I've lost all my fish; what do I do with the tank?

[Stargaze]

Hey guys, Stargaze here again.

Not sure if anyone remembers me posting about some sick tiger barbs awhile back but erm; I found out the problem.
At least one, if not all of the barbs had ich. Which I discovered and had been treating about two and a half weeks ago. I had been treating my fish with Ick-Guard tablets for the large portion of treatment. The lesser part was with Rid-Ich. (Temperature was around 80)
After two weeks, All of my fish had degraded fins and were dropping off one by one. Today I finally decided to euthanize my remaining fish to prevent any further suffering.
I'm really sad and upset to have lost them. But I couldn't bare seeing them suffer anymore.

Now I have my tank with no fish, no ornaments, just the gravel and a half a bottle of left over Rid-Ich poured into it. I don't know what I should do now.... Do I keep treating the tank for ich? Or do I empty it out, hot rinse everything, and start all over again with an uncycled tank and new filter media?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

I am so sorry to hear about your fish.
IMO you've got two options. Tear down the tank, sanitize everything and start again. OR Buy some pure ammonia and add it to the tank to keep the BB alive. Crank the temp right up to 88 or 90 and keep feeding the tank for 3-4 weeks.

 

[Impulse09]

Do u think the medication killed them? I saw just last nightclub that a couple of my fish had the white dots on them. I am doing the heat and salt method. I don't feel confident putting chemicals in the water.

 

[jlk]

What are the ingredients in the Ridich? I would be a bit hesitant to combine pure ammonia with another strong chemical already in the tank. I honestly would wash everything well with hot water & disinfect with bleach (and wash again with hot water) and start over but thats just my opinion.

 

[Reygan2]

If it really was ich, it will eventually die off without a host.

 

[Mumma.of.two]

What are the ingredients in the Ridich? I would be a bit hesitant to combine pure ammonia with another strong chemical already in the tank. I honestly would wash everything well with hot water & disinfect with bleach (and wash again with hot water) and start over but thats just my opinion.

That's a good point. By the time you kill off all the ich you could have half completed a fishless cycle. That way you know there are no meds left in the tank.

 

[Stargaze]

I am so sorry to hear about your fish.
IMO you've got two options. Tear down the tank, sanitize everything and start again. OR Buy some pure ammonia and add it to the tank to keep the BB alive. Crank the temp right up to 88 or 90 and keep feeding the tank for 3-4 weeks.

Thank you for the advice. I was wondering if it was possible to just heavily clean and medicate my tank for another few days, and let it run for say..... three or so weeks before attempting to add any new fish. I do not want ich running amok again. I have tropical fish flakes. Could I just put those in the water instead of pure ammonia?

Do u think the medication killed them? I saw just last nightclub that a couple of my fish had the white dots on them. I am doing the heat and salt method. I don't feel confident putting chemicals in the water.

I think the medications as well as not catching the parasite in time were a big factor. The medications were very strong, which I think contributed to respiratory problems, as well as the burnt/degrading fins. But I don't think the medication directly killed them. It was probably just the straw that broke the horse's back so to speak. I'm still new to fish, but that makes the most sense to me.

What are the ingredients in the Ridich? I would be a bit hesitant to combine pure ammonia with another strong chemical already in the tank. I honestly would wash everything well with hot water & disinfect with bleach (and wash again with hot water) and start over but thats just my opinion.

I'm quoting this directly from the Rid-Ich Website:
"Contains formaldehyde (11.52% formalin) U.S. P. grade 4.26% and premium quality aquaculture-grade zinc-free chloride salt of malachite green 0.038%. The ingredients meet United States Pharmacopoeia science-based quality standards for health care. The U.S. P. is the official public standards-setting authority for all prescriptions and over-the-counter medicines and other healthcare products.

Use 10 drops per gallon, or 1 teaspoon (approximately 5 ml) per 10 gallons of water, or 4 ounces for 240 gallons of water. This standard dosage produces a concentration of 15 ppm (= 15 mgL) formalin and 0.05 ppm of malachite green. "

I honestly don't know what all it means. I just followed the dosing instructions :\

If it really was ich, it will eventually die off without a host.

Do you know about how long that will take if I have my heater at full power at 86+ (my thermometer only goes up to 86, but I think my heater goes to 90 degrees.)

That's a good point. By the time you kill off all the ich you could have half completed a fishless cycle. That way you know there are no meds left in the tank.

If I kept everything in my tank as-is (as I reeeally don't want to have to cycle my tank again :<) Will it still take 3-4 weeks for the medications to vanish?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

The meds won't vanish you will have to do a PWC (or more) and you could add carbon to your filter if your going to do down the route of not cycling again. You will also have to add pure ammonia fish food flakes won't cut it. Not enough ammonia.

 

[Stargaze]

Thank you for the input :3

After giving it some thought; I decided to just start fresh. I'm going to bleach my airstone as well as the ornaments and plants I know can be bleached. Everything else will get another good scrubbing. I'm completely replacing my gravel, and for the black stones I'm going to boil them. I bought some new biowheels, so I'm going to be scrubbing out my filter and cleaning out my tank like a mad woman. :<


I don't even know what to stock my tank with. Should I ask advice on the help thread for suggestions?

 

[Mumma.of.two]

Thank you for the input :3

After giving it some thought; I decided to just start fresh. I'm going to bleach my airstone as well as the ornaments and plants I know can be bleached. Everything else will get another good scrubbing. I'm completely replacing my gravel, and for the black stones I'm going to boil them. I bought some new biowheels, so I'm going to be scrubbing out my filter and cleaning out my tank like a mad woman. :<

I don't even know what to stock my tank with. Should I ask advice on the help thread for suggestions?

You could start a stocking thread. That way you can research some fish you like then ask what other people's opinions/experiences are with them.

 

[Stargaze]

Thank you for all the help!