How to disinfect sand

[duanes]

Especially in the confines of a closed system, there is a very romote chance that ick will simply appear, without coming from somewhere.
In nature birds that eat fish that can drop an infected fish into a body of water, or cysts can come from the birds fecal matter.
In aquariums those routes are mostly closed.
Of course anyone that uses feeder fish, or doesn't;t quarantine, easily opens up to ick tranfer.
My tap water system used ozone as primary treatment, then flocculation with alum and sedimentation, along with filtration as the next step, and finally treatment with Chloramine, so the likelihood of passing thru even 1 or more of those processes is remote.

Conventional aquarium wisdom often states that ick can be eliminated simply by raising temps, I also question this norm.
Here in Panama I have netted mosquito fish with occasional ick cysts in water of over 90'F, during the dry season, these temps are quite common, so although an ick strain from Minnesota might be killed with high 80sF heat, there are strains from other parts of the world, and because fish are shipped from all over, this treatment with heat, may not always be effective.

 

[Richard203]

do u guys think i can use clorox wipes to wipe down the stand/ light hood and leave it 30 min to disinfect and then clean it again?

 

[BIG-G]

Especially in the confines of a closed system, there is a very romote chance that ick will simply appear, without coming from somewhere.
In nature birds that eat fish that can drop an infected fish into a body of water, or cysts can come from the birds fecal matter.
In aquariums those routes are mostly closed.
Of course anyone that uses feeder fish, or doesn't;t quarantine, easily opens up to ick tranfer.
My tap water system used ozone as primary treatment, then flocculation with alum and sedimentation, along with filtration as the next step, and finally treatment with Chloramine, so the likelihood of passing thru even 1 or more of those processes is remote.

Conventional aquarium wisdom often states that ick can be eliminated simply by raising temps, I also question this norm.
Here in Panama I have netted mosquito fish with occasional ick cysts in water of over 90'F, during the dry season, these temps are quite common, so although an ick strain from Minnesota might be killed with high 80sF heat, there are strains from other parts of the world, and because fish are shipped from all over, this treatment with heat, may not always be effective.

I’ve seen/heard people saying they cured Ick with heat only. I’m skeptical, personally have never cured ich with heat alone.
I’m not say they did or didn’t, but from my own experience and opinion while heat may be a part in the treatment (by speeding the lifecycle) I always use salt for fresh water ich along with heat. Or another anti parasitic medication.
I use to keep several saltwater systems and used hyposalinity to treat fish only tanks.

For reef tanks, because of the corals and invertebrates I’ve removed all fish and let the tank run fallow for no less than three weeks. With good result.
I’ve often wondered why planted tank keepers that find themselves with ich do not use the same methods.
I suppose that because the saltwater parasite is different than freshwater, running a freshwater system fallow may not work.
Could it be that the freshwater ich can actually last longer without a host?

 

[BIG-G]

do u guys think i can use clorox wipes to wipe down the stand/ light hood and leave it 30 min to disinfect and then clean it again?

I don’t see why it wouldn’t work.
Should be able to kill most anything on hard surfaces.

 

[Richard203]

alright thanks, i just want to try to do the best i can to disinfect all the stuff before starting all over again.

 

[duanes]

I’ve seen/heard people saying they cured Ick with heat only. I’m skeptical, personally have never cured ich with heat alone.
I’m not say they did or didn’t, but from my own experience and opinion while heat may be a part in the treatment (by speeding the lifecycle) I always use salt for fresh water ich along with heat. Or another anti parasitic medication.
I use to keep several saltwater systems and used hyposalinity to treat fish only tanks.

For reef tanks, because of the corals and invertebrates I’ve removed all fish and let the tank run fallow for no less than three weeks. With good result.
I’ve often wondered why planted tank keepers that find themselves with ich do not use the same methods.
I suppose that because the saltwater parasite is different than freshwater, running a freshwater system fallow may not work.
Could it be that the freshwater ich can actually last longer without a host?

If those aquarists had a northern strain of ick, I''m not that surprised heat was effective.
I always err on the side that it might be a strain from somewhere else.
I have heard about a ick strain from Lake Tanganyika that is resistant to increased osmotic pressures other ick succumbs to, that even 3 ppt salt can't easily eliminate. But this doesn't surprise me, because organisms are constantly adapting to environmental change.
When I received wild fish from here in Panama that came with a few ick spots, I didn't bother raising temp.
In my 180, I replaced 18 gallons of fresh water, with 18 gallons of sea water, bringing osmotic pressure to 3.5 ppt salinity, and continued this regime for a month.(maybe a little longer).
I lost some plants along the way (not Vallisneria, or Hydrilla, and an Amazon sword bounced back after some melt) but in about two weeks, all signs of ick were eliminated.

 

[Luke tomkinson]

be careful with bleach and other stuff

 

[Richard203]

be careful with bleach and other stuff

why is that?

 

[BIG-G]

why is that?

Well bleach and other cleaning chemicals are pretty dangerous to aquatic life.
I assume he meant because of the risk.
If you use a diluted amount and rinse well the follow up with a chlorine neutralizer you should be okay.

 

[duanes]

Well bleach and other cleaning chemicals are pretty dangerous to aquatic life.
I assume he meant because of the risk.
If you use a diluted amount and rinse well the follow up with a chlorine neutralizer you should be okay.

Totally agree, all traces of bleach need to be gone before fish are added back into the tank.
After rinsing, (and drying out, at least a few days) using prime or some other dechlorination product will be needed as added s insurance to make sure any residal bleach (chlorine) is gone.
When I used filter socks, when one needed to be cleaned, I would soak it in bleach, and when done, I would rinse a number of times, and soak again in a sodium thiosulfate solution to get rid of any leftover chlorine residual before the sock was put back into use..