What to do with my evil tank???

[kev_kb]

Hi all,

I have a 6 gallon tank I originally purchased for a Betta, as it was picking on some other fish in my original 13 gallon. After transferring him to the new tank he was dead within 3 days. There were no obvious signs of why he died, but there was a couple of sick Platies in the 13 so maybe he caught something...

Anyway I started treating the 13 for finrot & whitespot and some of the other fish died... That tank is now looking better and I'm nearing the end of the whitespot treatment.

On the advice of my LFS I let the 6 sit for a week with no fish, as he said if there was anything nasty in there it would die without any fish present. So after a week I added 3 Guppies, to it. I was intending to use the 6 as a quarantine tank for the 13 but things haven't gotten that far that. After 2 days one of the Guppies died, showing no visible signs of illness. So I took it back to the LFS and they replaced it.

Later that day one of the original 3 Guppies died, then a few hours later the other died. Now today the newer Guppy has died, so there are no fish left in the 6.

Now I'm left wondering what the hell I should with this tank, it has a sand substrate, filter & heater. Its not cycled yet, but I have been keeping on top of the Ammonia level each day. Should I let the tank sit longer? Should I remove everything and clean it out, if so what with? Should I try some other types of fish?

I'm also running a 20 gal community and that is having no problems, so I don't think its anything I am doing that is causing the problems with the 6 as I cycled the 20 & 13 with fish.

 

[The-Wolf]

Do what i did with my "tank of death"
sell it!

 

[kev_kb]

LMAO Not really an option....

 

[FishDan]

Its not cycled yet, but I have been keeping on top of the Ammonia level each day.

What do you mean by this? Are you adding ammonia to cycle the tank? Are you changing water to lower levels? If you are adding ammonia AND putting fish in the tank, that could very well be a reason why your fish are dying. If you are not adding ammonia, and have no fish, there should be no ammonia to keep "on top of", so again, we need to know what you mean by this.

Should I let the tank sit longer?

Letting it sit, with nothing in it and with no ammonia source does almost nothing. Many diseases will "sit and wait" for a fish to show up, assuming it has some food source. Though some can "hibernate" until a suitable host shows up.

\Dan

 

[kev_kb]

The tank hasn't had long enough to cycle. I have not been adding Ammonia as its hard to find in the UK and I've cycled with fish successfully before.

I was testing for Ammonia everyday and water changing as needed to keep it under 0.25ppm, but I only did like one water change each time as the fish died so quickly.

If I strip the tank down and use a mild bleach solution will that get rid of any luring diseases?

 

[FishDan]

Yes, a mild bleach solution should do a good job killing anything that may lurk in the tank. Just be sure to rinse it very well before re-adding fish to the tank.

\Dan