So long story short I let the girlfriend buy some fish and put them in my empty 40 gallon tank. I bought the tank new and put some redtails in and had no problems with ich or anything. So we got new fish and put them in, they were the only fish in the tank and they got ich. I tried medication and all that but unfortunately they didn't make it. I've did some research and im trying to figure out how i can get rid of the parasites and make the tank ready for some new fish. Also im wondering if sense the ich was in the tank, is there anyway to make sure they're all removed?
Cleaning out tank after ich
- Thread starter VesperT01
- Start date
Ive raised the temp to 86 degrees to speed up their life cycle. But i've heard that if their bodys are in there there is always a chance of coming back.
There are no fish in it. Im going to try the salt method of getting rid of the ich. Could i just put so much salt in and kill off the ich super fast?
Yes im actually going to be setting up a quarantine tomorrow.
Hello; While this is a logical line of thought there have been some posts suggesting the parasite may be able to lie dormant for a longer time.
I would at least raise the temperature and add a strong dose of salt to an empty tank.
In an empty tank I would be tempted to do a bleach solution and throw in all equipment that had any contact with the tank when it had the ich infestation.
Hello; The temperature raised should speed up the life cycle and the salt at high concentrations should kill any larval forms as they hatch out. I would do this for no less than 10 days and likely for at least 14 days. Not absolutely sure but you might be able to save the beneficial bacteria (bb) this way. Not clear if such a high salt concentration will kill off the bb.
My WAG (Wild ___ Guess) which is not backed up exactly by experience is there should be two ways to get the tank back into service quickly.
First is to do the bleach solution which could have the tank back in a day if you worked at it. Be sure to have some chemical treatment such as SAFE or PRIME to treat the water with. When I do a bleach treatment I soak all the stuff for a few hours at the least, often a day. I then give a good rinse and fill and empty the tank at least once.
After I set everything back up and have all the equipment in place with filters running is when I dose with PRIME or the equivalent.
Note - this means the cycle will have to be done from scratch
The second way I would consider is to break down the tank and give it and the equipment a cleaning in my normal way. Once empty of all substrate and other stuff I clean a tank with a salt paste. I have done this many times. I make a salt paste with a small amount of water and scrub the glass with it using a soft cloth. The paste does not scratch glass, at least not for me.
I then allow the paste to dry to a haze. Figure this should dessicate most critters.
I would bleach all the tank equipment as well.
If there is no fish and you do not mind recycling bleach could be your friend. The only way to kill the cyst stage is bleach, salt water specific gravity, and a full 24 hour dry out. Otherwise 86 and wait it out. 4 weeks not 2. And there is no study that says ich can go dormant. It has a direct life cycle with no intermediate host
It cannot be dormant because it has a direct life cycle. Eggs, free swimmers, attached to fish. With no fish it'll starve and die, thus not creating new eggs. This process for freshwater takes up to 4 weeks at 86 degrees. Where as saltwater its 76 days. Or there is the 3 options In my previous post that will kill the eggs. The eggs are protected from medication