# Disinfecting plants after sudden death of betta?



## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

My betta Rakki passed away unexpectedly yesterday, and I'm planning to move my other betta, Yurei, over to his now-empty tank after I disinfect the tank and decorations with a bleach solution.

However, the tank also has two anubias and a Marimo ball. I figure it would be a good idea to disinfect them, too, but I'm not sure about the best way to do it. Could I use the bleach solution? Or is there a better way?


----------



## TerriGtoo (Jul 2, 2013)

LadyNightraven said:


> My betta Rakki passed away unexpectedly yesterday, and I'm planning to move my other betta, Yurei, over to his now-empty tank after I disinfect the tank and decorations with a bleach solution.
> 
> However, the tank also has two anubias and a Marimo ball. I figure it would be a good idea to disinfect them, too, but I'm not sure about the best way to do it. Could I use the bleach solution? Or is there a better way?


The only reason you would really need to fully clean out a tank is if your betta had an obvious sickness or disease. If an apparently healthy betta, or an old betta dies, there really isn't much reason to go through all that trouble. As for your plants, if you really feel the need to do this, all you would need to do is get a large zip bag or clean bucket fill it with tap water and keep your plants in it overnight, The unconditioned water will not harm the plants for a short period. The only plant you may have problems doing this with is the marimo.


----------



## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

Maybe I'm just being paranoid. Rakki started being lethargic Friday night and wouldn't eat, and it progressed to lying on his side and breathing heavily, first in his plants, then on the bottom of the tank before he passed yesterday afternoon. I say it was suddenly because there was less than a day between him showing any sign of unwellness to his passing. There was no sign of injury, ich, velvet, dropsy, anything. He was okay, and then he... wasn't.

Rakki was my favorite (I know I shouldn't have favorites, but there it is), but I don't want anything to happen to Yurei when I move him over.


----------



## TerriGtoo (Jul 2, 2013)

Ok, that could be a number of things. If he did not present with disease, it most likely was environmental.To me it sounds like ammonia poisoning. How often do you change the water? A betta can quickly fall ill to too much ammonia in his water. Another thing might be his age. If he was older, it might have just been his time. The other thing, that sounds much like what happened to one of my healthy bettas. Over a week, he became lethargic, stopped eating and I found him dead one morning. After checking out his tank, I discovered the glass, weighted thermometer had a minute crack in it and had filled with water compromising the beads in it. I believe this leached into the aquarium and slowly poisoned him. Obviously, in this instance I did break down and clean out this tank, before setting up again. Now I only use digital thermometers.

BTW.....nothing wrong with having favorites, Ryu the betta that had the cracked thermometer in his tank was my favorite. He is in my avatar. I have several bettas and new ones as well since he died, yet I keep his pic up. Hr is still my favorite!


----------



## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

Both my boys are/were in 5 gallon tanks, and they both get/got water changes each week. I may have been off by a couple of days sometimes, but I never went more than ten days between water changes. He got a water change three days before he died. I tested his water parameters when he started seeming off, and the parameters were perfect. 0 ppm ammonia, 0 ppm nitrite, and somewhere between 0 and 5 nitrate, and pH was 7.6. It had dropped a little from where it used to be at about 8.2, but I don't think that would have been enough of a difference to be a problem.

I don't know exactly how old he was, but I estimated him to be between three and three and a half years old. I had him for a little over two of those years. He was a rescue that my landlords gave me after finding him in their recently vacated rental house. I don't know how long the person before me had him, but considering he was in a half-empty 0.5 gallon "tank" when the landlords found him and he was left behind like he didn't matter, I doubt he got very good care. I think his time with his previous "owner" may have shortened his life. Plus, I suspect he originally came from Walmart since he was a blue and red veiltail (the fish in my avatar) like you often see at Walmart, and you know how badly most of them take care of their fish.

I just checked the thermometer in his tank, and I didn't see anything that looked like it could have been a problem. Still, I think I might invest in a digital thermometer for Yurei and for the empty tank when I decide I'm ready for new occupant(s). Is there one you'd recommend?

Also, thank you for saying you had your favorite, too. It makes me feel better knowing I'm not the only one.


----------



## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

Sorry for your loss. If I disinfected my tank every time a fish dies, I'd be a very busy person.


----------



## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

Thanks, andakin. I hear what you're saying. This is the first fish I've lost, and I'm just afraid of losing my other one. I truly don't know if I'm being paranoid or not. It may have just been Rakki's time to go.


----------



## TerriGtoo (Jul 2, 2013)

It certainly sounds like it could have been age (most live only 4.5 to 5 yrs, although I have had some of mine reach 7 yrs.) plus the fact that he didn't get good care before you got him. Can you imagine how much ammonia was in his water if he was left by his previous owners in less than half a gallon of water? And in a tank that size I suspect he didn't have a heater either.
There's nothing you could have done to rectify the damage done by his previous owners
but you did right by him since then.
This may sound like a dumb question, but if both bettas had 5g tanks, why do you want to 
move Yurei into Rakki's tank.
I buy my digital thermometers from Amazon as they are relatively inexpensive. I will post a link here soon. Most of these digitals are exactly the same except thst the 
branded ones aremore expensive.


----------



## TerriGtoo (Jul 2, 2013)

I tried to post link but it doesn't seem to open. If you go to Amazon and key in "digital aquarium thermometer" there is a seller on there selling them for $4.73 with free shipping. Seller is eforcity.


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I had suspected columnaris wipe out a tan's fish last year, columnaris can live up to a month without a host so I just left the tank fauna-less (nothing but plants) for *over *a month and dosed pure ammonia to keep it cycled. When I added new fish there was no issue. I sue [this calculator for ammonia (bottom of page)] and a needle-less syringe for accurate dosing.

You can look up bleach dips or potassium permanganate, but you have to make sure you don't over do the ratio on the non water part, nor leave the plants in too long. Some species won't tolerate bleach dips while others are very tolerant of it (anubias can take a long (weakened bleach) dip I dipped for 30 min at 1/2 bleach dose once anubias did great).


----------



## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

TerriGtoo said:


> It certainly sounds like it could have been age (most live only 4.5 to 5 yrs, although I have had some of mine reach 7 yrs.) plus the fact that he didn't get good care before you got him. Can you imagine how much ammonia was in his water if he was left by his previous owners in less than half a gallon of water? And in a tank that size I suspect he didn't have a heater either.
> There's nothing you could have done to rectify the damage done by his previous owners
> but you did right by him since then.
> This may sound like a dumb question, but if both bettas had 5g tanks, why do you want to
> ...


After seeing some of the pictures of people posting the results of testing their betta's cup water after bringing a fish home, I don't even want to think about how bad the ammonia was in that 0.5 gallon. *shudders*

It's not a dumb question at all! Yes, both tanks are 5 gallons, but Rakki's is the better quality one, in my opinion. Rakki's is the only one able to support live plants beyond Marimo balls right now because I was able to put a proper 6500k bulb in it. Yurei's tank only came with a crappy LED light, and I haven't been able to upgrade the lighting situation in it yet. It sounds weird but... I don't want some stranger fish coming in and enjoying Rakki's old anubias. I want Yurei, a fish I already know and love, to get a chance to enjoy them.





Aqua Aurora said:


> I had suspected columnaris wipe out a tan's fish last year, columnaris can live up to a month without a host so I just left the tank fauna-less (nothing but plants) for *over *a month and dosed pure ammonia to keep it cycled. When I added new fish there was no issue. I sue [this calculator for ammonia (bottom of page)] and a needle-less syringe for accurate dosing.
> 
> You can look up bleach dips or potassium permanganate, but you have to make sure you don't over do the ratio on the non water part, nor leave the plants in too long. Some species won't tolerate bleach dips while others are very tolerant of it (anubias can take a long (weakened bleach) dip I dipped for 30 min at 1/2 bleach dose once anubias did great).


That is great information, Aurora! Thank you! I'm sorry you lost an entire tank to that nasty illness though.


----------



## savagebeautymnl (Apr 16, 2015)

You could also try diluted vinegar dip - this is what I use to disinfect tanks everytime I transfer a fish (whether its previous occupant showed signs of illness or not).

I fill about ¼ of the tank, including all plants and hides, with 1:5 vinegar:water. Leave the plants soaking for 20 minutes then take them out and rinse them. Then I use a dedicated sponge to scrub both the inside and outside with the solution in the tank. Tank is then rinsed twice. Sponge is rinsed, microwaved for a minute, then rinsed again. 

So far no plants of mine have died from this process. It can be tedious, but at least I'm confident I'm not passing any unknown diseases.


----------



## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

LadyNightraven said:


> That is great information, Aurora! Thank you! I'm sorry you lost an entire tank to that nasty illness though.


It was early on in my fish keeping-leaner my lesson though and now everyone gets a 1month quarantine before going into existing setups.


----------



## andakin (Aug 10, 2009)

LadyNightraven said:


> It sounds weird but... I don't want some stranger fish coming in and enjoying Rakki's old anubias.


I had a good chuckle.


----------



## LadyNightraven (Jun 30, 2013)

savagebeautymnl said:


> You could also try diluted vinegar dip - this is what I use to disinfect tanks everytime I transfer a fish (whether its previous occupant showed signs of illness or not).
> 
> I fill about ¼ of the tank, including all plants and hides, with 1:5 vinegar:water. Leave the plants soaking for 20 minutes then take them out and rinse them. Then I use a dedicated sponge to scrub both the inside and outside with the solution in the tank. Tank is then rinsed twice. Sponge is rinsed, microwaved for a minute, then rinsed again.
> 
> So far no plants of mine have died from this process. It can be tedious, but at least I'm confident I'm not passing any unknown diseases.


I appreciate the tip!





Aqua Aurora said:


> It was early on in my fish keeping-leaner my lesson though and now everyone gets a 1month quarantine before going into existing setups.


Ah, the learning curve. It's sad when something happens because of our lack of knowledge, but at least we can learn from our mistakes.





andakin said:


> I had a good chuckle.


Haha, yeah, I know it sounds crazy. I'm glad I could make you laugh.


----------



## jadaBlu (Feb 14, 2013)

I bleach dip plants myself however a moss ball is not going to work it will soak up the bleach. I've not treated a plant before and had the fish in the tank get sick. So I'd get rid of the moss ball and treat the anubias or since they are not extremely costly buy new plants. I also agree about leaving the tanks sit fallow for a month or so to give diseases a chance to die off. So you can quarantine and let the tank sit.


----------

