Aging water works if you have space and time for it. But it works fastest and best in wide open containers where the water is more exposed to the air. Or leave an air stone running which will turn the water over, so to speak. Gassing off can only take place at the water's surface, just like in a tank with the gas exchange, so in a bottle it might take awhile for it all to gas off. In a bucket it would gas off much faster, and with air stone even quicker. When I first kept tanks as a teenager, everyone aged the water, dechlorinator did not exist, but also, there were no chloramines either. My Mom was never thrilled with the buckets sitting in the laundry room
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Chloramines are the result of chlorine+ammonia in tap water, and they last a lot longer than chlorine does, which is why they are used. I have read it is possible for them to gas off too, but it takes about 7x longer than for chlorine alone. Again, works better in wide surface area container.
Bleach works.. and if well rinsed, drying it is not essential. You can use a bit of extra dechlorinator if you want to or are worried. Organics in the tank water will use up a bit of chlorine very quickly, before it can harm fish, so I rarely worry about it unless I used a ton of bleach, say, like when I bleach my driftwood. If I've got wood I bleached, I make sure to use double dechlorinator, after rinsing as well as I can. No issues so far.
Soaps and detergents are not great for fish, and other chemicals in cleaning products can be much worse for them. I try to use only natural, hard bar soap, the vegetable glycerine kind, without any additives, like fragrance or oils. And I rinse, rinse, rinse until I don't get any bubbles at all. Some stains or dirt needs some soap to help get it off, as does grease. I don't use soap on any plastics, just in case,but on glass I do.
I also use ammonia sometimes, it will cut grease, and if a bit gets into the tank it just gets processed by the filter. It is only pure ammonia, not ammonia based cleaner. I also use Windex to clean old tanks before I use them. By the time I am ready to put fish in they have been rinsed so often, there is not a chance of any Windex being left. I only use it on the outside in any case, not the inside.
I would NOT use it on a filled tank though. If I need to clean the glass, I use vinegar and water and wipe with a clean cloth. Even if a bit got into the tank it would do no harm. Overall, better to be safe than sorry with anything you are not sure of, of course
As for the pleco being exposed to salt, well, that study I mentioned certainly seems to indicate they can tolerate salt for the short time needed if you use it to treat ich or other health problems. Long term exposure seems to be the big problem, as with those who think that using salt in a tank should be routine, all the time. That's when catfish get into trouble most often, I think. But if I had a costly or super sensitive species, I'd be darn careful anyway. Better safe than sorry really does pay off most of the time.
