# How to clean after fish dies?



## Seki (Jul 10, 2012)

My fish Sheik recently passed on. I am hoping to reuse the 2.5 gallon Aqueon minibow he was in, because I really don't have the money to buy another aquarium right now, but I am wondering... what is the best way to clean everything after the tank has had a dead fish in it? I don't actually know what Sheik had, but whatever it was... it wasn't good. He kept bloating, he lost his color, his fins seems to be turning translucent and basically falling apart on the last day of his life.

I have read that I can boil the gravel and it will be fine to reuse, and I plan on doing that, but... what about the decorations? I had a bridge and a couple plastic plants in there with him, along with a heater. One petstore told me it's not safe to boil the plants or the bridge. Also, how do I clean the tank itself? One petstore told me to use a mild bleach solution and then rinse the stuff until I couldn't smell bleach anymore. Another told me to let the tank sit empty for a couple days and whatever had been in there would die out for lack of having an organism to feed on. Another told me I can put the tank part into the dishwasher and rinse it when it came out and it would be fine.

Any tips?


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Aw, I'm sorry to hear about Sheik 
I think a mild mild chlorine solution would be best. Bleach in other words. And only on the tank, not the decorations. Boil the decorations. 
Good luck 
Oh, you can leave the tank outside in the sun for a while but you risk damaging the tank if it's too hot or getting algae (unless its dry). This is how I got snail eggs off my driftwood, left it outside for days. Now it's in soaking and I'll reuse it in a snail-free betta tank.


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## battered (Dec 24, 2011)

You should definitely give the tank a nice clean (100% water change, siphon through the gravel), but I don't think you should completely empty and wash out the tank because you'll destroy a lot of the beneficial bacteria that lives on the surfaces of pretty much everything in the tank. Even if you still have the bacteria in the filter, you might risk a mini-cycle.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

Boil the gravel, bleach everything else. Rinse well. Re-cycle and start again.


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

MrVampire181 said:


> Boil the gravel, bleach everything else. Rinse well. Re-cycle and start again.


I thought bleach was super dangerous to fish?


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## Laki (Aug 24, 2011)

Not in tiny amounts and rinsed well.


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## MyRainbowBettaFish (May 9, 2012)

all i did was BOIL IT!

EVERYTHING!

I never used bleach when i had my 10 gallon as a community, that had alot of diseased fish in it (i was a newbie)

After those fish died, a kept the same gravel, just put it in a 5 gallon bucket and poured STEAMING water on it(be careful!!!) and the tank itself. And look, Honeycomb is super healthy!


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

If you just rinse everything in warm water and then let everything sit dry for at least a week, would that kill off the germs?


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## Kenny G (Jun 9, 2012)

The best thing to use to clean and sterilize a tank is *not* to use *BLEACH* but to use hot water, aq salt, and distilled vinegar. The distilled vinegar is non toxic to fish.


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

will vinegar ruin the paint on a painted ceramic or resin decoration?


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## Kenny G (Jun 9, 2012)

It's always best to try it on a small area on the bottom of the decoration you want to clean just be on the safe side.


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## Seki (Jul 10, 2012)

Wow, thanks for all the responses! I am a bit torn now, about whether to use bleach or not. Part of me thinks Sheik was just a sick fish... that he had internal problems and it wasn't necessarily anything he "had" or anything in the tank. The tank has been sitting empty (but still filled, just no fish) for almost 24 hours now. I am planning on boiling the gravel for sure (that seems to be the general consensus on here lol), and maybe I will put the tank through the dishwasher? Or vinegar? I am very much uncertain about bleach, although the petstore told me that is what they do and a lot of you on here have suggested it... hm...


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## ao (Feb 29, 2012)

bleach is fine. just use tonnes of water conditioner like prime to nutralize the bleach after washing it out super well.


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## Kenny G (Jun 9, 2012)

Ultimately the decision is yours but keep in mind that aq salt, and distilled vinegar are safe and non toxic. I have let to read anything to suggest bleach is.  Oh the dishwasher idea I would pass on that. Your dishwasher uses detergents that I am sure you don't want in your tank. 

Please keep us posted.


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## goldfishyman (Jun 8, 2012)

Unless your fish died of some wicked disease. I would just do a water change and give everything a light rinsing. A bit over kill to nuke the entire tank.


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## Seki (Jul 10, 2012)

goldfishyman said:


> Unless your fish died of some wicked disease. I would just do a water change and give everything a light rinsing. A bit over kill to nuke the entire tank.


He kind of did, actually. Nobody has been able to figure out what he had, but that was why nobody knew how to treat him. He died a fairly nasty death, and his fins were disintegrating toward the end, so... I want to make sure everything is pristine for my new fish. I never want to have to go through that with a fish again.


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## MrVampire181 (May 12, 2009)

I only trust bleach. Some other breeders have been using plain Lysol (not sure where they get it) that big commercial fisheries use. 

Right now, as soon as a tank frees up, it gets nuked. I'm not risking a bacterial infection wiping out my fish.

It seems he had a bacterial disease. Def boil the gravel and bleach the rest. Rinse VERY well and add extra dechlor.


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## Seki (Jul 10, 2012)

I went ahead and washed the tank out with a 1/5 bleach solution. I rinsed it until there were no more bubbles anywhere, then I rinsed it a couple more times to be sure. I am planning on adding extra dechlorinator and I am taking a sample of my water with me to the store to be tested when I get the fish. The gravel has been boiled, I used the bleach solution on the heater, and I boiled the decorations. Anything else I should do?


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

MrVampire181 said:


> I only trust bleach. Some other breeders have been using plain Lysol (not sure where they get it) that big commercial fisheries use.
> 
> Right now, as soon as a tank frees up, it gets nuked. I'm not risking a bacterial infection wiping out my fish.
> 
> It seems he had a bacterial disease. Def boil the gravel and bleach the rest. Rinse VERY well and add extra dechlor.


Would it be good to soak the tank with all the decor in over dechlorinated water for a while and then dump it out and put the water you are going to use in it?


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## finnfinnfriend (Feb 3, 2012)

Here's the plain Lysol: http://www.lysol.com/cleaning-products/surface-disinfection/brand-concentrate


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## MSG (May 8, 2012)

20% solution of bleach is very high. What made you use that percentage of bleach?



 When I sanitize my kitchen/bathroom I use a 2%-5% solution of bleach water solution or 1 bleach capful to a gallon of water spray solution. (I use this, once every 2 weeks or so in the kitchen for the counters/fridge/etc..)
 
Sounds like you need some rinsing to do. 



 Also if you can leave your tank outside in the sun for a good week or so.
 
Weight it down so it doesn't blow around.



 Finn... that Lysol is for cleaning floors and toilets. Do NOT use that for a fish tank unless you want to throw away the tank.

Yay, I'm on Team Vampire. Go Clorox!!!










Edward "fanatics" ..... Feel free to save that picture


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## Seki (Jul 10, 2012)

Hold on, I'm really bad at math. I don't think I did a 20% solution, though... I might have typed that wrong. I put 1/4 cup of bleach in with 4.75 cups of water. That's not really that high of a concentration, is it? Isn't that a 5% solution? I read that anywhere from 5-10% is safe to use... did I do this wrong? O_O


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## MSG (May 8, 2012)

I would be more concerned about if you cleaned it properly.
 
I would have scrubbed the tank before with a acrylic cleaning pad, then rinse out the tank....



 Then I put my 2.5%-5% bleach solution in a bottle and spray the area DOWN with a fine mist instead of soaking it. I leave the room and come back an hour later and repeat with the spraying. I do this a few times.
 
I always plan ahead so I'm not in a rush to reuse the tank. 




 If you used a higher solution, then you have to rinse the tank more, let it air dry for a little longer. The next day I would spray a little tap water on the inside and swirl it around and then dump it out.
I don't fill the tanks all the way, because that's a waste of water & unnecessary.
Bring it outside and let it sit out in the sun for a few days.
Check on it every day to see if you can still detect the scent of bleach. You can spray it down with water while it's outside too.

I hope you used regular bleach and not the scented kind.


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## MSG (May 8, 2012)

BTW, what did you use to measure the amount of water to bleach? 

Don't tell me it was a pyrex glass measuring cup?


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## Seki (Jul 10, 2012)

I only used a 5% solution and it was rinsed thoroughly many times. I measured the bleach and water with a metal measuring cup, actually. I put some extra dechlorinator in the water just to be sure, although it was rinsed and dried and rinsed again so many times I am sure I got everything out. I have checked and re-checked my water and it has tested just fine for a new fish. The water is currently sitting and I will be putting a new fish into it tonight.


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