# Should I start all over?



## iluvfsh (Nov 5, 2010)

Well, unfortunately, none of my fish made it. I posted a thread last week that I lost most of my fish is a week, yesterday, I lost my pleco and last zebra loach.

I treated for ich, but now that I have no fish in there, should I just clear out the whole tank, including filter media, and start from scratch? I'm not even sure, that that is what they were inflicted by. I've had ich in my tank before, but have never lost all of my fish.

Thanks.


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## Morainy (Apr 21, 2010)

If your tank has no fish in it at the moment and you're not even certain that ich was the problem, then I think it's a good idea to start over. Sterilize everything. I'd boil the substrate if it's gravel, toss it if it can't be boiled. Replant, recycle.

It's not a fun idea, but it's better than restocking and then watching the fish die one by one, or even worrying about that. What if you had some persistent protozoan infection in there, or a virus, or TB, aside from the ich? It seemed pretty virulent.

My suggestion is based on the idea that you don't know for sure if it was ich that killed your fish.

If your tank is absolutely gorgeous -- well planted, etc -- and you just can't take it down, and it was ich for sure that got your fish, then I'd turn the heat up, treat for ich, and outwait the ich. Ich can only last so long without a host, I think. Then, I'd vacuum, add fresh water, and very slowly restock, probably starting with only 1 or 2 fish for at least 2 weeks.

Whichever route you go, I highly recommend keeping an eye on the water conditions. When the ammonia spikes, etc, fish get sick. 

One of the nice things about redoing everything is that you get to redesign and rediscover your tank again! Good luck


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## Adz1 (Apr 21, 2010)

I would start over if it was me but really depends on what the cause of your problem really was...


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

I agree with Morainy about the tank. If it was me and the tank wasn't that time consuming to redo, I'll clean everything just to make sure. But if it took you months to get to a certain state, then probaby treat with something strong, then wait and then clean and get some low demand fish to try how it's going.

I am so sorry for your loss  It is a nightmare to get through that.

Good luck!


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## iluvfsh (Nov 5, 2010)

Well, I guess I will start from scratch. Do I need to throw out the filter media? and re-cycle the tank? Also, how do I boil the gravel, put it into a bowl, and put boiling water over it?

Thanks for everyones help.


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## InfraredDream (Jun 24, 2010)

Yeah, the filter media would have whatever you try to get rid of.
For the gravel, I would put it in a big pot and boil it on the oven top for several minutes.
I don't know if you can do something about the plants, I guess to be safe you have to throw them away  Hope they are not too many and too expensive.


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## 1843 (Oct 23, 2010)

Could you make a link to the original thread of the problem? If it's just ich, a few weeks with no fish in the tank would break the life cycle and you'd be good to go. Before I started throwing things away and boiling stuff I'd think about what the water parameters were, if there was a chance of contamination (think air fresheners, febreeze, draino being used in the house, etc) how old the set up was to start with, what the fish symptoms were and a bunch of other sleuthy stuff.


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## iluvfsh (Nov 5, 2010)

I've decided to change half of my filter media, and do a really good water change, like 90 % and maybe put in about 3 fish, and see how it goes, but in the meantime -

I just took all but maybe 4 inches of water out of the tank, and the bottom is crawling in snails. its so gross, didn't know where they all of a sudden came from, but it's freaking me out. Anyone know how I can get rid of them. I tried doing a gravel vac, but they are not being sucked up?


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

Toss a piece of lettuce in there and leave it overnight with the light off... In the morning pull the piece out and throw it away, it should be covered with snails. Do that a couple of times.

Otherwise you'll need to poison your tank with snail killer, but that can harm shrimp or other snails if you are anticipating of having any.


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## 2wheelsx2 (Apr 21, 2010)

Since you're starting over, I would just boil or discard all the substrate and then treat the tank with a bleach solution to kill off everything including snail eggs and then rinse and air dry get rid of the chlorine. Then you can be sure of starting fresh again.


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## effox (Apr 21, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Since you're starting over, I would just boil or discard all the substrate and then treat the tank with a bleach solution to kill off everything including snail eggs and then rinse and air dry get rid of the chlorine. Then you can be sure of starting fresh again.


That'd be wiser.


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## Mferko (Jun 8, 2010)

if you do that, sterilize everything, even your filter. change all the media not just half etc etc. make it like new.


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## Smiladon (Apr 23, 2010)

2wheelsx2 said:


> Since you're starting over, I would just boil or discard all the substrate and then treat the tank with a bleach solution to kill off everything including snail eggs and then rinse and air dry get rid of the chlorine. Then you can be sure of starting fresh again.





Mferko said:


> if you do that, sterilize everything, even your filter. change all the media not just half etc etc. make it like new.


+1 on both.

Its best to do a thorough job. You can easily reseed your bacteria colony from your other tanks and if you dont have any other tanks, post it up here and some of us will definitely have something to help reseed your tank.

Good luck


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## iluvfsh (Nov 5, 2010)

Smiladon - I just took a look at your 75 gallon planted tank video. Beautiful. Your rams are gorgeous! And you Angels are beautiful.  I'd love to have rams, but didn't know I needed a tank larger than 30 gallons, and have no room to upgrade.


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