20 Gallon Tank Cleaning up a diseased tank

I have had it with my LFS!!! I started a 20high and got all my fish from them. Only to find out that everything I brought home is diseased!!! I have been fighting all sorts of fungal infections since day one. I have been medicating and have done everything inbetween. I'm at the point now, where I feel it is a lost cause and its cleaning out my bank account. So, while my fish slowly die off, one by one, I feel completely helpless. I don't know if I should euthanize everything? Also, how do I completely disinfect everything in the tank without buying new stuff? I can handle buying new sand/gravel. Thanks!

Water Stats;
0 ammonia
0 nitrite
lower than 5 nitrate

I do regular water changes twice a week.

 

I would take what's left back to the store and let him deal with it.

As far as cleaning, a 1:20 mix of bleach:water will do the trick. Let it sit until everything has dried before you set it back up.

You can clean the sand/gravel the same way, just put it in a bucket and stir it every day at least once. This will let the bottom stuff dry faster.

 

thank you!

 

If you bleach the stuff you'll have to reestablish your cycle... just thought I'd warn you. If you save the filter media to keep the bacteria colony going it'll still give you a minI cycle.

 

ya, I already thought about that. So I'm trying one last thing.... I have been reading about people doing salt dips. I just got done with that. I also am adding an extra air stone, aquarium salt and turning up the heat. It seemed to work pretty well on the ICH, I figured I couldnt really hurt anything. I'm also confused as to why they call it FUNgus, it isn't much "fun!" lol!

 

You could also try a garlic bath, garlic has great medicinal uses for us and fish alike, get some fresh garlic, use the whole thing, roughly chop it up once peeled, put the garlic in a cup of water, micro it for 1 min, let it cool, put it in the fridge and let it age overnight, add 1 teaspoon per 10 gal bucket, use old tank water, in the bucket, get fish into bucket, let swim around for 30 mins to an hour, put back in tank.

You can do this daily, until you see improvement in the fish.

If you want to use the garlic bath right away rather than letting it age overnight, use 1 tablespoon per 10 gal of the solution.

This should deal with any yukky things going on inside and out.

Also if you want to clean out your tank with something less likely to be toxic to fish, use white vinegar, or put all your decor through the dish washer, without detergent then let air dry completely.

Good luck with it all

 

You could also try a garlic bath, garlic has great medicinal uses for us and fish alike, get some fresh garlic, use the whole thing, roughly chop it up once peeled, put the garlic in a cup of water, micro it for 1 min, let it cool, put it in the fridge and let it age overnight, add 1 teaspoon per 10 gal bucket, use old tank water, in the bucket, get fish into bucket, let swim around for 30 mins to an hour, put back in tank.

You can do this daily, until you see improvement in the fish.

If you want to use the garlic bath right away rather than letting it age overnight, use 1 tablespoon per 10 gal of the solution.

This should deal with any yukky things going on inside and out.

Also if you want to clean out your tank with something less likely to be toxic to fish, use white vinegar, or put all your decor through the dish washer, without detergent then let air dry completely.

Good luck with it all

I feed them garlic on a bi-weekly basis. I really like your thoughts on all this. I will bump up the garlic comsumption AND do a bath AND use the white vinegar! I'm not too worried about the vinegar mixing a teeny tiny bit. Our water here is HIGH alkaline.

 

its weird. I have chickens, dogs, cats and a snake... oh ya, and 2 boys. I never, in a million years, ever thought I could become attached to fish! They all have their own little personalities and have become so used to my presense, I can litterally catch them in my hands, they swim right up, (except the tetras.) As irritated as I am with the LFS, I really want these guys to get better. And these last few suggestions are some things I haven't tried. Thank you so much!

 

I cannot claim its my thoughts, I actually learned this from a goldfish website, I kept goldfish before I kept tropicals, I changed to trops as they seems to be less work intensive than goldies and as I am now having some health issues, I figured trops may be an easier way for me to keep up my hobby, I found a good home for my 3 goldfish, you are right about getting attached, I am a totally soppy so understand completely, some are such characters!!!.

BTW we have 2 dogs a cat and a snake also, what kind of snake is your? ours is a corn snake called 'corny'

 

we have a rubber tree boa. they are only found in like 3 places in the world and NE Nevada just happens to be one of them. My husband found her, half dead, and decided to bring her home with him. (while I DO NOT advocate bringing home wild animals, the look on my husbands face was too much for me to say no.) Its a cool weather snake. It can't tollerate temps over 80 degrees F. Her name is Icobod. (we thought it was a boy at first and name just kinda stuck.) My 3 year old loves her and he is so gentle.

Update on the fish.... so the fungus has started to go away and I have dicovered that underneath it all.... are ANCHOR WORMS!!! I think I found out now, why the fungus keeps coming back. Its a result of a prior infection. Good news and bad... but at least now I can treat the fungus, kill the worms and hopefully, (fingers crossed,) this will be the end of it. Despite all of this, everyone is having babies, color looks great, attitudes are very active and eating continues as if I have never fed them, (piggies! lol) And the Fry are so sticking healthy, then are like little shimmers of rainbows in their tank!

 

where did you find the anchor worms, or maybe I should say how?

 

I started the fungus treatment, so the fungus started to go away after the salt dip and the added garlic to their diet. Once that started happening, I looked closer and I saw a red spot on one of my females with a clear little thread like thing attached to it. I'm like 99% sure its anchor worms. So, I have taken out the carbon fliter, put in a sponge and am now treating the fungus and the worms. So far, so good. No deaths and everyone is still eating wonderfully.

 

I vote for bleach.... it is the only sure way to make sure nothing survives. You obviously have to cycle the tank, but it is a small price to pay compared to the expense you have already incurred and will incur if the diseases/fungus survive.

 

should I ditch the bio-wheel too? and what about that product bio-spira, I hear that gets your tank cycled in like 8-10 days?

 

I can only tell you from the experience of the others here that TSS is supposed to be the only thing that works. None of the other bacterial supplements really work and can actually make your system crash when you stop adding it.

When you cycle your tank if you have fish in it use PRIME. It is a amonia, nitrite blocker that keeps fish from getting toxic, but the bacteria still can grow on it. And then, a lot, a lot of water changes.

I personally would get rid on anything that can't be cleaned thoroughly... biowheel, sponges, carbon.... anything. If anyone disagrees with me know speak now or forever hold your peace.

But, if no one is sick in your tank currently maybe got rid of it ???

 

it seems like things are clearing up. I don't see anymore worms, but I will continue to treat the water for a couple more days, as well as with the fungus meds. I am going to replace the substrate, (i've been wanting to change it anyway,) disguard the biowheel. I am going to float a new one in my nursery tank to help get some sort of media build on it. (Hopefully that will help with the new cycle, and my nursery tank is super healthy.) What do you think? And what is TSS, I have never seen it. Thanks!

ok, nevermind, I found out what it is. I'm going to call my LFS and see if they carry it.