Moving fish from a contaminated tank

[fatfei]

Hi all,

I have a tank which since I set it up a few months back has caused most of my fish to die then one pleco hanging on but I don't think he's in a particularly healthy state. It's a planted tank with dirt at the bottom capped off with sand. The water parameters are fine nitrate nitrite ammonia etc on every test I've run for the last 3 months. However the tank has been played with algae growth. A red algae of sorts. I used chemiclean and an algae medicine but nothing has worked. Have now decided to give up put more remaining fish into a quarantine tank and eventually move them into another Aquarium with my other fish. The only thing I'm concerned about is it somehow contaminating my other fish tank, is there a way to limit the risk of contamination?

Best regards

Fei

 

[Angellove78]

Qt is a good idea. I'd do that with treatment and as far the tank in the pic. I'd pull your plants trim up any dead leaves check the roots for rot. And start cleaning, use a scraper for the sides while the water is still in the tank vacuum the sand little by little. Put your plants in a bucket of water and let them sit for a few days or just do a bleach bath(research if you do bleach) when you get the sides of the tank clean let everything settle to the bottom and vacuum. Then start lots of water changes. And check your filter. There's either too much light or not enough water movement in the tank if there's that much algae. This is just what I wound do. Ive bought plants that had algae on them and I've put them in a bowl or bucket weighted them down with a butter knife and let them sit for a few days. They come pretty clean.

 

[fatfei]

Thanks Angellove good advice. I had wondered how to decontaminate plants. I'll Google bleach clean. When moving the fish out to a clean tank I'm a bit concerned of transporting an water contamination (I'm sure there must be something toxic with the water) with them. But I guess it's better than hooking them out with a net and putting them straight in another tank even if temperature etc are the same. Has anyone else wondered about this?