Do you bother disinfecting second hand filters and media?

[Lollum96]

Just picked up a Tetratec EX 1200 and a Ehem Professional 2227 wet and dry filter for the equivalent of about $70.

I plan to reuse the Ehem 2227 media as it contains over $100+ of biological media alone.

I was just discussing this with my partner who is a biochemist and she assures me that it shouldn't be necessary to wash the media in anything but boiling water. She assures me that just like most human diseases, fish diseases wouldn't last more than a couple of hours without a physical host to infect. She assures me that after a wash in warm water it should be completely safe to use even if the tank that the filter came from was infected with common fish diseases.

What's your opinion on this guys? Does it need bleaching or should it be fine after a good clean in hot water?

 

[Sinister-Kisses]

I almost never use bleach for anything. I let things soak in boiling water. But literally BOILING water, not "wash in warm water". I submerge it in boiling water and let it sit...once the water has totally cooled down, I quite often will do it again just for good measure.

 

[deeda]

I have purchased used aquarium filters with hard media from other hobbyists and I use plain, regular unscented bleach and water mixture (NOT the splash-less type) to clean the filters, hoses and hard media, usually running the assembled filter for 10 minutes or so and followed by plain water with a double or triple dose of Prime or similar chlorine removing conditioner. Let everything air dry until bleach odor is completely gone.

I've never had an issue using the above method as long as you are careful to make sure no chlorine residue or odor is left behind. The ratio of bleach to water will very depending on the strength of the sodium hypochlorite.

 

[jjohnwm]

I don't recall ever buying used filters/media; my used equipment purchases have been pretty much limited to the aquariums themselves. My concerns have been removing old algae or hard water marks without scratching the tanks; if any such tanks were actually still wet I would likely have been more cautious. But generally speaking, my "disinfection" routine for just about any dry goods that will come into contact with my fish consists of leaving the stuff out in the sun for a few weeks, months...or years.... In winter, I count on dry air and sunlight, with the added bonus of extended subzero temperatures. I'm sure bleach will work as well, but I'm cheap, lazy and patient, so time and sunlight are good enough for me.

IMHO, the thing one needs to worry about from the aspect of introduced diseases is, quite simply, introduced diseased fish. Quarantine the crap out of new fish...I'm talking months, not days...and you have largely eliminated the introduction of most diseases. With plants, some sort of dip might be wise as well. I have never bothered, but again...I quarantine religiously.

Don't even get me started on folks who dig up a rock that's been buried in their yard since the First World War and think they need to boil it, spray it, irradiate it, freeze it and then dip it into concentrated sulfuric acid before they put it into their tank. If there's a fish pathogen on such a rock...that has survived without a host for years...while bone dry...nowhere close to a natural body of water containing fish...then it deserves to live.

 

[duanes]

Boiling media should work, but.......
One of the problems with fish diseases, are that some can go dormant, sit inert in a smudge of dirt or sand for a year or more, and reanimate when hydrated.
Consider that water bodies often dry up in certain seasons, only to fill back up when rains begin.
So strategies are needed for the continuation of a species.

Fish even do it, there are killifish that lay eggs before the dry season ends, and these eggs sit in mud, and dirt, only to hatch out when the rainy season returns.

Columnaris is one of these bacteria, and can be very difficult to get rid of once established.
Do you know that the previous aquarist did not have this disease?
There are many others.

 

[celebrist]

I tend to use the extreme sodium chloride solution strategy

 

[Leonardo_CH]

Any virus would die after a few hours without a host but diseases of bacterial or fungal origin can remain dormant in the substrate and filter media.
That said unless the previous owner experienced a bad outbreak I wouldnt worry about it, at the end of the day most infections in fish are caused by a compromized immune system and common bacterias that reside in almost all aquariums.
But without knowing whether that is the case or not I would play it safe and dip them in boiling water for a few seconds to kill pretty much anything on the media.

 

[FINWIN]

Boiling media should work, but.......
One of the problems with fish diseases, are that some can go dormant, sit inert in a smudge of dirt or sand for a year or more, and reanimate when hydrated.
Consider that water bodies often dry up in certain seasons, only to fill back up when rains begin.
So strategies are needed for the continuation of a species.

Fish even do it, there are killifish that lay eggs before the dry season ends, and these eggs sit in mud, and dirt, only to hatch out when the rainy season returns.

Columnaris is one of these bacteria, and can be very difficult to get rid of once established.
Do you know that the previous aquarist did not have this disease?
There are many others.

Is Columnaris resistant to high temps?

 

[Disturbed.)]

I use potassium permanganate to sterilize equipment and driftwood. Given enough contact time and dosage strength nothing survives and it's super easy to neutralize with peroxide, dechlor, or even chlorinated tap water.

 

[Milingu]

I recently talked to a vet specialized in fish about mycobacteria (fish tuberculosis) and she said that there are strains that even survive bleach. The only reliable way to kill them is alcohol.