Disinfecting my Tank

It’s been a rough couple past days, but my little betta dude, Anduin, ended up not making it. Whatever killed him was absolutely the nastiest disease I’ve ever seen on my own fish. I can share pictures if someone wants to figure it out, but basically he had large sores that appeared very quickly and his body seemed to be wasting away. He developed dropsy and was very sluggish, which doesn’t surprise me.

But now, my concern is what to do with his 10 gallon setup. I already plan to bake the driftwood, stones, sand, etc. but what do I actually use to disinfect the net, siphon, tank itself, heater, etc? I really don’t want to take any chances on this one and will be ripping the whole setup down.

And another issue I have is my mystery snail. (S)he seems very healthy, but I’m hesitant to move her into my 36 gallon that is holding my Angelfish. What should I do with her? I could set up a bucket with a heater and go grab an airstone until I’m done sorting out the 10 gallon, and then put her back, but I’m not really sure...

I think this is the last time I will own betta splendens for quite a while... I’ve owned several over the years, and they always seem to develop some life-ending issue way before their time to go. I love the little guys, but I’ve had such terrible luck.

Any help will be appreciated.

 

Sorry to hear that your betta passed away. Not sure what it was but it does sound really nasty. Your plan to rip down the setup is absolutely the right way to go. As far as how to do it goes, I would bake your driftwood and bleach everything else. You can put some bleach in the tank with the water and leave it for a few days. Make sure the bleach you use doesn't have any fragrances or thickeners in it. Throw a towel over the tank to keep the bleach from breaking down in the light. After a few days you can take the towel off and let the bleach break down. Leave it for a day and then drain the tank. Refill and then drain again to 'rinse' the tank. Then you can fill again and start setting your system back up. Make sure you use double the normal amount of prime to neutralize any bleach left in the system and you should be good to go.

For you snail, I would go with the bucket and I would keep it in there for around two weeks. Whatever killed your betta likely won't be able to survive in a system with no host, so quarantining should keep it from being reintroduced to your tank by your snail.

I feel your pain with the bettas... I swore them off until recently since I lost five in a row to tumors, and I'm already seeing them develop in my current betta, and I haven't even had him three months. They really have a lot of issues and it's too bad since they are great fish.

 

Sorry to hear that your betta passed away. Not sure what it was but it does sound really nasty. Your plan to rip down the setup is absolutely the right way to go. As far as how to do it goes, I would bake your driftwood and bleach everything else. You can put some bleach in the tank with the water and leave it for a few days. Make sure the bleach you use doesn't have any fragrances or thickeners in it. Throw a towel over the tank to keep the bleach from breaking down in the light. After a few days you can take the towel off and let the bleach break down. Leave it for a day and then drain the tank. Refill and then drain again to 'rinse' the tank. Then you can fill again and start setting your system back up. Make sure you use double the normal amount of prime to neutralize any bleach left in the system and you should be good to go.

For you snail, I would go with the bucket and I would keep it in there for around two weeks. Whatever killed your betta likely won't be able to survive in a system with no host, so quarantining should keep it from being reintroduced to your tank by your snail.

I feel your pain with the bettas... I swore them off until recently since I lost five in a row to tumors, and I'm already seeing them develop in my current betta, and I haven't even had him three months. They really have a lot of issues and it's too bad since they are great fish.

Alright, thanks! As far as the bleach goes.. how much? And with disinfecting my siphon, net, etc., can I just stick them in the tank with bleach?

Ah darn, you’ve had even worse luck than me. I’m sorry to hear about that

 

Alright, thanks! As far as the bleach goes.. how much? And with disinfecting my siphon, net, etc., can I just stick them in the tank with bleach?

Ah darn, you’ve had even worse luck than me. I’m sorry to hear about that

I would do a five to ten percent concentration of bleach. Make sure you remove anything metal since it will rust very quickly if you expose it to bleach for too long.

For all your equipment I would fill a five gallon bucket with a ten percent bleach solution (9:1 water to bleach ratio) and throw everything in there for 15 minutes. That should kill off everything without damaging any of your equipment. Make sure you rinse well and I would dip them in water with extra prime before putting them back in your tank.

It's okay. Unfortunately I think it's part of keeping domestics nowadays.

 

I would do a five to ten percent concentration of bleach. Make sure you remove anything metal since it will rust very quickly if you expose it to bleach for too long.

For all your equipment I would fill a five gallon bucket with a ten percent bleach solution (9:1 water to bleach ratio) and throw everything in there for 15 minutes. That should kill off everything without damaging any of your equipment. Make sure you rinse well and I would dip them in water with extra prime before putting them back in your tank.

It's okay. Unfortunately I think it's part of keeping domestics nowadays.

Alright! Thanks so much. I’ll post here again if a have more questions.

 

Alright! Thanks so much. I’ll post here again if a have more questions.

No problem, glad I could help!