New Tank (again)

[Bodieann]

I (stupidly, I know) bought a Clown Loach and instead of putting him in a hospital tank (as I didn't have one at the time) I placed him straight in my main fish tank with the others....... and yes, (I'm sure you can see whats coming) He had whitespot - I tried (unsuccessfully) to treat the tank. Consquently, they all died.

My question is... I'm about to clean the tank and start afresh, but whats the best, non harmful, cleaning product to use.???

[Martin Thoene]

If I want to really clean an aquarium I use bleach diluted. Of course you have to really thoroughly rinse afterwards and ideally leave the tank to air-dry.

Cleaning decor and substrate is more difficult, but again a mild bleach solution can be used. Best to soak the substrate for a while then use loads and loads of water to rinse it. As a fail-safe once it's clean I would soak it again in fresh water with an excess of dechlorinator added, then discard that water.

Filters, etc can be cleaned in mild bleach solution, rinsed and air-dried. Discard any carbon that was in them as its pores might harbour Ich.

Once you set up again you will obviously need to cycle the tank before adding any fish.

Better luck next time

Martin.

[Marcos Mataratzis]

Hi Bodieann,

I´m sorry about your recent loss.

In the last 20 years I never lost a clown loach by whitespot. What sort of treatment did you try?

IMHO there´s no need to clean the tank and start over by recycling unless you have killed your nitrogen bacteria colony. What do you think Martin?

If there is no fish in the tank the Ichthyophthirius multifilis free in the water will die in 48 hrs.
Anyway, it´s hard to say if it was really Ichthyophthirius multifilis or Oodinium pilularis as both produces very similar symptoms. In case of Oodinium, a blackout on the tank for a few days would kill it as it is a photosynthetic organism. Also raise temperature to 30°C and keep it that way for next 10 to 15 days to get rid from both.

Good luck!