Reusing tank decorations

[SuperCooper]

HI all!
I am new here and have a few separate threads on different topics but they have essentially lead into me posting this current thread.

Background Situation:
I had a 60 litre fish tank, fully cycled which housed 1 Betta and a couple of snails. In this tank I had recently had some problems with detritus worms and some sort of tiny white specs that began to show up in the water column (I have/had a thread about this asking people to help me ID the flecks and worms). Those who were kind enough to respond to that thread thought the flecks were harmless as with the worms. So I stopped worrying about that issue.

Seperatly: I also started thinking about rescaping my 75Litre tank which also has 1 Betta and a couple of snails- also have a thread asking advice on this.

Current Situation:
(Note that I said "had" in past tense) I went away for one night and came home to find my betta in the 60L dead. I am so confused as he was 100% acting normal the day I left, his tank is cycled, no behaviour changes and no environment changes except for the worms and flecks.

The reason why I am giving all this background information is I was thinking of possibly using a peice of drift wood covered in live plants from my 60L into my 75L re: rescaping that tank.

But now with the sudden death of my betta in the 60L am unsure if I should be putting things from this tank into another? I gutted the 60L, removing all the decorations and plants which are now just in a bucket of tap water. (I went a bit crazy having 5 x 60L plus tanks and had made the decision the downsize my tanks as the inhabitants died off, I just really wasn't expecting a death this soon, and not this particular Betta- as he was so healthy seeming! In case you were wondering why I gutted the tank).

I can't give much more information on Anthony (Betta who just died) as he had no symptoms of illness. He did have some tail biting issues at one stage but that was not recent.

I'm really sad about losing him

But this thread is really to ask if I should be using the decorarions/plants from this tank into my 75L? Can I disinfect live plants?? Or should I just scrap the idea because of cross contamination. Because I don't know what Anthony died of, I don't even know if the decorations will be carrying anything or be an issue.
And what to do with the snails? Can I add the mystery snail and nerite snail into any of my tanks now!? So hard to know what to do

Thank you for reading this novel of a thread. I just don't want to make my other Betta sick, but on the other hand LOVE these decorations and plants as I created it myself (I.e. put the plants into the driftwood myself) and it was expensive/will be expensive to get more decorations for the 75L which I am still going to rescape a little.

Thoughts? Advice? Experiences of Betta fish dying over night? All welcome!!

I will add, that Anthony's face was discolored when I came home but I can't say if this happened in the 24 hours of my leaving or if it is something that happens after a fish dies

 

[Fishopolis]

Sorry for your loss, used to keep a lot of betta years ago and ive had them pass overnight for seemingly no reason, granted most were from petco at the time so it could've just been poor genetics. If you wanna reuse the decorations I usually either boil them or use a little bleach to disinfect, just make sure to rinse the bleach off thoroughly. I'll rinse well then let soak, and resoak a few times but i'm a bit paranoid on that stuff.
Here's an older thread on disinfecting plants, How do you "disinfect" newly purchased plants and fish? Question - | Aquarium Plants 75530
Best of luck!

 

[SuperCooper]

Thank you. This is my first fish death, aside from a tetra and a guppy in the 4ft. But my first Betta death, the Bettas are my fish as opposed to the 4ft which is a shared tank with my partner so this one was really upsetting for me. And double thank you for the advice about disinfecting the plants, I went the bleach route ! Have added the decorations into the 75L today so fingers crossed it will be okay ☺

 

[notwabbitseason]

I've reused my fathers 10 year old gravel that has been sitting in the basement. I just ran it under water multiple times. Reusing decorations is not a problem if you take the time to clean them.

 

[Burnout1620]

A 10% bleach/water solution will kill just about anything. I usually soak what I want sanitized in the bleach for 10-15 minutes. Then I rinse several times with tap water letting things dry between rinses. Finally I soak them in a bucket of tap water treated with prime for a few hours. Probably overkill, but it works for me.

 

[SuperCooper]

Thanks for the responses guys! Great to know for future builds and reusing existing decor in case you were interested, this is how the tank ended up with adding the 'new' decor