how to sterilize a tank???

[LMOUTHBASS]

woke up this morning and everything in my 3 gal q tank was dead - i want to break the tank down and sterilize it -
i'm guessing right now that it was poisoning that killed the fish -
i transfered gravel, trees (fake), water over to the little tank 3-4 weeks ago figuring it woul auto cycle this way - however i was showing reading of ammonia - i didn't check nitrite cause i figured it was there anyhow or hadn't spiked yet because i know the water had ammonia - which i didn't think woulve have showed up -
in a tank that small poor water quality would certainly kill fish easier than in a big tank right?
i didn't check the params yet had to get to work will check tonight
i only was thinking of sterilizing the tank in case of some type of disease - but if the readings are very poor shoul i just lv it as is and let the tank finish cycling or shoul i sterilize just in case it was like tb or something serious that killed them - 5 baby cories
thanks lmb

[Uncle Bete]

I'm going to assume the transfer of gravel etc. was from an established tank.

But, I would think that 3 - 4 weeks of being a fishless tank is plenty of time for most if not all the benificial bateria to slowly die off from lack of food. And I added the "most" just for the sake that its possible for a very few to still be around which could be enough to cycle a tank in maybe 5 - 6 weeks instead 6 - 8 for starting out completely new ("sterile").

But, with all that said... now you have ammonia. So what you could do is... Add a little more gravel(or just take it out, get more gravel from the (established/transfer from) tank add that. Then dump the gravel you took out of the quarantine tank back into the established tank. Did that make sense? lol
Just didn't want you to end up putting the same gravel right back into the QT(I two finger type and getting tired of typing quarantine so from here on QT = Quarantine Tank). Also, you could swap the plant with another from the established tank(yea, stuff grows on them too).
Just keep the same(all) water in the QT.
Then test ammonia/nitrite/nitrate every day for a few days.

Do you have any kind of filtration on the QT?
If so, what?

And your q? statement....

"in a tank that small poor water quality would certainly kill fish easier than in a big tank right?"

Nope, 3 ppm ammonia in 2 gals. = 3 ppm in 500 gal. its the ppm that your looking at. :) Everything just happens faster in less water.

also, how long were they in the QT?
just what was the ammonia reading?
sry, this could make a diff. and make all of what I just said irrelevent.

[LMOUTHBASS]

thanks bete ,
yes i did transf gravel from an established tank -
i'm not sure on the ammonia reading yet will post it later when i get home - however in know it's there cause the other day when i checked it i had some but i can't remember the reading numbers - i was surprised to see any - these fish were in the tank for about 2-3 weeks or less
is 3ppm the killing point for ammonia poisoning???

[PumaWard]

3ppm the killing point for ammonia poisoning???
Anything above .5 is lethal to most fish. 3ppm and very few fish will last long.

[JSchmidt]

I think I'd double check that .5 ppm value, PumaWard. Lots of folks do fishy cycling and do well to keep ammonia levels at 1 ppm, much less .5.

Not arguing that even .5 ppm will be bad for the fish, but it's certainly not lethal.

Jim

[Uncle Bete]

lets see if i'm getting this right, now?

you moved the gravel, water, plant from an established tank 3 - 4 weeks ago.
And put the cory's in that day or maybe the next? And now 3 - 4 weeks later they died over night. Right?

If this is right, did they ever show any signs of stress/ acting diff. in general?

Filtration?
Water changes?
heater? temp?

Those over nighter's with no signs are ruff.
I haven't really had to deal with much for disease's, except for the typical stuff like ick and maybe fungus 1 time.
But i have had new fish up and die over night before, and without a microscope or knowing what to do with it if I had one, I've never looked deep into finding the cause.

[LMOUTHBASS]

my assumption is it was ammonia poisoning because i did move everything from an establish tank - however i then put a group of cories in there and then i was gettnig ammonia readings - there was also a zebra in there - they were all dead today it was very bizare looking i was shocked to say the least - i even put a little bit of ammonia neutalizer in the water to covert it into a non toxic form -
but i'm just thinking what if it was some disease?
i've decided when i go home i will break the tank down -
it was serving as another q tank i have a 20g q tank for new fish that is fighting mouth fungus (on one fish )
i set up the litle tank to q some new fish i wanted ni the meantime - but i think i will break the tnak down - wash it out sterilize it and just save it for an emergency hospital tank
so what shoul i use to sterilize the tank?

[PumaWard]

I think I'd double check that .5 ppm value, PumaWard. Lots of folks do fishy cycling and do well to keep ammonia levels at 1 ppm, much less .5.

I think your right...
I know at least with my ammonia test kit, the .5-1ppm is the same color....so.

maybe I was thinking of nitrites value? :confused:


but i think i will break the tnak down - wash it out sterilize it and just save it for an emergency hospital tank

Edit: stupid question on my part :)

I doubt, if it was disease it was anything like fish TB or other serious diseases, they are usually rather obvious.

Your fish could have died from the ammonia, directly or indirectly. Even if the ammonia didn't kill them, it would have weakened their immune system and put a lot of stress on them which would open them up to all kinds of diseases.

[LMOUTHBASS]

i thinkit was ammonia - i feel terrible i thought it was cycled out - n by the time i noticed ammnia i started doing water changes n stuff
crap!!! i just remembered ughhhhhhhhh i'm so stupid ! i just changed their water and i don't think i used water conditioner!!! AHHHH stupid me - it was def poisoning then either chloine or ammonia or both - im so pissed right now

[Uncle Bete]

ohhh man :(
that could have done...

we all make mistakes...
Learning something from them is the key.

But you could put some dechlor in it and see if it comes around fairly quick if your going to do some more quarantineing in the near future.

[LMOUTHBASS]

the tank looks like a graveyard when i get home i'm gonna clean it out - i dont even feel like looking at it :(

[anonapersona]

I suggest taking out the dead fish and measuring the ammonia and nitrite levels.

Look at it this way, you are halfway there for a fishless cycle, eh?

Find out what the ammonia level is, and then determine (by trial and error) how much household ammonia you need to add to bring it back to that level when it begins to drop.

So, if it is at 3 ppm now, add say 10 drops of ammonia and see what that brings it up to.

--- maybe someone could help with a suggested amount of ammonia for your size tank to give you ~ 1ppm more. ---

Keep adding some small amount of ammonia and continue as with a fishless cycle, drop the addition in half when nitrites appear, keep that steady until ammonia and nitrites both go to 0 in 24 hours after addtion. Then a large water change and fresh fish.

PS, I did that too with my first tank, killed all 3 tetras but the cory lived, barbel-less to this day.

[LMOUTHBASS]

got home checked the parameters -
ammonia 0 to.5 at most
nitrite 0
!???
i mustve forgotten to put dechlorinator in - i remember changin water out but i can't remember whether or not i took out the chlorine i did the change late at ngiht so it's possible i forgot -
- i decided to break it down and save it as an emergency hospital tank
oh well :sad