How to prepare habitat of deceased fish for a new occupant?

[chicagojo]

For those of you who followed the saga of my son's betta Rock-N-Roll and his struggle since December with chronic SBD and other issues, I am saddened to report that Rock-N-Roll left us tonight. My son is already asleep in bed so he won't learn of the news until tomorrow. I am pretty sure that he will want to get another fish, but since I never quite figured out what was wrong with Rock-N-Roll, I am a little worried that his tank and accessories may be disease-ridden and I don't want to jeopardize the health of a new fish. Is there a recommended method for cleaning/sanitizing a habitat before introducing a new occupant? The tank is an acrylic 2.5G Kritter Keeper, the accessories are a mug, a few silk plants and some plastic "toys" the pet store gave us when we first brought him home last summer. We also have a Hydor Theo heater and a thermometer in there. I appreciate any guidance about how to prepare everything for a new fish to arrive.

On a more positive note, I am happy to report that our other betta, Feathers II, is thriving after all the great advice I got here about betta habitats and care.

[jaela]

I would go with rinsing them in very hot water, then a rinse in white vinegar, and then another rinse or two in hot water, plus a good scrub-down of everything. Some people use bleach, too, but I'd be careful with that if you use it at all and make sure it's all washed out very thoroughly.

[MrVampire181]

Remove the gravel and place it in super hot water as well as very cold water to kill bacteria. Do the same for silk plants.

Anything plastic, including the tank should be soaked in a 1 part bleach 19 parts water solution to kill bacteria. Rinse very well and leave in direct sunlight for a few days to neutralize any left over bleach. Rinse very well again before setting the tank up again.

Sorry to hear about your boy :C

[Cattitude]

Sorry to hear about your loss!

If you notice any lime scale on anything, you can use vinegar to wash it off. Other than that I recommend the bleach. ^^

[Sena Hansler]

sorry to hear about your loss. My ol' boy passed and so did the female who was beaten up. I used equal hot water and white vinegar mix, since I'm allergic to bleach and am a chicken about it :p I scrubbed it down with a cloth (you could use an aquairium scrubby too if you please) but avoid kitchen sponges... rinse a few times, scrubbing again...

I place objects in hot water, such as gravel, fake plants, and ornaments... add a little vinegar, and let it soak. I scrub them down, rinse super well with cold water and let sit. I stir the gravel in a strainer sitting in a bowl, because the rocks get real hot at first!! Once you cool them down it isn't as bad.

[Kim]

I would use bleach personally. Just dilute according to the instructions on the bottle, soak, rinse really well, and if you are still concerned you can put everything in the sun for a few hours and let it evaporate.

If the gravel is porous then you can't use bleach on it and I would recommend replacing it altogether. Everything else should be fine though.

Sorry about your boy :( It's always hard to loose a pet. As an aside, what kind of mug is it? Some pottery can leach chemical into the water, which actually happened to me once. Luckily I noticed the change in my betta's behavior very quickly and was able to remove it ASAP. So, just a word of warning that I like to pass on to others.