ich/ ???

[B-rad]

Ok so I was having problems with what I thought was ich (my heater went out and temp dropped to around 65 deg F) I raised it to about 87 deg F and added aquarium salt, a medicine containing formalin, and malachite green, followed by maracyn plus... two of the really bad discus died after it looked like their slime coat dried up... I went on vacation and after I came back they were all dead.

I have gravel, a few live plants, some petrified driftwood, a sponge filter, and a carbon biowheel filter.... My question is what can I do to sanitize my tank so the next fish I put in don't catch the same disease????

[leanne31]

You can pull your tank apart and clean it all with a bleach solution but just remember you will have to cycle your tank again.

Leanne

[B-rad]

Thank you, Do you have any other suggestions on what I should do, what do you mean by cycle my tank? Does that mean after I clean it to cycle it and clean it again? Or just after cleaning it, just let it cycle for a while until I can put the fish in?

[mistakes r crucial]

Brad,

Leanne means build up the "good" bacteria in your tank/system before adding any more fish. You can do this in two ways, a fishless cycle or with fish. There are many posts on here explaining both ways, just do a search on cycling tanks.
MAC

[Merrilyn]

Hi Brad, so sorry to hear about your discus.

You have been given the correct advice. Everything in the tank should now be pulled apart and thoroughly cleaned with a plain bleach solution. Also soak your nets and hoses or anything else that you might have used in the tank for two hours. Give the gravel a good stir, so that all of it comes in contact with the bleach.

Then thoroughly rinse, rinse, rinse till all smell of bleach has gone. Leave the tank and all the equipment to dry for a few days if you can manage it before you refill.

You will then need to re-cycle your tank, as all the good bacteria will have been killed off.

The fishless cycle method is the one I would recommend, and you can have your tank cycled in about two weeks, ready to put more fish in.

There are articles on this forum and others about fishless cycling.