Ok, so I used to keep a few guppies in a gallon bowl a long time ago. (2-3 years ago) They got a disease that spread within a matter of days and all of them died, there was nothing I could do. I put the bowl downstairs and kinda forgot about it, and there it has remained. I am concidering cleaning it up to use as a quarrentine/hospital tank, but am afraid the sickness got all over the bowl itself. Will it have died if there was any disease in it? And I want to clean it either way, what do you suggest be the most through, disease killing cleaning that is still safe to house a fish in afterwards? Thanks in advance!
P.S. There is also a plant, and gravel that I want to clean. Do I treat them the same as the bowl?
I think you can use bleach if you rinse, rinse, rinse really really good, then sit it in the sun for a few days, then rinse, rinse and rinse some more. I think vinegar will work also.
I agree with DQ. But I'll just emphasize once more rinse rinse rinse really really well :) I don't think there is any such thing as rinsing to much lol. Good luck with getting it cleaned!
Oh and the gravel, I think the gravel and plant could be boiled and that would kill anything on it.
I'm not sure it was mentioned enough. after using bleach and rinsing it well and drying it and rinsing it and drying it and rinsing it yet again, then putting it in the sun for 2 days then rinsing it, drying it and rinsing it, you need to RINSE IT!
I don't know why, but I'm thinking I should rinse it a lot? Is that right? lol jkjk. I'm in the process of that now. I hunted down the bowl, and rediscovered the glass beads I had in the bottom. they were wtill sitting in there so I'm treating them the same as the bowl, same as the plant I found, and the air pump tubing. I don't know if I will need this for the betta? All it does is send air through a tube to the bottom of the tank to put oxygen in the water. I figure it wouldn't hurt at least. Also i found a rock/coral decoration that I got with the 5 gal, it was hiding lol. And with the 1 gal was a few medicines, just a soulution to protect the slime coat of the fish. Will this help my betta? i've never heard anyone on here talking about this type of thing. What do you think of gravel? Is it hard to clean? I heard sometimes the colored kind leaks dye into the water? thanks
The gravel with the bright colors sometimes leak dye in the water, so i think it's best to use only natural gravel like neenjar said...
As for the disease in the old bowl, i think it's safe to say that the parasite or bacteria that were responsible for the disease didn't survive the dry period...
But like everyone else said, rinse and clean! I always use vinegar to clean old tanks, pumps and so on...
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