How Do I Ensure A Tank Is Free From Contamination

[daleboy]

Hi all

My partner has just managed to get a 3 week old superfish aqua 30 for very little money.
I got it in the bath and washed the hell out of it and set it up using a cycled filter I keep running in my main tank,the filter has been running for 6 months in a well established tank.
I put a 4 guppies in that were ready to rehome, they were fine but got up in the morning to find lethargic fish with clamped fins and very red gills.
I moved them straight to my hospital tank and within hours lost 2 of them, the other two have since picked up swimming round and eating normally.
The fish were perfectly healthy before the move so combined with the speed of their decline and the red gills i am certain its something in the tank thats caused it.
The issue i have is if rinsing the tank in clean water didnt get rid of contaminents what else can i do?

Thanks in advance.

 

[N0body Of The Goat]

Did you pH test the new tank's water before adding the fish? An unusually high pH may indicate the tank had been exposed to something nasty like bleach.

How do the stats of the guppy's old tank (temp, pH, ammonia, nitrite) compare to this new one?

 

[daleboy]

Thanks for the reply.
Yes I did test the water prior to adding fish.
The tank stats were bang on identical to my main tank, forgot to add i used water from main tank and i always match temps.
I will go do a ph test now though in case something has changed.

EDIT..Just checked again and PH is still 7.6 and all other stats are as first checked.

I am going to strip the tank again and try cleaning it again with lots of clean water and I will also strip the hood down into pieces to make sure its clean too.

 

[Harlequins]

Did you test the water after adding the fish? even though the filter had been running in another tank,its possible it could have had an ammonia spike....red gills can be one of the signs of poisoning...

Tanks can be washed in either vinegar and water,or very weak soap free bleach to clean it throughly.

Sorry for your loss

 

[daleboy]

Hi and thanks for replying, 9yes I checked the water after the fish were added.
My first thought was the red gills could be down to ammonia but all test showed none.
I know i was getting ready to rehome them but i didnt want them to die

Worst of all they were from the first set of guppies i ever bred and one was a huge lion head and the other a beautiful metallic blue
What type of vinegar should i use?

 

[Tolak]

I doubt it's a disease problem, but since you are going to go through the trouble of pulling it & rinsing I'd go with a bit of bleach/water solution anyway, with a good rinse after. There's no telling what it may have been cleaned with previously, I would fill it, and run the filter on it with fresh carbon only for a few days, this should remove any sort of chemical residue that may have been left in it from previous use of cleaning products. No fish, no decorations, filter with carbon & water.

Being 3 weeks old I doubt that it's been resealed, if it were older I'd suspect the silicone had it been resealed.

 

[ainsy]

I have always used polyfilter on any tank that I was unsure about

 

[daleboy]

I doubt it's a disease problem, but since you are going to go through the trouble of pulling it & rinsing I'd go with a bit of bleach/water solution anyway, with a good rinse after. There's no telling what it may have been cleaned with previously, I would fill it, and run the filter on it with fresh carbon only for a few days, this should remove any sort of chemical residue that may have been left in it from previous use of cleaning products. No fish, no decorations, filter with carbon & water.

Being 3 weeks old I doubt that it's been resealed, if it were older I'd suspect the silicone had it been resealed.

Hi Tolak

I have just finished giving it one hell of a clean every inch of the thing.
Going to be doing as you suggested and run it bare with carbon for a bit just to be safe.
I have to admit though its gonna be a bit nerve racking adding fish to it again, I will have to watch it like a hawk.

I have always used polyfilter on any tank that I was unsure about

In 25 odd years that I have been keeping fish and setting up new tanks not once have I had an issue like this and believe me I have bought some really grotty tanks from really grotty places.
It might be worth a look at though if it will remove contaminents other than the usual metals, ammonia etc.
Although I dont know much about the stuff to be honest.

 

[ainsy]

I keep shrimp and want to make sure that anything I use doesn't have even a slight trace of copper in it. If it removes anything else in the process then it is a benefit.

 

[daleboy]

I am going to take a good look at the stuff.
If it avoids possible issues like this one its got to be worth trying.
Thanks