Scared To Put Fish Back In...

[3baymares]

I had a happy 10 gallon planted tank for 3 years with 7 tetras in it.  Then, a few months ago I upgraded to a 30 gallon tank. All the plants and fish were happy with the switch after 3-4 weeks so I then (made the mistake) of going to PetCo and picking up 5 more tetras to slowly up my fish number.  All the fish ended up dying from ick.  Now I have any empty tank and I am worried about putting fish back in it.  I upped the temp. to 85 degrees F for a few weeks, changed the water (took out 80 percent) but that is all. 
Any advice would be appreciated.  Thanks.
 

 

[KirkyArcher]

Get some suitable ich medication such as ones containing Malachite green, treat tank for two weeks maintaining your high temperature, and lots of gravel/ sand vacuuming prior and after treatment that way all chances of surviving parasite will have completed it's life cycle and been exposed to the medication at some stage

 

[Meeresstille]

So sorry you've lost your fish. Ich is a nasty parasite, but there are a few treatments that have proven to be quite successful. I had to treat ich in my tanks twice and each time I was able to safe most of my fish doing the heat-salt treatment. 
 
I'm not sure how long your tank has been without any fish, but if the tank was empty of fish for at least least 14 days, then the ich will have died off since it had no host to feed off. You could turn up the heat to 89 F, as this is the temperature the ich parasite can not survive, if you are worried and want to make sure.
 
The problem is though how much of your beneficial bacteria has survived? Sometimes the bacteria just goes into some kind of hibernation. If you have any ammonia (not the kind for cleaning with perfumes and such) you could dose the tank (see fish-less cycling) and see if the ammonia gets converted and disappears. This would be a sign that you still have bacteria in the filter and it would be safe to add fish to the tank. Otherwise you will have to cycle the tank again.
 
Anytime you want to add new fish to your main tank it is wise to keep them in a quarantine tank for observation, so any illnesses they carry does not get transferred to your main tank/fish!

 

[Electric Warrior]

TBH with you, I would just start from scratch to make totally sure that all nasties that may have been in there are gone.  Take out all of the substrate and plants, etc., and get rid of it.  Bleach the tank completely (1part to 9 part), and rinse and air dry completely about 2 or 3 times.  Anything non porous can also be bleached (heaters, plastic plants, tubing, etc).  Your filter bacteria will already be dead if there is nothing to feed it ammonia, so just do a fishless cycle, and that way you can decide what you want to do while you do the cycle.  My two cents.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Ich can not survive long with no hosts. So there is 0 need to take the tank apart or medicate it any way:
 

White spot disease (Ichthyopthirius multifiliis) is caused by a protozoan with a life cycle that includes a free-living stage. Ich grows on a fish --> it falls off and attaches to gravel or tank glass --> it reproduces to MANY parasites --> these swarmers then attach to other fish. If the swarmers do not find a fish host, they die in about 3 days (depending on the water temperature).
Therefore, to treat it, medicine must be added to the display tank to kill free-living parasites. If fish are removed to quarantine, parasites living in the tank will escape the treatment -- unless ALL fish are removed for about a week in freshwater or three weeks in saltwater systems.

from http/fins.actwin.com/aquariafaq.html
 
The bacteria can live for some time w/o ammonia/nitrite. You should be able to stock back up in a few stages if you don't wait too long to start. you can alwas do a 2-3 ppm ammonia dose to kick things bac into gear. It should clear pretty fast.

 

[3baymares]

OK, I think I am going to try the heating up the tank and letting it sit method.  It has already been sitting fishless for 3 weeks. And I might throw in some Quick Cure for good measure.  Thank you very much for all your help!

 

[eaglesaquarium]

Rather than throwing in the QuickCure, save the money and throw in some ammonia.  The meds aren't going to do anything other than drain your wallet, but adding the ammonia will give the bacteria something to munch on and you'll be able to stock again straight away once you are convinced the parasites are dead (they are), but running the tank at a higher temp will speed the life cycle of any remaining parasites, and can leave you confident.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Perhaps I was unclear in what I posted. If your tank has been devoid of fish for 3 weeks it is now also devoid of ich.
 
"If fish are removed to quarantine, parasites living in the tank will escape the treatment -- unless ALL fish are removed for about a week in freshwater or three weeks in saltwater systems."