This entry was posted
on Monday, August 31st, 2009 at 1:39 am and is filed under Fish Tanks.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
6 Responses to “How do you clean out a diseased fish tank?”
Use Bleach-Water And Elbow Greese. Anythang In The Tank Must Be Cleaned With The Bleach And Rised Well In Hot Water. This Will leave Your Tank Sterile.
you could try getting rid of every thing in the tank, then washing it out with bleach and hot water. then getting all new plants, rocks, everything. But the main problem is that the nasty stuff can get into the sealant that holds the tank together and you can never get rid of it. Never buy a used tank for fish. They make good homes for lizards or rodents. You never know what problems the prior owner had.
NEVER use bleach in a fish tank. no matter how good you rinse it, there can still be some left in the seams. try a product called simple green. it’s a lot less harsh than bleach, but cleans and disinfects just as good. also, it’s easier to rinse it all out. one other thing you will want to make sure of is to allow the water to sit in the tank without any fish for at least a week, and add the recomended ammount of water conditioner. also make sure to soak all ornaments and gravel in warm soapy water, rinsing thoroughly before adding them to the tank.
bleach it and then clean it VERY VERY well. clean it to the point where there is no possible way that there could be bleach in the tank…you can usually tell by sent do this to your gravel and other aquarium ornaments also…then cycle your tank again so its not so clean that they die and you have a undiseased fish tank ( i went through that already)
If you are going to use bleach be careful. Bleach tends to stick to things and not come off easily. So what ever you clean make sure you rinse it off really well.
Sounds like your fish may have died from water quality issues. Black spots is usually a sign of an irritant, like ammonia is present in the water. The black is actually the healing stage. The eyes turning white sounds like cloudy eye, brought on by poor water quality as well. Lots of times just increasing the water changes can help the fish to cure itself.
I wouldn’t disinfect the tank at this point, and by the way, bleach is safe to use, just needs to be rinsed thoroughly and use a dechlorinator in the tank to help with any left over residue. Let the water and tank be for now, like I said no need to disinfect because you didn’t have a “disease” problem. Do some research on the types of fish you want, look at different fish profiles and see what’s compatible for your tank size. For goldfish, it’s recommended to have at least 15 gallons for one. Make sure your tank is large enough for them or whatever fish you’d like to have.
Also research “the nitrogen cycle of a fish tank”, “cycling a fish tank”, and doing a “fishless cycle”. Once your tank has completed the cycle process, you should do 25% water changes and gravel vacuums weekly to keep the water quality good and prevent problems like what you had. Here’s a quick link, the first article talks about what the nitrogen cycle is, the others talk about ammonia and nitrite poisoning, which is most likely what was wrong with your fish:
March 30th, 2009 at 6:02 am
Beverly Madewell
Use Bleach-Water And Elbow Greese. Anythang In The Tank Must Be Cleaned With The Bleach And Rised Well In Hot Water. This Will leave Your Tank Sterile.
April 1st, 2009 at 3:00 am
Alice Marlowe
you could try getting rid of every thing in the tank, then washing it out with bleach and hot water. then getting all new plants, rocks, everything. But the main problem is that the nasty stuff can get into the sealant that holds the tank together and you can never get rid of it. Never buy a used tank for fish. They make good homes for lizards or rodents. You never know what problems the prior owner had.
April 3rd, 2009 at 7:34 am
Wilma Lim
NEVER use bleach in a fish tank. no matter how good you rinse it, there can still be some left in the seams. try a product called simple green. it’s a lot less harsh than bleach, but cleans and disinfects just as good. also, it’s easier to rinse it all out. one other thing you will want to make sure of is to allow the water to sit in the tank without any fish for at least a week, and add the recomended ammount of water conditioner. also make sure to soak all ornaments and gravel in warm soapy water, rinsing thoroughly before adding them to the tank.
April 3rd, 2009 at 1:19 pm
Belinda Luster
bleach it and then clean it VERY VERY well. clean it to the point where there is no possible way that there could be bleach in the tank…you can usually tell by sent do this to your gravel and other aquarium ornaments also…then cycle your tank again so its not so clean that they die and you have a undiseased fish tank ( i went through that already)
April 4th, 2009 at 2:04 am
William Kersey
If you are going to use bleach be careful. Bleach tends to stick to things and not come off easily. So what ever you clean make sure you rinse it off really well.
April 5th, 2009 at 2:36 pm
Lillian Millsaps
Sounds like your fish may have died from water quality issues. Black spots is usually a sign of an irritant, like ammonia is present in the water. The black is actually the healing stage. The eyes turning white sounds like cloudy eye, brought on by poor water quality as well. Lots of times just increasing the water changes can help the fish to cure itself.
I wouldn’t disinfect the tank at this point, and by the way, bleach is safe to use, just needs to be rinsed thoroughly and use a dechlorinator in the tank to help with any left over residue. Let the water and tank be for now, like I said no need to disinfect because you didn’t have a “disease” problem. Do some research on the types of fish you want, look at different fish profiles and see what’s compatible for your tank size. For goldfish, it’s recommended to have at least 15 gallons for one. Make sure your tank is large enough for them or whatever fish you’d like to have.
Also research “the nitrogen cycle of a fish tank”, “cycling a fish tank”, and doing a “fishless cycle”. Once your tank has completed the cycle process, you should do 25% water changes and gravel vacuums weekly to keep the water quality good and prevent problems like what you had. Here’s a quick link, the first article talks about what the nitrogen cycle is, the others talk about ammonia and nitrite poisoning, which is most likely what was wrong with your fish:
.