cleaning dropsy from empty tank

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Looks_Fishy

AC Members
Feb 20, 2007
48
0
0
Brisbane
Hello everyone, I have a question to ask on behalf of someone else.

A friend of mine has a very small tank (about 3.5 gallons I think) and I encouraged him to put a few small fish in it, like neon tetras for something. But he put six two inch long goldfish in there.:argue: The tank wasn’t cycled either. They seemed to be quite happy right up until they all developed dropsy (pine coning scales and all) and died within only a few weeks. He bought them from a store that another friend of mine swore never to go to because all of their fish are sick.

Anyway, he wants to try again with some smaller hardier fish from a different store. Or give up and give the tank to me. We need to clean the tank. How do you clean a tank whose occupants all died of dropsy? Is the disease-causing bacteria very hard to get rid of, or should we just get rid of the tank all together? In the tank there is a small internal carbon sponge filter, some plants and gravel.

If I were to completely clean the tank with chlorinated tap water, rinse the gravel and the filter with chlorinated water, and then fill it up with de-chlorinated water and dosed it with my medication, will this work?

The medication is a broad spectrum “cure all” whose active constituents are malachite green, aminacrine HCL and mafenide HCL, if that means anything to anyone.

I really want to make sure there is nothing left of the bad bacteria before more fish go in.
And so this doesn’t happen again, does anyone know what causes the bacterium that leads to dropsy?
 

wataugachicken

The Dancing Banana
Jul 14, 2005
5,451
1
0
Charlotte, NC
dropsy is actually a symptom of disease, not a disease itself. it has a variety of causes, most of which are difficult to figure out. probably rinsing everything with tap water or with water and a bit of bleach would suffice. clean it rinse well, and let everything dry just in case.

i wouldn't blame the fish store for the goldfish deaths. even if they sold the healthiest goldfish in the world, your friend would have gotten the exacts same results - dead fish.

as for the tank - there are very few fish that can go into a tank that small. maybe a single betta, a handful of least killifish (hard to find though), or inverts like shrimp and snails. is there even a heater? if not, it's no good for anything i just mentioned except for the snails.
 

Hurley

aka Bunny13
Oct 2, 2005
1,644
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Baltimore, Maryland
www.freewebs.com
Wataugachicken's right, dropsy is a sympotm of a disease and it can be several different diseases even stress. Dropsy could have been cause by the fish going through the cycle so before anymore fish go into the tank make sure you or your friend cycle. If you are still worried, use a little bleach and make sure you rinse it really well.
 

Looks_Fishy

AC Members
Feb 20, 2007
48
0
0
Brisbane
I read that dropsy is caused by bacteria that makes their kidneys fail so they can't get rid of the water they drink or breathe. I didn't know it can ab caused by stress, but I agree that if they didn't die of this, they would have died of something else.
I know I shouldn't blame the store, but it's just really disconcerting when you walk in and there's at least one or two dead fish in each tank, and a good fish keeper with a mature tank cannot seem to get anything from them to live longer than a few days. Know what I mean?:huh: (the live fish isn't their main business, it's fishing rods, crab traps and tackle)

As for the tank itself, I'll just give it a thourough clean and dry out for a day or two, she'll be right!:thm:

So, just for my clarification, the bacteria causing dropsy would not have been introduced into the tank by bad LFS water, it could have formed of it's own accord in the little tank because of ammonia and overcrowding?
 
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