Hi

I seem to remember that there are some fairly knowledgeable fish people on here.

We have a tropical tank at work and since the introduction of white spot a few months ago we have been losing fish fairly steadily from a variety of causes.

The last of the fish were removed today, (to be euthanised by a vet), and we are wondering on the best way to clean the tank. 

Obviously we are a bit worried that there may be remnants of disease or bacteria in the tank and we would like to ensure that this is all cleared before introducing new residents.

Any help or advise would be greatly appreciated.

h

For whitespot - I used to turn up the thermostat a few degrees - this worked better than anything

Hi

It started off with whitespot which we cleared up.  Then it looked like swim bladder, which we treated for, next came the bulging eyes and loss of tail fins and a total lack of appetite so really we do not know exactly what finished them off.  I think that there immune system became so compromised that anything and everything affected them.

What we want now is to ensure that we clean the tank well enought that any new fish will not be compromised.

Mum has a Koi pond a goldfish pond and a tropical fish tank, to be honest when she first set them up all had problems much like yours you can get a water testing kit that tests the chemical levels within the tank or even pond, dunno if you have done that yet if not might be worth a go.

It sounds like your water, however mum did buy 2 very expensive Koi last year from a reputable source but both died very quickly with nearly the whole stock in the pond following, so it could also be a from a fish.

Im not sure how tropical tanks work but if the koi pond get very warm and very cold in a short period it can cause a bacterial bloat infection called dropsy, so could be the temp. 

Don't put new fish in yet let the system run for at least a week to burn off any chemicals that are in the tap water.

Thanks Triona

The water was tested from day one and was always spot on.  I think that it was a bad batch of fish.  We are in the process of cleaning the tank as we speak and will cycle it carefully before adding new stock.

It was my collegue's first experience of fish keeping and it is a shame that it has ended up in disaster.  She really did take good care of them.

h

> We are in the process of cleaning the tank as we speak and will cycle it carefully before adding new stock.
>

Have a word with the place you got the fish from. A good shop dealing with fish should have plenty of helpfull advice. I'm sure I have seen a sort of fish 'disinfectant', but have never used one myself.

We used to have gold fish in a tank and have seen our fair share of white-spot, fin rot etc. :( :(

> It was my collegue's first experience of fish keeping and it is a shame that it has ended up in disaster.  She really did take good care of them.

Ahh, bless her :( It's not her fault, sadly these things happen.

We have much less health problems now we have a pond, but the flippin thing wont go clear - it's been green all year

Are you adding the chlorine remover?  After 24 hours you can add new fish but very slowly - the best to get a tank re-started is the Zebra Tetras -  2 to 4 depending on tank and leave for a week or more before adding more slowly - they age a tank nicely

Everything you ever wanted to know about setting up and cycling a tank, and looking after fish is here

http://forum.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/forumdisplay.php?f=221

I bet your question has been answered on there already :-D :-D

One thing comes to mind once ammonia, nitrite and nitrate are in order.   What type of water did the fish species require?  pH, GH, KH etc?   This can have a drastic effect on how well fish tolerate water quality ;)

eg.  I have VERY soft water coming out of my tap, it was perfect for Discus, but Goldfish were always sickly, until I learned that I needed to alter the water chemistry.  Once I did that the Goldfish thrived ;)

Hope your colleague has more luck next time with her fish.