The woman next door

[Weaver]

The woman next door keeps 3 huge goldfish in a little goldfish bowl--I know,I know-- Ive told her often enough!!
Anyway her method of cleaning the bowl is a good wash using washing up liquid and then she sterilises the bowl using milton sterilising tablets for babies bottles!!!!!!!!
Has anyone else ever heard of this and might it work?The reason I am asking is that there is something funny going on in my recently set up betta tank and I have had a couple of Wcmm and a betta pop their clogs this week despite cleaning the tank with salt and boiling water twice
Needless to say her goldfish have lived for years and are the size of baby whales!!!!

 

[laurasmithuk]

my friend has the same she says she cant bear to part with them! one its cruel and two she has no trouble at all! annoying innit

 

[emma12321]

If you sterilise the tank with tablets you would have to be sure to rinse it well as they are just a form of bleach. You could use the tablets then empty your tank and fill it with dechlorinated water then let it sit for a couple of days to be sure all the bleach has gone. If you try this though you will have to cycle the tank again.

Emma

 

[fatguppy]

We added a piece of mopani wood to our tank which suddently was emanating all this stringy crappy horrid slimy stuff. We removed it and on advice used Milton to attempt to sterilise the wood. I have to add that it didn't work and the mopani was put in the garden - however, I assume that therefore Milton is fairly safe. Well they use it on babies!!! Again, I guess it's the rinsing out that matters.

 

[GSD]

i just wash my smaller tanks with boiling water.It does the trick.and ive also found that a soft toothbrush is great for getting into those corners and cleaning off alge
i wouldnt try washing up liquid though

 

[Weaver]

Thanks for the replies
Ive absolutely no intention of using washing up liquid .
However the tank is a divided betta tank which was bought new on 4th aug.I put in 2 glass dividers with aquarium sealant and pea gravel and silk plants--all thoroughly washed.I also added a new 50w heater
Last week I found that the left hand side was totally cloudy and betta dead/middle not so cloudy and right side not at all cloudy.Gave eveything another thorough washing and put the bettas back in.On fri morning another one was dead so everything was washed again
I kept 1 betta in as i had nowhere else to put him and put a couple of wcmm in the other 2 sections.In the morning 2 of them had died
I am just completely mystified as to what is happening.I have had no cloudy water since but the deaths continue.Meanwhile the remaining betta is fighting fit
I dont want to risk any more fish but would like something that would kill off anything that may be lurking in the tank which is why I asked about Milton
Could it be the heater?
I know Milton adds chlorine but I figured if I gave the tank a good soak and scrub and then added dechorinator to the new water then it might solve things?
Sorry for the lengthy post

 

[pseud]

Argh!

Don't scrub the tank clean, don't use bleach, or milton, or sterilizing tablets or washing up liquid!

If the tank sides have algae on them, use an algae scraper.
Change the water once a week without fail.
Use a gravel vac to suck the crap out of the gravel.

That's ALL you need to do!

If you use cleaning products, boiling water, or anything like that you'll kill the beneficial bacteria and like emma said, the tank will have to be cycled again.

Go read about 'cycling a tank'

 

[Weaver]

Its a betta tank .I will be doing 75-100% water changes in it and dont intend cycling it

 

[MegTheFish]

You don't need to use chemicals, boiling water is fine.

 

[Fella]

I hear a lot about potassium permanganate (sp) being used to bleach tanks and clean aquaria bits and bobs. Might be worth googling.

Might also be worth busting in milk-tray style and liberating her goldfish.

 

[emma12321]

Hi,

Did you use aquarium safe silicon to seal your dividers, if not it could be toxic and leaching into the water, that could be the cause of death. Just a thought.

Emma

 

[Weaver]

Thanks emma
Yes I did use aquarium sealant.Ive decided to try out the milton though I wont chance any of the bettas in it until Im sure its 100% safe again.Ill probably use a few of the zebra danios as they could come through armageddon untouched!
Ive got an old tank which I scrubbed out today and will transfer the betta into tomorrow
If the zebras start dying i will just get rid of the tank .I hate to use them but rather them than the bettas
I saw another post today where sirminion had used baby shampoo to clean pvc pipes so I hope that if everything is thoroughly cleaned afterwards that there wont be a problem.Heres hoping l

Fella--cant break into her house and liberate the goldfish as I still have to borrow her stepladder from time to time!!!!

 

[Fella]

Thanks emma
Yes I did use aquarium sealant.Ive decided to try out the milton though I wont chance any of the bettas in it until Im sure its 100% safe again.Ill probably use a few of the zebra danios as they could come through armageddon untouched!
Ive got an old tank which I scrubbed out today and will transfer the betta into tomorrow
If the zebras start dying i will just get rid of the tank .I hate to use them but rather them than the bettas
I saw another post today where sirminion had used baby shampoo to clean pvc pipes so I hope that if everything is thoroughly cleaned afterwards that there wont be a problem.Heres hoping l

Fella--cant break into her house and liberate the goldfish as I still have to borrow her stepladder from time to time!!!!

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Gee whizz. It's always the way

 

[Angel Lady]

I dont see how some people can do it. keep goldfish in a bowl and keep them alive and healthy. And I go out and buy a special tank for my moors and it cost me over two hundred dollars to. And I lost mine due to swimbladder. I cant stand the thought of getting anymore.