i've always been washing out my fish tank with dish soap, i always rince it really good. the other day one of my friends came over, and asked me how i get my fish tank to clean, i told her with dish soap, and she freaked out, saying that i was going to kill my fish. i've always done this. is it bad for my fish?
2007-01-26 12:15:33 · 19 answers · asked by Jamie Lynn 3 in Pets ➔ Fish
Some people told me this too. But I always did and my fish died when he was 7 years old.
2007-01-26 12:20:43 · answer #1 · answered by Susy 5 · 7⤊ 6⤋
You have just been plain lucky. I accidentally used the wrong sponge to clean my tank once, and my fish died within 30 minutes after putting them back in. Another time, I replaced water in my pond with water from the hose. The laundry waste water was backing up into the hose pipe and soap, unbeknownst to me, got into the pond. The fish were dead within 24 hours. Don't use soap. Besides, aquariums don't need to be, and should not be, squeeky clean. It may look "ugly" to us to not have a perfectly clean tank, but the tank is a lot healthier if you allow a little bacteria to grow. There is a beneficial bacteria that grows in the gravel and that collects in the filter and you are destroying the natural balance of the water quality if you kill all of this bacteria. You should only scrape the algae off the glass with a scraper, rinse the filter in the old water you remove and only suction out the excess poop and old food from the gravel. You should disturb the gravel as little as possible and you should only remove about 20% - 30% of the water for a water change. There should always be more than half of the "old" water left in the tank. Trust me, this is a much healthier environment for the fish that way. No more heavy-duty cleaning and no more soap at all.
2007-01-26 16:15:42 · answer #2 · answered by Venice Girl 6 · 1⤊ 1⤋
Dish soap is certainly toxic to fish and should be avoided completely in cleaning anything that goes in your tank. So far you have been lucky that you have been able to remove enough residue so that it didn't kill the fish. It's like playing russian roulette with your fish ... sooner or later it will get them.
I have to agree with an earlier post. Please take the time to read up on a better way to keep your tank clean. Don't tear down the tank when it gets really dirty, instead clean the glass and filter and do a partial water change every week and it will never get so dirty that you need to tear it down. Much healthier for the fish and really easier on you too.
Best of luck with the fish!
2007-01-26 12:56:51 · answer #3 · answered by magicman116 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
What length is the tank (what number gallons) except for the cleansing soap concern which convinced would properly be deadly to fish, it is no longer good for 'any' fish to have one hundred% water differences. 10 Gallons is too small for a Goldfish.only one must have a minimum of 50/60 Gallons searching on length because it is only 10 Gallons it is why you're having to do one hundred% water differences and as I reported it is not any good for' any' fish' IMO the conventional goldfish do much better in Ponds & they're a lot happier with others in there,also they could be able to augment precise in Ponds. to make sparkling the tank is too small for a Goldfish, they're tremendous poop manufacturers,yet immediately you go with to eliminate the Goldie and positioned him a 'goodsized' field with de-chlor interior the water then thouroughly sparkling the tank out in the previous you position him lower back He genuinely desires more desirable area than only 10 Gallons regardless of the actuality that.
2016-10-16 03:57:35 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Very bad. If any of the chemicals, surficants, phosphates, etc remain on the tank surface, it can poison the fish or mess up the tank water. All it takes is not rinsing perfectly once and you can harm your fish.
Use a scrubber pad & some elbow grease.
2007-01-27 02:04:37 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have been lucky so far. You must rinse well. If I were you though I'd let the tank cycle, it will keep itself clean and the fish will be much healthier. By doing a constant cycle of letting the water get dirty and starting over, the fish go from crystal clear water, to ammonia water burning their gills, and back to clear water again. Over time they will suffer from this.
2007-01-26 13:47:28 · answer #6 · answered by bzzflygirl 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Yes, it's bad. Rinsing it may not get all the soap residue off, and any trace of soap can be lethal to fish. Scrape off algae with a scraper, or find some aquarium safe cleaners (check the pet store), but don't use soap.
2007-01-26 12:21:31 · answer #7 · answered by Pinhead 2 · 5⤊ 1⤋
THESE PEOPLE ARE CRAZY go to a few fish forums and read, you are lucky so far, soap kills fish, besides the bacteria in the tank needs to be there, you are only supposed to do "PARTIAL"water changes!, you need to do some research
2007-01-26 12:29:57 · answer #8 · answered by rhino_man420 6 · 4⤊ 2⤋
i think people get too weird about soap. don't pour any soap on your fish. if you use bleach or ammonia in a tank let it sit a day until it oxygenates out. common sense is usually the best sense.
2007-01-26 14:26:39 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 1⤊ 4⤋
We've always use salt to clean the tanks then rinse well
2007-01-26 12:53:36 · answer #10 · answered by ann m 4 · 2⤊ 2⤋
YES!
Fish are very delicate. Soap has a lot of chemicals in it and in the morning your fish could be sick or dead.
2007-01-26 12:19:35 · answer #11 · answered by Taylor 2 · 3⤊ 3⤋