Bleach/ Peroxide In Aquarium

[Caleb Smith]

I posted a whole backstory about this yesterday, but basically, I have an unkillable fungus in my aquarium and I need help. The tank is heavily planted and I want to minimize the number of plant losses while also killing off the fungus spores. Can anyone tell me the ideal (plant safe) dosages for using Bleach and or Hydrogen Peroxide and the time I need to let it sit? Or if you have other suggestions that worked, I would love to hear them. Whatever I use needs to be easily removable so there are no traces left behind to harm my Axolotl. Please Help.

 

[sfsamm]

I'd remove the axolotol and treat directly with peroxide and a syringe. Have the filters off and let it sit to bubble then syphon out dead materials and retreat until gone. Tedious but can be done in a day then do large water change and it's perfectly safe with no chance of toxicity.

 

[Kasshan]

Sounds like you have a fundamental issue. Is it a real problem affecting the biology of the tank or something that irks you because you can't control it? Because either way a quick fix won't help. You will need to break down everything and start from scratch, because otherwise you will NEVER get rid of this "fungus" if your basic routines stay the same. Change the fundamentals is the only way you will fix you problem. Duration of lights on, fertilizers, maintenance etc.

But if you must, use bleach then hydrogen peroxide. Since those two mixed together make oxygen and table salt.

 

[TexasGuppy]

19-to-1 bleach. But, recommends only 3 minutes or it will start to kill the plants. You'll need water on standby with 3-4 times prime dosage. Are you going to sanitize your filter/media too? I'm assuming you have to since the spores would be in there as well.

 

[Caleb Smith]

I'd remove the axolotol and treat directly with peroxide and a syringe. Have the filters off and let it sit to bubble then syphon out dead materials and retreat until gone. Tedious but can be done in a day then do large water change and it's perfectly safe with no chance of toxicity.

Sorry, I should have clarified. My axolotl is in a cycled quarantine tank while I tried to sanitize this tank. He won't be in this tank for a few weeks at least.

Sounds like you have a fundamental issue. Is it a real problem affecting the biology of the tank or something that irks you because you can't control it? Because either way a quick fix won't help. You will need to break down everything and start from scratch, because otherwise you will NEVER get rid of this "fungus" if your basic routines stay the same. Change the fundamentals is the only way you will fix you problem. Duration of lights on, fertilizers, maintenance etc.

But if you must, use bleach then hydrogen peroxide. Since those two mixed together make oxygen and table salt.

I agree that it is caused by something in my tank but I can't seem to identify what exactly the fungus is feeding off of. It isn't photosynthetic as it shows no change in growth between my well-lit tank and my completely blacked out tank. It also shows no difference in growth in my cycled quarantine and my uncycled aquascape. Im really not sure. The only distinctive trait is that it seems to like the areas with the most flow. I already broke down the tank the first time and after three weeks, it reappeared. I am trying my best to kill this without breaking down the tank again.

19-to-1 bleach. But, recommends only 3 minutes or it will start to kill the plants. You'll need water on standby with 3-4 times prime dosage. Are you going to sanitize your filter/media too? I'm assuming you have to since the spores would be in there as well.

I was in the beginning stages of cycling this tank so I am going to go ahead and sanitize the filter media as well because Im using a custom corner matter filter and I don't have any sponge on hand to cut a new sheet

 

[InsanityShard]

If it's really bad you can do a full reset and kill literally everything in your tank using a combination of pottasium and hydrogen peroxide. Not sure on the ratio for your tank, but the emergancy instructions for my 60g is to remove all fish/plants, then add 1/4 of a teaspoon of 'condys crystals' (An old name for a kind of potassium) and leave it for 24 hours, until the water goes brown. Only after 24 hours, even if it goes brown sooner, you add 20 mls of Hydrogen Peroxide and mix it thouroughly in the water. Then you can apparently put stuff straight back in! It really kills absolutely everything. All bacteria included, parasites, everything. It's the ultimate emergancy reset I nearly resorted to when freshwater slime mould ended up in my tap water.

 

[Caleb Smith]

If it's really bad you can do a full reset and kill literally everything in your tank using a combination of pottasium and hydrogen peroxide. Not sure on the ratio for your tank, but the emergancy instructions for my 60g is to remove all fish/plants, then add 1/4 of a teaspoon of 'condys crystals' (An old name for a kind of potassium) and leave it for 24 hours, until the water goes brown. Only after 24 hours, even if it goes brown sooner, you add 20 mls of Hydrogen Peroxide and mix it thouroughly in the water. Then you can apparently put stuff straight back in! It really kills absolutely everything. All bacteria included, parasites, everything. It's the ultimate emergancy reset I nearly resorted to when freshwater slime mould ended up in my tap water.

I have read very very differing suggestsions fro the Peroxide dosage with some adding a whole bottle for 10 gallons.

Well, I decided to go ahead and Bio bomb the tank. I drained half the tank to expose the current fungus growth and then I sprayed and scrubbed that area with Hydrogen Peroxide. I then added half a bottle of peroxide to the tank and then added maybe 1/2 a cup of bleach to the tank. I let it curculate for 2 hours then drained it and filled it with chlorinated water. I am going to wait a few days before dechlorinating in the hopes that the fungus spores are gone for good.

Random questions, but would snails/shrimp eat the fungus????

 

[TexasGuppy]

I know they eat the white fungus that grows on new driftwood. My concern is that you don't know what kind it is.. I wouldn't want anything eating it. Are you thinking of trying snails in the other tanks?

 

[Caleb Smith]

I know they eat the white fungus that grows on new driftwood. My concern is that you don't know what kind it is.. I wouldn't want anything eating it. Are you thinking of trying snails in the other tanks?

I was thinking more of shrimp because ghost shrimp can safely be kept with Axolotls and (if they ate the fungus) could fix my problem. Snails would be for my other tanks, lest they get infected...