cleaning a tank after a sick fish

[phoenix91]

Hi everyone, My poor tumour ridden Ct Oji passed yesterday so his tank is now standing all empty and sad :(

I don't know exactly what he had but don't want to risk giving it to another fish if it was infectious. So how can i properly clean the tank and accessories so as to avoid that?

I planned on ditching the gravel i think and maybe going with a bare bottom tank, the gravel i have unfortunately got very brown with the diatom bloom and i could never get the stuff clean so the tank always looked gross.

I would obviously like to reuse the heater and filter (i can replace the media) and betta log since it became one of Oji's favourite places, i might actually bury him in it i haven't quite decided yet.

i do have a live plant and 1 nano marimo moss ball, would i have to ditch these or could i use them again, if so how would i clean them?

Thanks

[Olympia]

For your decor, you can just use a mix of vinegar and water.

For the plants, not sure.. I THINK it's okay to use a small amount of bleach on them, maybe vinegar.. but I'd wait for someone else's input on that.

[Mo]

Cleaning decorations isn't hard at all, giving it a good scrub along with hot water should get rid of all the parasites/diseases that could severely effect your new Betta


For cleaning live plants I would recommend washing it in tap water, or quarantining the plant for a couple of weeks, there is one more way though. Going down the bleach route

Live plants can be easily bleached. There are a few exceptions to plans that don't tolerate it well though. Some examples are Hygrophila, moneywort, and lemon bacopa, mostly all stem plants don't tolerate it well. To bleach them, a 5% solution should do the job for cleaning, for about 2-4 minutes

I wouldn't recommend replacing the filter media if your tank is cycled as the filter media is where most of the bacteria colonises, without the pre existing media, the ammonia will most likely rise to toxic levels leading to the betta being highly stressed. Which means a lowered immune system that leads to multiple diseases that have the potential to kill your Betta

[phoenix91]

Thanks for the replies. I cleaned the tank and everything else with a very diluted solution of hot water and bleach. I think for the live plants i'll wash them with tap water and qt them for a while.

The tank is only 3 g so uncycled. I'm good about keeping up with WCs so i'll make sure the new fish isn't stressed by ammonia. I had Oji for a year before he got sick and it wasn't water quality related.