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Tank of doom?!

588 views 9 replies 6 participants last post by  Kiku 
#1 ·
A couple months back I purchased a ten gallon tank, and although I do not remember the brand name, it is a popular choice for tanks. The first thing I did was rinse gravel under hot, hot water, along with three plastic plants and a small decoration. I did all the right things (other than cycling) and added my betta. A few days later, he died. Well, this time I bleached the tank and then rinsed it for ages under hot, HOT water to get rid of any residue. I cycled the tank this time (though I have suspicions that I did it improperly), did a water change, and added another betta. He got sick too, so this time I took him out before he died and now he's doing great in his 2 gallon tank...so I know it isn't the tap water that's killing them. Freaked out, I cleaned the tank out once more, bleached it, rinsed it for even longer this time, bought new gravel and threw away all the decorations, and just bought one live plant (anubis? or something) to go into it. I got three mini neon tetras to cycle the tank. Needless to say, they all died within one day.

The tank is kept at 78 degrees.
I use seachem prime water conditioner and seachem stability in my tank.
There is a filter.
 
#3 ·
If you strip and clean the tank with bleach water, leave it out in the sun to be sure any leftover residue is gone for good. I read that somewhere..

Insofar as the tank, strip it down to nothing, no rocks, no plants nothing then add water with conditioner only. Get some plain water conditioner and nothing fancy adding that only. Let it sit for 24 hours and test the water then if you do not see anything off add the gravel, repeat test. If that comes out fine then try introducing fish.

If you are doing a regular weekly water change then the Prime and Stability should not be necessary but someone correct me on that.

Also, are you using a filter at all and if so what kind is it??

I am not an expert on any of this but I am asking the questions to see what we can rule out.
 
#7 ·
If you strip and clean the tank with bleach water, leave it out in the sun to be sure any leftover residue is gone for good. I read that somewhere..

Insofar as the tank, strip it down to nothing, no rocks, no plants nothing then add water with conditioner only. Get some plain water conditioner and nothing fancy adding that only. Let it sit for 24 hours and test the water then if you do not see anything off add the gravel, repeat test. If that comes out fine then try introducing fish.

If you are doing a regular weekly water change then the Prime and Stability should not be necessary but someone correct me on that.

Also, are you using a filter at all and if so what kind is it??

I am not an expert on any of this but I am asking the questions to see what we can rule out.
Prime has nothing to do with the amount of water changes. Prime is a conditioner that makes ammonia save and removes chlorine from the water. You MUST use water conditioner in tap water, the chlorine will kill them.
 
#4 ·
I wouldn't use bleach again. That might be where you're going wrong. I used a REALLY small bit of bleach in mine once, sunned it for over a week, rinsed with boiling water SEVERAL times (during the summer when the tank was hot anyway) and the residue still never went away.

I'd do what OFL suggested and wash it with vinegar water. I'd also add some course salt to scrub it down with. Rinse SEVERAL times. Vinegar is a natural antiseptic/antibacterial and along with really hot water it should kill anything. Also it's an acid and it should help remove any residues. The salt is of course as I said an abrasive that should help you further in removing residue.

Why do you think you cycled your tank improperly? How did you do it?
 
#5 ·
Yeah, the whole bleach thing I would avoid at all costs. When my sister had a tank where fish were dying left and right she washed it with bleach once and tried the outside sun method and it did nothing. I could still smell the bleach even though it was very very faint. I just advised to ditch the tank rather than killing the next round of fish due to the bleach.
 
#9 · (Edited)
what exactly is stability?

Edit: I researched it and it's something to help establish a biofilter. Usually those things are a waste of money but as I've never used stability myself I don't know what to say. It shouldn't harm your fish though so that's ruled out. My guess is still the bleach or just like OFL said some toxic chemical that's hard to remove.
 
#10 ·
While the idea of buying a whole new tank is daunting, it may be my only option. However, I know have a fear of tanks, to be honest...it was killing my fish before I even used bleach. I'll try the vinegar and salt, but I'm terrified of risking another fish's life...
 
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