Tank Tear Down

[fishtankfish]

I think my tank is infected, i've had three fish die in the past two days. How should i go about completely cleaning the tank. What chemicals should i use? I've heard of using vinegar, is that what i want? I need to completely clean everything. Btw, its just a ten gallon, with 5 mollies in it.

 

[BrianNY]

I only use Kosher salt to clean my tanks. Some people use a mild bleach solution. However, before you go that route, what do think your fish died from? It may be something easily taken care of without breaking the tank down.

How do the other mollies look? What are your readings for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates, etc.?

 

[fishtankfish]

Well, there are actually only 4 mollies left. The water parameters are within healthy standards, but i havent tested ammonia b/c i ran out of strips (but i just did a water change about 3 days ago). One of the mollies is hovering near the bottom being really still, which is what the other ones did before they died. The other three look fine and the largest one is being very very hyper. One thing is that the latest one to die started out bright orange and before he died he was almost white. I dont know if that means anything.

 

[fishtankfish]

how should i use bleach?

 

[DragonChild]

I was told to use a 10:1 water:bleach ratio, rinsing VERY well, and set the aquarium outside in sunlight, as the sunlight supposedly helps to neutralize the bleach. I would, however, boil all the parts in salty water, and rinse very well (off topic, what does it mean when you boil a filter sponge, and the water turns pink??), and scrub the inside of the tank with very salty water, again, rinsing well.

Good luck.

 

[BrianNY]

I really don't know what that means except the fish are stressed. I'm going to guess that this is a fairly new tank because you say you ran out of ammonia strips 3 days ago.

If it were my fish here's what I'd do. Daily 25% water changes with the addition of aquarium salt (at least 2 teaspoons per gallon). Mollies are brackish water fish and the addition of some salt is good for them. I can't promise but I think you'll see your fish improve.

By a test kit (not strips), for ammonia, nitrites, and nitrates. I think this is your problem..

HTH