Cleaning Tank After Disease?

[QuotheRaven]

My tank was attacked by a bad fungal attack and it's starting to clear out I believe (due to lack of fish in the tank now after deaths and quarentine) So how should I clean up the tank?? I will do a 50% water change or like that. I also was thinking I'd swap my gravel to sand should I do that once the disease has gone and while I clean up after the disease swap the gravel out and the sand in??.....This is a 75 gallon tank with bog wood decor and Lots of plants (majority is long thin Val....).

Also side question would it be safe to swap from gravel to sand in a tank with fry in it (krib fry in a 7 gal tank with a thin layer of gravel I though perhaps safer to use sand because they are very active.)

 

[TammyLiz]

Are you planning on doing a complete tear-down of the tank and washing it out to rid the fungus, or just leave it setup and try to change the substrate while the fish are in it?

If you do a complete tear down, you can use bleach and rinse well. I know with a 75 gallon tank rinsing is very difficult, so I'd let it dry before refilling it to ensure any residual bleach would evaporate out with the water.

Swapping from gravel to sand is surely possible. Keep in mind it makes a big cloud. I'm not sure how that would affect the fry. It clears up usually within a couple of days, and as quickly as overnight if you rinsed the sand very well. With only 7 gallons that wouldn't take much sand so would not be a big deal to rinse a lot. The 75 gallon is a different story and a lottt of work!

Good luck with it.

--Tammy

 

[QuotheRaven]

well the thing is I cannot do a complete tear down due to fish in the tank (of which I cannot rehome and do not want to either) so does fungus stay in the tank or is it merely kept on the fish?

The tank is being treated with PimaFix and MelaFix

 

[TammyLiz]

If you treat and see no return of it for a while, I'd say you're safe. You'll have to wait and see. And I'd try a stronger med before doing a complete tear down, even if it does return.

About the sand thing, here's another recent thread about switching substrate.
http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=162276
Someone on there said they switched from sand to gravel without removing fish.