starting again :(

[The-Wolf]

As some of you know I have had major problems with my 4ft tank
first I had an infestation of lice, fine no real problem removing them and treating the tank to kill all the little 's. The problem came with a secondary systemic bacterial infection, I lost several fish due to this . Then I get an attack of fungus, again I lost more fish . Now the final straw, I've just had to Euthinise two giant danios due to dropsy.

So I have decided to break the tank down and start again from scratch.
Here are the questions....
1) should I steralise the filter, filter media, heaters, substrate & decorations or not?
2) should I throw the plants away?
3) Is it worth totally disenfecting the aquarium with an aquarium disenfectant?

I am so fed up with this tank it really sucks
so far total loss is at around 70% of my stock

The weird thing is my ottos have come through this unscathed , and the're supposed to be delicate

 

[enchanted]

You can take my advice as you feel, since I don't have a lot of experience yet. But this what we used to do when I was little with my parents to get rid of Disease/Snails (the snails were the worst. )

Tear the entire tank down, add a chlorine bleach/water mixture. Turn the heater all the way getting the tank as hot as possible. Run it through the filter and everything for 1 week. Drain the tank. Replace with fresh water, run for 2 or 3 days. Replace the filter media, run again for 2 or 3 days then check for clorine.

We would also boil all the gravel (kind of hard to do if sand and easier to replace it.).

As for plants, I read that a 1 part chlorine to 19 parts water is a good way to treat them, but what I saw requires you to be very careful with the chlorine. That is live plants. You also have to rinse them in fresh water or they will die.

Whether the plant part works or not, don't know. We always had plastic plants when I was younger.

You might also dose it heavy with some medications prior to putting fish back in to make sure everything is "dead".

 

[Arfie]

1) should I steralise the filter, filter media, heaters, substrate & decorations or not?
2) should I throw the plants away?
3) Is it worth totally disenfecting the aquarium with an aquarium disenfectant?

That stinks mate.

I would say

1 - Yes nuke everything, with that kind of luck, the one thing you leave will be harbouring some nasty little bug.
2 - Again, yes.
3 - Yes same as 1 really.

I'd treat it as if you just bought it off somebody who had the same problems you've had, you would clean everything.

Better luck next time around.

Arfie

 

[cometcattle]

I'd steralize the whole thing also. Filter included. You can use media from other tanks when the time comes.

Plants, I would do a salt dip.

Good luck, Wolf.

 

[Aquascaper]

I would agree with Arfie, treat it as though you bought it second-hand but didn't know the history.
Give everything a damn good clean, buy everything new that you can, ie. filter media, plants, sand (if it's gravel - boil & clean it well before re-using).

Good luck mate

 

[The-Wolf]

Thanks all
The plants are real so i'll do as comet suggested and perform a salt dip
The substrate is sand, so I think it will have to be sundried and then microwaved or roasted.

 

[enchanted]

Oh, one other thing... With all the problems I'm not sure I would do a rapid cycle with other tank media.

You would probably want to do a full Fish or Fishless cycle (depending on preference).

 

[David]

Wow I was going to do the same thing because of a major ich infestation that i had in my 46 gallon. then I decided against it because 1. The LFS wouldn't take back fish 2. I loved my remaining fish too much to give them up 3. It's way too much work starting from scratch. All I ended up doing was an 100% water change. The ich is still there. I'm so angry at it I'm thinkin' it'll never go away. (All new fish I add immediately contract it, some get over it, some don't). So if you decide to start from scratch then best of luck, and if not, well, just hope the same thing doesn't happen to you.

 

[enchanted]

David,
What did you use to treat the Ich?

 

[David]

Sorry for hi-jacking. I used Kordon's rid-ich. This was when the clown loaches from petco introduced the ich into the tank. It cured them, but obviously didn't get rid of all the ich and it's still around.

 

[canarsie11]

Will a 100% water change help?

Ick just is not in the water.

 

[enchanted]

Water change won't help, it gets into the gravel, etc... There are medications that will kill it when it is not dormant, but you can't stop treating. Even after the ich appears gone yo have to continue treating for a specified period of time to get rid of it.

 

[canarsie11]

Thats what I thought, Water changes help but will not cure tank

 

[Opcn]

Run bleech through everything. throw the plants into QT with betadyne and throw liveing fish into QT as well. when you change out water throw away old filter media. Vacume substrate well and run it empty on hot water vacume gravle often and well. after a fortnight or so dechlor and mix well and set back up. insert new filter media and plants from QT (no substrate to or from QT however) Pray to the god of fish for good fortune.

HTH
and good luck

 

[The-Wolf]

Once a tank has ich it will never, never be gone. also any fish that has been cured of ich will be a carrier of the disease and may infect any new tank mates.

Thanks Bren but it think bleach will do more harm than good.
What is betadyne?