Cleaning SIck Tank?

[MatthewLaw]

Greetings ALl- My poor dwarf lionfish passed away tonight. The lump on his back separate shortly before he passed.

I would like to restart the tank but do not know how to clean it. I removed the heater, powerhead, filter, and cleaned the tank with clean water.

SInce this might have been a bacterial issue do you suggest a bleach to water cleaning (1 to 10 concentration)? do i need to clean the heater, powerhead, etc?

Thanks!!! -Matt

[LisaD]

I'm sorry about the lionfish.

I don't think I'd necessarily bleach everything as a first step. Can you be patient enough to let the tank lay fallow (without other fish) for 6-8 weeks?

First, can you tell us about:

tank set-up - rock, sand, filtration?

water parameters at the time the lion was in the tank (or now) - temperature, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate

maintenance regime - how often you changed water, feeding

tank history - what fish have been in it, what happened to them (alive, dead?)

it would be useful to know to help us help you.

[MatthewLaw]

THanks for your condolences.

Since this is the 15g hospital tank and in fear that it had some disease, I feel this bleach solution would kill everything.

It had a minimal sand bottom--removed LR with the treating of melafix and pimafix. it had been setup for about 10 weeks when the lionfish was brought in. Filtration through biowheel 200. testing was 0, 0, <20 for amonia, nitrite, nitrate, pH = 8.2.

I performed 10% water changes every week. feeding only occured when there was a fish inside.

previously the tank was used for a brackish tank and the F8 puffer is still alive.

for the 50g tank. it has been setup 3 months. has 60lb+ LR inside and about 30 lbs of sand. testing = 8.2, 0, 0, 20. Only fish inside is a false perc.

Admititedly I may have jumped the gun by putting the lionfish into the 50g after drip acclimation from the store. I should have put him 15g for a few weeks but I knew the fish was at the LFS for a few weeks and was healthy/eating. or so I thought....

[LisaD]

I'd leave the 50 gallon alone unless the fish currently there shows any problems. since the 15 is a small HT, and a temporary set-up, bleach and hot water wouldn't hurt.

sounds like you are doing all the right things.

[MatthewLaw]

thanks for your help and quick response! i am closely monitoring 'Sassy' -- the false perc and he is doing well. swimming into the powerheads and playing around like usual.

i bleached (10:1 concentration) the 15g tank, filter, powerhead, thermomter last night. i am waiting for them to dry and then put it all back together. i will be treating the new HT as a 'new' tank and go through the cycling issues, use some LR to cycle, etc.

Thanks for your help!

Hope the Dogface is doing well.!

[DamnPepShrimp]

Make sure you rinse the 15g out well! Good luck with your new setup. Sorry about the lion.

[MatthewLaw]

thanks for the help. i rinsed it out rahter well and let it dry. i am waiting for hte filters, powerhead, heater to dry as well.

i think i will do a water change later today from the 50g and 29g tanks and use that water in the 15g tank.

[DamnPepShrimp]

Thats a good idea. I always use water changes to fill up my QT tanks, maybe with a little new water as well.

[MatthewLaw]

I agree. 'Used' water seems like a good application for the 'new' 15g. throw in a small piece of LR and the cycle should definitely get started.