Sterilizing a fish tank after disease

[LordJoshaeus]

Hi everyone! Once again this involves freshwater fish, but as this could also be useful for saltwater (and I was burned pretty bad on my old freshwater forum) I'll ask it here. My Pseudomugil luminatus blue eye rainbowfish have all died...I asked Dan's Fish (not the seller I got them from...I got them from the Wet spot) whether this species is particularly fragile and they told me that P. luminatus tends to be sold with a parasite that kills them from the inside and is tricky to treat. They were unsure whether it can spread to other fish (they keep all their animals in species tanks) but I want to sterilize the setup just in case. How should I go about doing that? I am mostly wondering (A) the bleach to water ratio, and (B) how much dechlorinator to subsequently use to neutralize any remaining bleach. Thanks :)

 

[mfinn]

With no real knowledge of what it would take, if it were me I would do about a cup of bleach per 5 gallons of tap water.
Scrub, rinse twice and air dry.
If you are in a hurry triple the amount of dechlorinator directions. Fill for 10-15 minutes and drain.

 

[mpatterson42]

When I sterilize my QT tank I do a 1:10 bleach ratio. I empty the tank and take it outside. I put all the equipment in the tank and let it soak for about 30 minutes, then I scrub everything and rinse it off with plain hose water and set it out to dry. After that I empty the bleach water out of the tank and rinse it multiple times with plain hose water then set it out to dry. I leave it outside for 24 hours to gas off then bring everything in and rinse everything one more time with RODI.

 

[Fish Fan]

I like bleach as a sanitizer too. Bleach can be degraded by sunlight, and inactivated once fully dry, so letting things sit to dry in the sun is a good idea. You can also hit the tank and gear with a relatively large shot of sodium thiosulfate, which is the active ingredient in de-chlorinators, like Seachem Prime, for example. Test kits for chlorine are available too to remove any doubt about residual bleach.

This BRS article is about bleach curing rocks, but might have some helpful info for your situation too:
https://www.bulkreefsupply.com/cont...VEDNmQvQoBikCUanXcyWK8B2u2zrsDOJQg1oRouAdJhLJ

Good luck!