Cleaning my tank properly.

Hello, I just read a topic in this forum about how to clean an empty tank after a disease outbreak(by: jodienathan212)

Lately I have been asking a lot of questions about how stuff work and what's best because I want to start with this hobby again and I want to take it more seriously this time.

Just a brief history about what happened to my tank a few years ago:

A few years ago my girlfriend gave me a 5 gallon tank, 2 goldfish and 2 angelfish for an Anniversary gift and right away I bought 35 gallon tank because I have read that they are not safe in a small tank. Even though I have a bigger tank I still haven't cycled it so every other day I do 25%-30% water changes and test the water so that my fishes would be safe. After a weeks every thing went okay an angelfish died so I bought another one. After a few weeks the one I bought died again. My mom and I got alerted so we bought medication and vitamins from a pet store. After a few months a gold fish was sucked and got stuck at my power head he was safe for a month then died to. Trying to give my other angelfish and goldfish company my mom gave them 6 guppies and a live plant which carried a snail outbreak. Then I got busy and stopped caring for them for a few weeks. All of them died one by one, the last one who died and was the strongest was my Angelfish named Gill.

Just a few days ago I decided to take care of fish again and I want them to live not die. So I washed my tank for about 20-30 minutes with soap and my ornaments for 5 minutes with tap water. I bought black sand which only filled like 30% of the tank I'm planning to completely fill it tomorrow.


So my question would be, do you think a disease outbreak happened at my tank a few years ago? If yes then I would follow the thread started by jodienathan and I would clean my tank properly this time.

Thank you guys and sorry for my long post hope you read it and give me some help.

Here are pictures of my current set-up.





Nearly done and ready to start cycling but I'm more than willing to clean them off again if I have to.

 

Good morning,

Be sure to rinse, rinse, rinse to make sure there is no soap residue. It really is not a good idea to use soap on anything aquarium related (for future reference).

If it has been years since the tank was set up and diseased and has been dry for these years, there should not be any disease issues remaining in the tank.

Ken

 

Good morning,

Be sure to rinse, rinse, rinse to make sure there is no soap residue. It really is not a good idea to use soap on anything aquarium related (for future reference).

If it has been years since the tank was set up and diseased and has been dry for these years, there should not be any disease issues remaining in the tank.

Ken

Yes, I learned that I should never use soap with anything related to my tank and I will surely remember it. I'm sorry I gave the wrong time table for events my girlfriend gave me them as gifts April 2013 and I think my fish started dying by September to December and my tank was only emptied by February to March so it's only been 3-4 months. With that given should I clean it or is it long enough already for the disease to die off?

And if ever my tank still has the disease will they be transferring to my newly bought black sand?

 

Listen to what Aquarist48 told you. As he said air dried for a long time tank harbors no disease. 3-4 month is a long time. Good luck.

PS: there was a time when I washed my filters with soap and hot water. Don't worry, you are not the only one who made that mistake.

 

Listen to what Aquarist48 told you. As he said air dried for a long time tank harbors no disease. 3-4 month is a long time. Good luck.

PS: there was a time when I washed my filters with soap and hot water. Don't worry, you are not the only one who made that mistake.

Well he said if it has been years but it's only a few months. But thank you sir! I'm quite happy that it's safe already! I will just clean my decors, fish nets, and all other stuff with hot water to make sure everything is safe. Thank you so much to both of you

 

Hot water plus a touch of vinegar. Rinse! Rinse! Rinse!

 

Hot water plus a touch of vinegar. Rinse! Rinse! Rinse!

I bought more sand and some new decor today I will wash the sand first and the decor with hot water and vinegar like you said. Thanks!