Disinfected Tank advice

[Chelu]

Have you tested your water?

Yes

If yes, what is your ammonia?

0

If yes, what is your nitrite?

0

If yes, what is your nitrate?

.5

If I did not test my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be asked to do a test, and that water tests are critical for solving freshwater health problems.

Do you do water changes?

Yes

What percentage of water do you change?

51-60%

How frequently do you change your water?

Every week

If I do not change my water...

1. ...I recognize that I will likely be recommended to do a water change, and water changes are critical for preventing future freshwater health problems.

Hello,
Over a year ago one of my tanks got flukes (verified through microscope). Anyhow after a year of treating and a couple hundred dollars later I've given up and broke down the entire tank. Nothing worked. I've followed every best practice and treatment and it kept coming back with a vengeance. Anyhow I listed what I've done below and would just like to know how long I should let the tank sit empty and when I do finally put water into it, I would like to be extra careful and cycle it using a fishless cycle for a few weeks so if for some godly reason a single fluke survived, it wouldn't have a host. Anyhow pls help. I don't want it to come back. It was a long miserable year. Thanks

125g tank
- Filled with bleach 1/10 ratio.
- Tossed filters, media, substrate
- The only thing I kept were the two heaters which were soaked in the same bleach solution.
- Glass covers were soaked in bleach
- tank has been filled back up twice, rinsed, drained. Filled with 4 times the amount of dechlorinator..

There you have it. Please let me know your thoughts.

 

[biguebs]

Seems to me you should be good. How long did you leave bleach mix soaking in the tank before dechlorinating it? If you’ve removed all substrate and filters/media and then bleached and you’re down to bare glass and it’s sitting dry I can’t imagine you’re not in clear. Use some bleach based Clorox spray cleaner and paper towels to clean all the dry glass. Fill it up, rinsing the sides with water as you do, drain it. Add your substrate, filters, etc then fill back up. Dechlorinate per directions. Cycle

 

[Chelu]

Seems to me you should be good. How long did you leave bleach mix soaking in the tank before dechlorinating it? If you’ve removed all substrate and filters/media and then bleached and you’re down to bare glass and it’s sitting dry I can’t imagine you’re not in clear. Use some bleach based Clorox spray cleaner and paper towels to clean all the dry glass. Fill it up, rinsing the sides with water as you do, drain it. Add your substrate, filters, etc then fill back up. Dechlorinate per directions. Cycle

Thank you for the reply. When filled I let the bleach water sit for about 15min ish. It took awhile to drain a 125g.

I would like to do a fishless cycle with ammonium chloride. How long should I let the tank sit without fish to be safe? I want to make sure if by any chance something survived it would be without a host

 

[dr exum]

you could fill it up add prime, run 24 hours and test for chlorine if your concerned

otherwise old established media, water from established tank, seachem stability , or you can try the fish-less cycle via liquid ammo to cycle

 

[Chelu]

you could fill it up add prime, run 24 hours and test for chlorine if your concerned

otherwise old established media, water from established tank, seachem stability , or you can try the fish-less cycle via liquid ammo to cycle

Thanks! I have two established healthy tanks I can use media to help cycle. Recommendation on how long I should run the tank without fish to be extra safe? I know I sound paranoid. But I've read horror stories about parasites surviving. The money is one thing but I'd hate to put more fish through this again.

 

[TwoHedWlf]

I don't know if I'd have thrown out the filters, but I guess if you use it as an excuse to upgrade.
I'd just leave it all empty long enough to get good and dried out now. Then call it good.

 

[tlindsey]

I agree with everyone above. I suggest quarantine for any fish you purchase in a separate aquarium or a tote. That will eliminate the worry of going through that awful experience again.

 

[Chelu]

Thank you all!

 

[Deadeye]

I think the longest you usually have to go fishless for most parasites is 100 days.

 

[skjl47]

When filled I let the bleach water sit for about 15min ish. It took awhile to drain a 125g.

Hello; The short bleach soak is the only thing standing out to me. I did a clean and disinfect of three tanks a few years ago. ( not for flukes) I let the tanks soak in a bleach solution for over a day and the equipment to be used much the same. I do not have any sort of specific knowledge to be sure 15 minutes soak is not long enough but do have some doubts. Unsupported doubts to be sure.
When I disinfected my tanks I did them one at a time so it was not a chore I was able to get done quickly. The long soak time did fit in to the overall effort as while one thing was soaking I had plenty of other things to do.

Feel free to ignore my suggestion for a longer soak. I cannot support the actual need. I would do a longer soak but that is just my take.

One thing I did discover is that a very good rinse is not sufficient to get rid of bleach residue. I had to use some PRIME specifically to detox the bleach. Of course I reused a few hundred pounds of gravel so the wet spaces in the gravel was most likely where the bleach did not get rinsed away.

Good luck.