a fifty-five gallon tank is what i have i have now cleaned out my tank with?

Question

clorox and lysol and pray that it has no trace of ick. i cleaned my pumps and everything my tank is seriously bare with no water and has been for two days .my oscars died from ick i had them from babies, back in may and when they died two weeks ago they were 8 inches long and very thick. i really miss them very much. i look for them to greeet me when i come in from work , i miss them letting me know my kids are on the computer too late at night . the would jump up and splash water to let me know whatever they wanted they would even let my two boys hand feed them . I want two more but i need to know what to do to make sure they don't get ick again.Please help.

barrett lady love

Answer 1

you should not have done that! you need to research what ich is before taking drastic measures. here is a link.

http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/disease/p/ich.htm

Answer 2

I'm gonna have to agree with 7 on this. Fill and clean the tank with bleach and water,10/90 will work. Its winter here, but if you can, let it sit in the sun for 48hrs. A glass tank cannot "soak in" residues(cleaning spirits). I could go into depth on ICK treatment, but your fish are already dead. If you added no new occupants to the tank, the deaths likely occured because of bad water quality or excessive temp change or both. I would run your filters with the bleach/water mix for an hour or so, empty, and leave in sun or dryout for a few days also. When you start the tank back up, remember your starting from "scratch" and the tank needs to cycle again(ie start with 1 young oscar, then add the 2nd in 2 weeks or so). I personally "would" not keep 2 oscars in a 55, but I guarantee I "could" keep 2 in a 55. Heres a simple fish keepers secret. You are actually "keeping water" NOT fish. HEALTHY fish are a bi-product of GOOD WATER. Do your water changes weekly(I do 50% on all 10+ tanks) and mine add up to 350+g water changed a week, and if you pay the bills, like it sounds like you do, water is cheap(its the garbage that gets me LOL).

Answer 3

You cleaned the tank with clorox and lysol? :(
Cleaning products are toxic, and they leave toxic residues that will kill your fish. I do not know if you will be able to save your tank, but you can try; rinse it thoroughly with HOT water, then give it a good rinse with some vinegar. Fill it with water and let it soak. As the water fills up you may see bubbles, or an oily film on the surface of the water once it settles. You may also smell the cleaning products - this indicates that your tank is still contaminated. If you think you rinsed your tank enough (no smell, no bubbles, no film), then you can try again, but start with a small fish to see if the tank is safe.

That said, I think you should ditch the 55 gallon tank and get a bigger tank. The reason that your oscars succommed to ich was that their tank was too small. ONE oscar needs a bare minimum of 60 gallons, and 75 gallons is ideal (once you factor in how much room is taken up by gravel, rocks, heater, etc). If you get a bigger tank, you will have a much healthier oscar.

Either way, be sure to cycle your tank before getting new fish. First of all, have you cycled your tank? In the wild, and in established tanks, there are nitrifying bacteria that break down toxic ammonia from fish waste and excess food into less toxic nitrates. In a brand new tank, these bacteria don't exist, so any fish in the tank will produce ammonia, which, not being broken down by bacteria, will kill or weaken the fish. So, it is vital to cycle your tank.
There are a few methods. Do you have access to an established tank? These bacteria live in the gravel and in the filter cartridge, so if you can get some from another tank, you can put the bacteria right into your tank (don't let the gravel or filter cartridge dry out). If you do this, in a day or two, your tank will beready for fish.
Another way is to get Bio-Spira. It is the actual live bacteria in a little pouch, and your tank will instantly be ready for fish. http://fishstoretn.com/bio_spira.html

Other methods, which include putting a source of ammonia in the tank and letting the bacteria build up on its own, or putting a fish in and letting the fish produce ammonia (which borders on animal cruelty, because the fish will suffer from the ammonia in the tank), take 2 to 6 weeks before your tank is ready. If you rush that, any fish you buy may die, so try one of the instant methods I mentioned above (bio-spira or gravel from another tank)

In the future, if you do get ich, treat with salt. Add one tablespoon of aquarium salt per 5 gallons of water, disolved first in your tank, and keep the salt at this concentration for 2 weeks (add the necessary amount to your new water when you do weekly water changes), and if you DO ever get a parasitic contamination that kills all your fish, just letting the tank sit, dry, for a week is enough to kill all the parasites. Also know that most fish illnesses are the result of stress / poor water conditions - a healthy fish rarely gets sick.

Answer 4

well you did go a little over board

but dump the tank isn't necessary

bleach dissipates with no residue
Lysol not so sure about
fill your tank up and run the pump for a few hours and that should clean your tank from any toxins from the cleaners

the tank will hold 2 Oscars easily full grown even

treating ick is simple someone mentioned salt that will help, but there are many good ick treatments on the market

sounds like they were much more than fish, they were pets also, so sorry to hear about your loss

Answer 5

Hi, I've been researching the web for the last several weeks on different subjects about fish keeping. I ran across an article that said not to use anything in your tank but a clean damp sponge that hasn't been used for anything but your tank. It went on to say if you were trying to rid your tank from ick that you were to use sea salt on the damp sponge to clean the tank. After cleaning, rinse it out good and wipe it back down with another unused damp sponge. Then put tap water back into it, let it set for a day, then drain it back out then set it back up again for your fish. Same with the gravel except you need to boil it in water, pour off and rinse it. Hope this helps.

Answer 6

were you cleaning the water out right?

you need to clean the tank even though you have a filter, and you need to clean about 25% of the water at a time. Also, make sure that you purify tap water if you use it, and that you do a full tank clean every once in a while, including cleaning nasty stuff out of the gravel bed.

Answer 7

I have to agree with Danielle Z those chemicals do not kill ich. The only true way to rid your tank is using a Sterilizer.

Just be sure your tank is rinsed well and cycled prior to adding new fish.

Luck

Answer 8

well i dont see how your ever going to put fish in that tank again how are you going to get the traces of those toxic chemicals out of there / Never clean a tank with anything but kosher salt. ich is present at all times stress allows it to attrack fish w in yor case i would reccomedn that you get a net and some stuffed animals to enjoy because you dont have a clue and from your statem,ents here you not going to get one. might not even know where or what a clue is.

Answer 9

I am sorry for the loss of your fish. I know how attached one can become.

Unfortunatelly clorox and lysol doesn't kill ich. Ich is a free swimming paraside found in all water. Treating your fish for ich if it was ich....but which one. There are three types of ich all with three different types of cures. (I'll explain later).

Now you must rinse out your tank well. There is actually an aquarium cleaner sold at petsmart which is a Dechlor chemical remover steralizer. Use it. Do not use vinager. Any residues of finegar will have adverse effects on ph in your new tank.

Set up your tank and let it cycle. In case you forgot: http://freshaquarium.about.com/cs/biolog...

After the cycle process and the water quality is back to normal, get your fish.

There is only one true way to prevent your fish from getting ich and that is a UV Steralizer. The UV Steralizer is a light source and tube where the tank water is passed by the uv light steralizing the tank water from many free swimming forms of parasites.

More on Ich.

Is it white spot disease or is it Ich? You need to know the difference between the two since they are treated differently.

Cryptocaryoniasis, White Spot Disease or Marine Ich is caused by an infestation of the ciliated protozoan Cryptocaryon irritans. Although Cryptocaryon becomes a parasitic organism at one stage in its life cycle like Oodinium and Brooklynella do, and it progesses less rapidly than these other ich diseases, in a closed aquarium system it can reach overwhelming and disasterous numbers just the same if it is not diagnosed and treated upon recognition.

Unlike Oodinium and Brooklynella that typically attack the gills first, which allows these ich diseases to advance into life-threatening levels quickly as they go unnoticed, Cryptocaryon usually appears at the onset as salt-sized white spots visible on the body and fins of a host fish, and when the organisms become parasitic, it is then that they move inwards to the gills. Because crypto is more easily recognized in its beginning stage, this makes it much easier to treat and cure before it gets out of control.

Aside from the appearance of the white spots, fish will scratch against objects in an attempt to dislodge the parasites, and rapid respiration develops as tomonts, mucus, and tissue debris clogs the gills. Fish become listless, refuse to eat, loss of color occurs in patches or blotches as the trophonts destroy the pigment cells, and secondary bacterial infections invade the lesions caused by the trophonts.

Although copper is very effective on Oodinium, and it works well to eliminate crypto organisms in their free-swimming tomite stage, it is not as effective on the Cryptocaryon trophonts that burrow deeply into the tissues of fish. A combination of freshwater and formalin treatments adminstered by means of dips, baths, and prolonged treatment over a period of time in a QT is recommended

Reinfection will occur no matter how effectively the fish have been treated if Cryptocaryon is not eradicated from the main aquarium, which can be accomplished by keeping the tank devoid of any fish for at least 4 weeks. For fish-only aquariums hyposalinity can be applied, and to speed up the life cycle of the organisms, elevate the tank temperature to 85 degrees for 10 days to 12 days. For treating reef tanks, FishVet No-Ich Marine, Ruby Reef Kick-Ich, and Chem-Marin Stop Parasites are Cryptocaryon specific remedies that are said to be "reef safe". Several days prior to returning fish to the main aquarium, clean all filtering equipment, change any filtering materials, and do a water change.

Remember to remove all filters media and turn off protein skimmers when treating for any types of Ich.

Although many over-the-counter remedies contain the general name Ich or Ick, carefully read the product information to be sure it is designed to specifically target and treat "Cryptocaryon"

Brooklynella hostilis - these protozoa reproduce asexually by means of simple binary fission through conjugation, which is why they are able to multiply so much more rapidly than Cryptocaryon (White Spot), and Oodinium (Velvet Ich), and why it can kill fish within a few days and even hours upon recognition

Most similar symptomatically to Oodinium, this too is a parasite that primarily attacks the gills first. At the onset fish may scrap up against objects, rapid respiration develops, and fish often gasp for air at the surface as the gills become clogged with mucus. Fish become lethargic, refuse to eat, and colors fade, but the most noticeable difference that sets Brooklynella apart from Oodinium is the heavy amount of slime that is produced. As the disease progresses a thick whitish mucus covers the body, usually starting at the head and spreading outward, skin lesions appear, and it is not uncommon for signs of secondary bacterial infections to arise.

Suggestions range from copper, malachite green and other remedies, with some recommended being used in conjunction with formaldehyde. However the general consensus is these types of medications are either largely ineffective or do not work at all, and that the best and most effective treatment for Brooklynella is formaldehyde alone. Typically a standard 37% formalin solution (shop & compare prices) is mixed with either fresh or saltwater in a separate treatment container, initially all fish are given a quick dip or a prolonged bath, followed by continued treatment and care in a QT. Of course the longer fish are exposed to the formalin treatment, the more effective it will be at eliminating this "disease". Whether to administer a dip or a bath to start with is something you will have to determine yourself, but there's a very simple way to do this.

Since these are Free swimming parasites which are in watersources, come attached to our fish etc. The only way to ensure NO ICH is to get a UV Sterilizer and addit to the tank. The UV Sterilizer kills the free swimming forms of various ich and other parasites.