Decontaminate Tank

[aimeec]

Hi

After losing my goldfish to an unknown problem, I want to decontaminate my tank to make sure that any new fish I put in there dont get sick.

My sick goldfish post:
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=263423"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=263423[/URL]
My second goldfish died with the same symptoms.

I went through this list of diseases, http/www.fish-disease.net/diseases.htm, but nothing really matched their symptoms.

What can I do to make sure any new fish wont get sick?

Thanks
Aimee

 

[Colin_T]

Hi aimeec

After reading your original post I would say there were a couple of things to look at. The fish in the picture looks malnourished. This can occur if the fish has intestinal worms, gill flukes, or if it isn't being fed properly.
Most shops suggest feeding goldfish a flake or pellet food. Small pellets are good but flake is not very good. Fantail goldfish have trouble surviving on flake or pellet and do best when offered other foods including prawn, fish, squid, daphnia, brineshrimp, etc. They should get this type of food at least twice a week, more often if possible. The high protein levels in these foods are not normal for goldfish but are required to help the fish build up some body mass. Goldfish should also get plant matter in their diet each day. This can be aquarium plants or fresh/ frozen (but defrosted or cooked) veges like peas, pumpkin, zucchini, etc. Avoid onions and potatoes.
Gill flukes and tapeworms can be treated with Praziquantel (which you did). However, a second treatment should be done a week later to kill any eggs that might have hatched.
Gasping at the surface is often a sign of low oxygen levels. Having the filter outlet aimed at the surface will certainly help increase oxygen levels (which you also did). However, chlorine can also cause the fish to gasp. When you do water changes you should make the new water up before it is added to the tank. Get a clean bucket that hasn't been used for anything but the fish. Fill it with tap water and add some dechlorinator. Stir it up and wait at least 15minutes, preferably more. If you can aerate this bucket of water then it will be better. You can also double dose with dechlorinator and it might help.
Black patching on the fish can occur from chemical burns. If there was some free chlorine in the water it might have done damage to the fish’s gills and caused them to gasp. It could also cause the black patches (burns) to their body.
If there is significant damage done to the gills, (either by flukes or chemicals) then sometimes the fish don’t recover.

I haven't heard of a battery powered vac (gravel cleaner) to suck up all the gunk. A normal gravel cleaner is the best choice and can be bought from any petshop, or made from a 1.5litre plastic Coke bottle and some garden hose. Cut the bottom off the bottle and stick the hose in the top. Put the bottle into the tank and start syphoning water out of the hose. Push the bottle into the gravel and lift it up a bit. The gravel will circulate in the bottle before dropping back down. The dirt in the gravel will drain out with some of the water. When you have drained about 30% of the tank you stop gravel cleaning and fill the tank up with dechlorinated water.
Goldfish should get a partial 20-40% water change each week if possible due to their messy habits.

If you want to disinfect the tank you can either dry it out completely for a week, or give it a bleach bath. Most people simply stick the gravel and ornaments out in the sun for a couple of days. This will kill off most things that affect fish. Ceramic ornaments and rocks can be cooked in the oven (120C for an hour) and that will kill off everything on them. The tank can be washed out with soapy water and then thoroughly rinsed with fresh water.
If you are really concerned then you can rinse the tank out with a 20% bleach solution. Add 1 cup of bleach (White King or something similar) and 4 cups of water to a bucket. Pour this in the tank and wipe it over the surfaces.
*NB* Make sure you wear rubber gloves and safety glasses when using bleach.
Leave the bleach on the tank for about 15-20 minutes before washing it off with tap water. Make sure you rinse it well because many household cleaning bleaches have a detergent in them.
Once the tank has been really well rinsed out, leave it to dry overnight and then set it back up. When you set the tank back up you can use a double or triple dose of dechlorinator to help remove any residual bleach that might be left behind. It is unlikely there will be any but you can add more conditioner if you are concerned the tank wasn't rinsed out properly.

Having said all that I would just rinse the tank out really well with freshwater and let it dry for a week. Then set it back up. (I wouldn’t bother about the bleach). Most fish live with parasites and diseases all their lives and new pathogens will be introduced when you add new fish or plants.

 

[aimeec]

Happy boxing day Colin_T. Thanks for your response. Your post was really informative.

I use the battery powered vac in addition to the normal gravel vac(I even have 2 so I dont cross contaminate with my community tank). I found that I would have to remove too much water with the normal vac before it was clean.

I also feed blood worms and peas to the goldfish. They didnt like brine shrimp at all, and were not impressed with zucchini. The fish in the pic was pudgy until he got sick and stopped eating. The second goldfish didnt lose any weight and was eating until the day before he died.
I have been trying to grow some mosquito larvae, but with no luck so far.

I did the second treatment with prazi.

I will leave the chlorine remover in the bucket for a while in the future before adding it to the tank. i have only ever put the chlorine remover in the bucket, swished it around and poured it into the tank.


I use the same maintenance routine for my community tank( tetras, khulie loaches and a brislenose pleco) and they have been fine. The plants in this tank are going nuts, my anubias even has a flower.


Could there be something poisoning the tank? Bad filter media, crappy plastic filter tubes?
If so, will activated carbons remove it?

I dont think I will bleach my tank, but I will dry it out. what can I do with my anubias-on-pot? Will it be ok in a bucket of water for a week?

 

[Colin_T]

If the gravel is really dirty then you should do gravel cleans & water changes more often. The other thing you can do is kink the gravel cleaner hose so the water doesn’t drain out as quickly. This will give you more time to clean the gravel without removing as much water.
Having a thinner layer of gravel in the tank can help as it is easier to clean and you often don’t need to remove as much water. If you have an undergravel filter then make sure you have a couple of inches of gravel over it. Power filters and internal box/ sponge filters can run in tanks without any gravel.

If the fish was eating and then suddenly stopped eating before dieing, then it might have had organ failure. This is simply where one of the internal organs fail/ rupture/ stop working and the fish dies. Unfortunately there isn’t much you can do for internal problems and it is often more common in fancy goldfish because of their deformed body shape.

Frozen bloodworms can cause problems in some fish. Some brands aren’t very clean and carry huge amounts of bacteria and other things. Bloodworms also have a hard head and set of jaws, which can block up the fish’s digestive tract. If you can find irradiated bloodworms then they are usually clean. Raw prawn is a much better food and can be obtained from any supermarket or bait supply store. Keep it in the freezer and when needed, defrost the prawn then shell it and chop it into fine pieces. Offer a few bits at a time. Prawn is a really good food for most tropical fish too.

Mozzie larvae are commonly found in buckets of water that are sitting under a tree. They are even more common in buckets with a bit of rotting plant matter in, ie: grass clipping or lettuce leaves. They also occur in the saucers under pot plants in the garden.
*NB* It is illegal to culture mozzies in many countries.

Unfortunately in Australia we often have high levels of chlorine and it can take a while to remove it all. The water corporation will often increase chlorine levels during warm weather or after work has been done on water pipes in an area. Allowing the water and dechlorinator to mix for a while usually gets rid of all the free chlorine. In really hot weather it is a good idea to aerate the mixture overnight before using it.

There is a possibility that a poisonous substance has gotten into the tank. However, most aquarium products are pretty safe with coloured gravel (primarily blue & red gravel) and fish medications being the main problems. Most chemical poisoning in fish tanks (beside ammonia & chlorine) comes from outside sources, cream or chemicals on your hands. Doing regular water changes will often dilute any chemicals and carbon will also remove many from the water. Carbon is available in activated and normal forms. Activated carbon is better than normal carbon. If you have chemicals in the water then carbon can be used but should be replaced everyday for a week and then about once a month after that. Carbon will remove plant fertilisers and medications and should be removed before using these products.
You could also have copper in the tap water. Copper leaches out of the pipes and is often builds up in the water until the tap is turned on. Then it gets flushed out when you turn the tap on. Running the tap for a couple of minutes before collecting the water should help remove any copper contaminated water. Carbon will remove copper from the water.
Prolonged exposure to high levels of copper will cause kidney damage in fish and other animals.

The Anubias will be fine in a bucket of water. Try to keep it under a fluoro light or in a well lit area inside. Don’t put it out in the sun because it will cook.