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761 Views 14 Replies 6 Participants Last post by  PfunMo, 
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Cotton mouth coming back. I just lost about 20 fish due to cotton mouth do I have to worry about it coming back. I plan on draining the tank just because of all the meds in it. Do I have to do anything else? Has anyone else delt with this?
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IME, there are two main causes of disease in aquariums. Introduction of a sick fish without proper quarantining and poor water quality.

Both of these are possible to avoid. The second one being a bit more difficult, but more frequent water changes are a good start. Understanding the water parameters of both the tank water and tap is a good starting point.
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For a tank with no fish and a known history of disease, I would treat the tank as a new to me tank. That means doing all I can to get off to a fresh start. Clean it and do a bleach/water soak to sterilize it. Most likely it was getting dirty when the disease came up so cleaning is almost a must do. I would not want to relie on any filters as being clean without making sure. Since you have to start over, why not start with a clean plate?
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xxbenjamminxx
PfunMo said:
For a tank with no fish and a known history of disease, I would treat the tank as a new to me tank. That means doing all I can to get off to a fresh start. Clean it and do a bleach/water soak to sterilize it. Most likely it was getting dirty when the disease came up so cleaning is almost a must do. I would not want to relie on any filters as being clean without making sure. Since you have to start over, why not start with a clean plate?
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+1 I would do the same thing. At least you will have peace of mind.
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namvet4
I would sanitize everything ! Tank, heaters, filters (canister, HOT/HOB), anything that is in or out of the tank that effects the water stream! Discard old substrate and buy new substrate; remove and clean and sanitize all rocks and or decorations. ...just my 2 cents...
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nodima said:
IME, there are two main causes of disease in aquariums. Introduction of a sick fish without proper quarantining and poor water quality.

Both of these are possible to avoid. The second one being a bit more difficult, but more frequent water changes are a good start. Understanding the water parameters of both the tank water and tap is a good starting point.
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it was due to 2 sick fish that i added to the tank, i have never quarantine before adding new fish because i am not sure how you do this.
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namvet4 said:
I would sanitize everything ! Tank, heaters, filters (canister, HOT/HOB), anything that is in or out of the tank that effects the water stream! Discard old substrate and buy new substrate; remove and clean and sanitize all rocks and or decorations. ...just my 2 cents...
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so buy all new filter media. do i need to do anything else other than a good hosing down to wash the bacteria away? *** already gave my live (now dead) rock 2 power rinses with the hose and it is outside airing out.
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I would assume you had more than just filter floss for media so there is a fair amount of expense there? If so I would not ditch it all but just do the same job to sterilize it you do for the rest. I currently have my ten gallon QT tank in the garage full of bleach water to remove any chance of bad stuff hanging around. It's pretty simple to fill the tank and add 1/2 cup or so of bleach and then add all the tank things to the water. Best to use the cheap bleach without color or smell added. Let it set overnight of so and then when you are ready to start the tank again, dump the water, fill it to rinse things and then dump it all again. Take the filter, decor and anything else out and let them dry totally . I just set it all out in the sun. Any bleach chlorine left is diluted as you rinse things and then the small amount left drifts off into the air.

QT is one way to avoid getting diseaese in the tank. It is a matter of having a free tank where you can put new fish for a week or more to watch them. It really serves two purposes. One it gives the fish a better shot at getting used to new water and it also gives you a chance to see any disease the fish may develope. Fish can be totally good before moving and shipping and then the stress of it all gives something a chance to attack. I think most would admit that they are not 100% at doing QT but we also should admit that we pay for it sometimes. I had not dealt with ick for twenty years until I got in a hurry last year! I did pay a price for that move.
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so bleach everything hmmm.. just another question if i just rinse everything and then let in dry all the way wont the bacteria die? what about cleaning the filters like the hoses? fill tank with weak bleach and run the filters for like 10min?
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zimmy
PfunMo said:
I would assume you had more than just filter floss for media so there is a fair amount of expense there? If so I would not ditch it all but just do the same job to sterilize it you do for the rest. I currently have my ten gallon QT tank in the garage full of bleach water to remove any chance of bad stuff hanging around. It's pretty simple to fill the tank and add 1/2 cup or so of bleach and then add all the tank things to the water. Best to use the cheap bleach without color or smell added. Let it set overnight of so and then when you are ready to start the tank again, dump the water, fill it to rinse things and then dump it all again. Take the filter, decor and anything else out and let them dry totally . I just set it all out in the sun. Any bleach chlorine left is diluted as you rinse things and then the small amount left drifts off into the air.
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+1

I would also soak everything (after the bleach treatment) in water that's been heavily dosed with dechlorinator. To emphasize PfunMo's point, you really want to ensure the bleach doesn't have any scent or color added. You could create additional problems for yourself if use the wrong bleach.

A lot of people are scared of using bleach. I use it on everything before adding it to the tank (including with plants in a heavily diluted form) and it works great.
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so I have a 90gallon do i add just 1/2 a cup?

so fill tank with water add dechlorinator?
add bleach
put everything into the tank with the bleach
I know you said 24 hrs put it will be outside cant fit in garage would it be fine to soak everything for like 5hrs?

thanks for all the help
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zimmy
adam0444 said:
so bleach everything hmmm.. just another question if i just rinse everything and then let in dry all the way wont the bacteria die? what about cleaning the filters like the hoses? fill tank with weak bleach and run the filters for like 10min?
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You will definitely kill the good bacteria along with the stuff you're trying to get rid of but I'm not sure there's an alternative. I think running the filters with the bleach should be fine...I would run them for several hours to be safe. Running everything again after rinsing with heavily dechlorinated water will eliminate the chlorine from the bleach. The "sniff" test (if it smells like bleach it's not ready) will tell you if you're good to go.
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zimmy
adam0444 said:
so I have a 90gallon do i add just 1/2 a cup?

so fill tank with water add dechlorinator?
add bleach
put everything into the tank with the bleach
I know you said 24 hrs put it will be outside cant fit in garage would it be fine to soak everything for like 5hrs?

thanks for all the help
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Just run it with bleach to start with. If you add dechlorinator at the same time you'll neutralize the bleach. After the bleach treatment run it again with a heavy dose of dechlorinator.

If you're filling it with water, you may need more than 1/2 a cup. 1:20 is the ratio I use when desnailing plants but you probably don't need that much for this purpose since you're soaking for a longer period.
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ok sounds good. I rinsed off my live(now dead) rock with water twice I dont think it would be good to put that in bleach. *** had it drying off out side now for 2 days and im going to leave it outside for the week so all the bacteria will die
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P
On the question of whether bacteria will die if dried. Some will, some may last a long time. Nature has ways to deal with all sorts of occasions like drying out. Snails are one item that we know can live for months without appearing to need water. Bacteria comes in all forms and I would just have to assume that some can. For water treatment, the Department of natural Resouces say it takes 24 hour exposure to assure that all bad items are killed in drinking water. That gives the chlorine time to react with and work it's way into any hard shelled items. The point to me is that some other ways MIGHT work but I want use the best, easiest and cheapest way to make sure I've done it right. Since we are normally going to be rinsing and washing the tank and other items, adding a half cup or so of bleach and then rinsing and drying seems to be such an easy thing that I really find no reason not to do it. Since chlorine is in most of the water we use, it just doesn't make sense to object to putting bleach in water to kill things we don't want. It is the nationally recommended way to clean water for drinking so it should do the job on fish water. You do want to let it all dry so that any chlorine left will dissipate into the air.
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