My grandfather died about a year ago, he was a fish expert! The thing is he left if I wanted I believe a 30 gallon tank, with stand, gravel, filter, everything! The only thing is everything is covered in mouse droppings! The stand, all the boxes! Everything has mouse droppings, but the tank. Could I clean everything really well, and still use the tank and all the stuff? Or would I be better off buying a new tank, new stuff? Did the mouse droppings ruin it? I believe that the tank has been sitting in the basement for at least 10 years, and I think he had it for another 20 years, so the stuff is probably old too. Its a nice tank, oak wood stand and lid. Also, what fish could I put in it. I want to do a tropical community tank, this would be the largedt tank I've ever had. I help all my nieghbors with their tanks, but I am no fish expert. If possible, I want to be able to keep a female betta in there to.
PLease Help!!!!!!
2007-01-08 09:20:04 · 11 answers · asked by ? 4 in Pets ➔ Fish
how much grief can you live with?? seriously, not to be mean, even if you clean the tank and lines to spotless, theres still a strong probablity that any new fish that you put in there will die from the toxics in there. grand dad was a nice guy, but the tank was neglected, toss it an start anew. with all new gear, your pets will be glad you did, good luck
2007-01-08 09:35:53 · answer #1 · answered by robert r 6 · 0⤊ 3⤋
You can certainly use the tank. The best thing to use to clean it is a wash day product called Oxyclean,I get mine from Walmart, but you can find it in almost any Super market. If you are still spooked about the mouse stuff you could sterilize the tank with bleach,but that requires another careful cleaning to get rid of the bleach. The advice about testing the tank to check for leaks is good,find a nice level spot somewhere a leak won't do any damage and fill the tank and let it set for several days,then if it's OK go ahead and do the cleaning. Oh yeah, don't bleach any of the filter materials,just pitch it,it's OK to bleach the filter mechanics,just not the foam stuff. Hope this is of some help,good luck. PeeTee
2007-01-08 10:37:20 · answer #2 · answered by PeeTee 7 · 0⤊ 1⤋
Anything glass, wood or plastic can be cleaned Make sure you don't use anything harsh on the things that will go into the tank because the chemicals could remain after rinsing. Really hot water would do the trick.
Any filters, food, or papers are probably contaminated.
Be careful to look up the levels of aggression in the fish you choose, a female Betta makes an unfortunate appetizer.
2007-01-08 09:32:51 · answer #3 · answered by Anonymous · 2⤊ 0⤋
You can still use everything just make sure you get all of the droppings off. You should also fill it up with water before getting fish or cycling it to make sure it doesn't have any leaks. As long as you get all the soap and droppings it will be fine. Also, female Bettas are great for community tanks. You can have several females together along with a wide variety of other fish like Platties, Mollies, Guppies, Gouramis, and Plecos.
2007-01-08 09:27:56 · answer #4 · answered by Stephie 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Yes, you can clean it well (don't use detergent) and rinse it very, very well, it will be fine. In fact, if you leave the stand filthy even that will be fine (though why you would want to, I don't know). If you use bleach, then you really need to rinse it well and then when you fill it with water test it for chlorine and do not put fish in until it shows it is perfect. I would get new gravel.
2007-01-08 09:30:16 · answer #5 · answered by sgeorges13 3 · 1⤊ 0⤋
You can simply wash it all down. The mouse droppings won't hurt the tank or fish at all.
2007-01-08 12:12:22 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
if you clean it super well it should be fine because if you have a good filter it will keep the water clean and also because mouse dropping cant be too different from fish droppings
2007-01-08 09:24:52 · answer #7 · answered by matt789 2 · 2⤊ 0⤋
you could probably do some nemo fish ,bettas or something but you cant put two bettas together or they kill each other so i would probably say no with the bettas and it i were you id ask a pet store about using all those tanks and things
2007-01-08 09:25:33 · answer #8 · answered by Kayla P 2 · 0⤊ 4⤋
I am sure that if you clean it really well it will still be usable for your fish.
2007-01-08 09:23:00 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 0⤋
just dump it out and either spray or wash it out that should do the trick
2007-01-08 09:23:09 · answer #10 · answered by blabster91 2 · 1⤊ 0⤋