Do you think my Bio-Wheel is Reusable?

[WaterBaby]

I have just torn down my 6 gallon eclipse system because of some bacteria or virus infecting my fish. I tried medicating, but must have been some stubborn germs cause it didn't work.

I took the remaining fish and moved them into another tank. I scrubbed the infected tank down, and saved the bio-wheel in a pail of the aquarium water (the water it was originally in).

Question is do I re-use it when I set up the tank again, or do you think that it has some of the nasties in it that caused the problem in the first place?

I do not plan on returning the original fish to that tank, but get new ones.

[Manix]

You could try boiling the biowheel. More like dipping the wheel in boiling water for a few seconds at a time, you wouldn't want to warp any of the plastic parts... this would kill anything left on the wheel.
Biowheels don't cost THAT much though (bout 9$). To ease your mind, replacing might be the better way to go.

[Pink Pat]

Bleach will do the same thing (killing anything existing) with less potential harm. A solution of 19:1 and an overnight soaking should do it. After that, rinse, rinse again and then rinse one final time. A dechlorinator can be used for insurance.

HTH

PP

[WaterBaby]

the bio-wheel. I do have another one. I don't trust the used one.

I did buy bio-spira and used it in the tank I transferred the remaining fish into, sooooooo.... When I decide to stock the cleaned out tank, I'll also add it to that one and see what happens. So far, so good in the transfer tank (although the water is a bit cloudy, 2nd day). I'm chalking it up to a algae bloom cause there's no ammonia or nitrites yet (I tested and tested, and tested....:rolleyes: ........)