Pretty Gross..

[girl4God81]

My little boy died a couple weeks ago from columnaris and I haven't cleaned his old tank out since. He is gone but the water and plants are not. Yes, I know that's awhile to let the nasty water sit, but I want to reuse the tank but wasn't sure how to clean it properly so I just haven't done anything with it. So last night I finally dumped the water and saved the plants (silk). I cleaned out with a little bleach, and tons of hot and cold water for awhile. I think it's fine now but how do I clean the plants???

 

[girl4God81]

OK, I'm throwing the plants out unless anyone knows what else to do with them.

 

[blfoster]

Leave the aquarium dry for awhile. That should kill the bacteria (I think). If you really want to be safe, put the plants in the microwave.

 

[karmagl]

are they live or fake if they are fake you can bleach with very diluted water but rinse rinse rinse. If they are live then put them in a bucket and treat them just like you would a fish same dosage.

 

[l.michelle]

What is the tank made of? Glas or pexy glass? plastic? I really don't think you should use bleach beacause as far as I know, even the residue of it still sticks to certain materials. That's why you're not supposed to use even soap when cleaning out fish tanks or decorations. If you have used bleach I'm not sure if it will be a good idea to use it again for fish. You may want to wait for someone to address this though, I could be wrong.

 

[Dan-25]

very diluted bleach and give the tank a good clean and rinse until the smell of the bleach completely goes then leave it in the sun for a while - repeat if you feel it nessecary.

you could leave the plants to soak and make sure your gravel is thouroughly cleaned . . .

Good Luck

 

[Naughtygirlrlw]

Bleach is fine to use, you want a dilution of 1 part bleach/19 parts water then rinse, rinse, rinse! As long as you can not smell the bleach when you're done rinsing, you're good to go! Also if it's warm enough outside, after rinsing you can set it outside in the sun to dry for a couple of hours and that will kill any left over chlorine. Good luck!

 

[dmarie04]

In addition to diluting the bleach, rinsing lots, and drying in the sun, you can also use extra dechlorinator to make sure all the bleachiness is gone. When I clean with bleach I then squirt a washcloth with dechlorinator and wipe it all down or soak in water with extra dechlorinator in it.