# Clean Tank after betta died or not?



## ashlita23

Hello,
I am new to this site and caring for Bettas however, I had everything down pretty quickly and my male betta Dragon was thriving in his new environment...fast forward 3 months I realized I had not changed his filter and brown algae started appearing in his tank...Petsmart told me to not overfeed or place in direct sunlight (I didnt and he was not) they also said to change the carbon filter. That day I changed 20% of his water like I always did and put the new filter in. 3 days later Dragon was dead...on Valentines Day  I believe the filter is where I went wrong and I will not replace in the future however, I would like to give Dragons great home to another deserving Betta...question is:
Do I clean everything with salt and vinegar, change majority of the water, clean gravel which still has some brown algae on it or if my water tests ok can I introduce a new fish into the environment? Please help, I dont want to make another mistake and harm a new fish. 

Thank you!!


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## BettaStarter24

I would fully clean everything. I think a 50/50 vinegar water mix soak for 2 hours should do the trick but somebody correct me if I'm wrong. You always want to disinfect equipment after a fish has died, to prevent anything spreading to future fish. 

So sorry for your loss.


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## Zhylis

The key with disinfecting something is contact time AKA how long does something need to be soaked before the bacteria die. Bleach has a short contact time (seconds to minutes) against most bacteria. The down side is you have be sure all the bleach is cleaned off before putting fish back in. 5% acetic acid requires a longer contact time and isn't effective against some common bacteria found in raw meat. Less is known about aquarium use, but straight vinegar is popular with the saltwater crowd and people with acrylic tanks.

I personally don't know if vinegar is effective against all aquarium bacteria, but it is specifically effective against myco and requires soaking for a minimum of 30min.


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## givemethatfish

Just wanted to add - you don't really ever want to change the filter cartridge out at once. You should rinse it in dechlorinated water every once in a while and keep it until it falls apart. Or, depending on what kind of filter it is, just replace it with sponge or filter floss.

The key to changing out filter media is to do it gradually. Put the new media/cartridge in with the old one for a few weeks before you remove the old one. And keep an eye on water parameters for a few days after you do so.


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## MattsBettas

We're there symptoms? Did his body have any changes- ex. lesions, fluff, greying, spots, etc visible at or just after death? 

A lot of the time you don't need to disinfect a tank after a fish dies... If you are confident your fish had a disease, definitely do sterilize. However, when fish just die without any real symptoms, it is not necessary to sterilize the tank more times than it is. The attitude may be different among betta keepers, but no one with for example a 55g community tank is going to sterilize the whole thing because one fish dies inexplicably... 

How large is the tank? How frequent were water changes performed? From your description if I had to guess his death would be issues with the water quality, but more would help.


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