i want to be able to use them in my other bettas tank and i'm setting a new one up for him. everything that i cleaned, however, still has a slight smell of bleach on them but they've been soaked in clean water. would it be safe to use them anyway or is there another way to clean the gravel and plants again? i don't want anything to happen to my other betta...

 

[Tenko]

Not sure what to do I'm afraid, but I'd have thought any trace of bleach isn't a good thing. Have you tried boiling them, although if they are plastic plants they might not survive.

To be safe I'd just buy new stuff.

 

[freshmike]

Just soak whatever you cleaned in dechlorinator for a day or two....I have this filter insert (or 3) that is called seachem purigen....it gets VERY dirty and needs to be recharged in bleach....half water/half bleach...you are supposed to soak it for 8 hours and then soak it again in dechlorinator for another 8 hours...so what I am trying to say is....is that just cleaning with a solution is nothing compared to that and that you should be fine to just do the same. Hope I didn't confuse you....I just woke up.

 

[Beta316]

make sure that when you rinse the stuff use the hottest water possible. I deal with bleach chemicals on items and we use hot tap water to rinse and then we leave them in the hot water soaking

 

[mhoward1999]

I have used bleach several times to clean tanks/equipment when I have had disease outbreaks. The key is to rinse, rinse, rinse, and when you think it's enough, rinse it some more! There shouldn't be a bleachy smell to it when it's rinsed enough. It might have a salty smell, though. I have no experience with the de-chlorinator as far as how much you need. I would love to know, since that would make it SOOOO much easier! I always just put in as per label directions, and then added a squirt or two more.

 

[pandora's lily]

hey guys, thanks for the suggestions, the gravel has been boiled and dechlorinated (to be on the safe side), and the plants i just tossed cuz they still smell a little funky
now everything is cycling and hopefully my guys'll like it



pandora