kittenface14

Its been a few days since my heart breaking loss of my two Bettas, Rags and Shimmer . I think that Im ready to face the empty tank and break it down for disinfecting. Im not sure what illness took over..

Where do I start and what products do I use. I have never had to break down a tank and start from scratch.

Lucy

I'm really sorry about your bettas.
To disinfect with bleach fill with 19 parts water to 1 part bleach rinse until you can longer smell bleach...fill the tank again with water and OD with conditioner. Let it set for a while then rinse really good again.

kittenface14

Thank you Lucy!

Just to be on the safe side, I should throw away the filter media and replace with new?

Lucy

Your welcome.
I did. I was afraid I wouldn't get the bleach out of it.
Other's might have a different opinion.

Llama

If you can put the filter in another tank for a while to keep it cycled, and you're sure there's no bleach or infectious material in it, then I think you can re-use the material to kick start your cycle.

That said, if you're bleaching the filter as well (I don't know whether pathogens can hide away there, someone should answer this), then you'd be better off replacing the material.

agabr123

100% agree with lucy if there's a chance that there's a disease on your media then i'd just toss it.

kittenface14

I will toss it when I break it down tomorrow.

Kivstev

Boil the filter material for 20 minutes and bleach the tank.