Can adding hardscape (artificial rocks, decor etc.) to an established aquarium do any harm?

[md363]

Hi, so I've gotten some advice from a couple of forum members on adding hardscape and plants to my aquarium.  First, I have a 10 gallon planted (only Java Ferns) aquarium with three Dwarf Endlers, been running and established for about 6 months.  I currently only have the Java Ferns, an Aquarium Co-Op sponge filter and a sizeable artificial rock cave in the tank along with the fish of course.  (and the gravel substrate, tank heater and thermometer)

My concern is that if I add say another bit of decor or two will they bring disease or in any way contaminate the aquarium?  If I add any decor I will clean it thoroughly with a white vinegar solution and let it completely dry before I add it to the tank.

Any advice or guidance is very much appreciated, thanks in advance!  🙂

[Atitagain]

On 9/27/2021 at 11:18 PM, md363 said:

Hi, so I've gotten some advice from a couple of forum members on adding hardscape and plants to my aquarium.  First, I have a 10 gallon planted (only Java Ferns) aquarium with three Dwarf Endlers, been running and established for about 6 months.  I currently only have the Java Ferns, an Aquarium Co-Op sponge filter and a sizeable artificial rock cave in the tank along with the fish of course.  (and the gravel substrate, tank heater and thermometer)

My concern is that if I add say another bit of decor or two will they bring disease or in any way contaminate the aquarium?  If I add any decor I will clean it thoroughly with a white vinegar solution and let it completely dry before I add it to the tank.

Any advice or guidance is very much appreciated, thanks in advance!  🙂

Is this new decor? Is it used and there was a problem in the tank it came from? If it’s new your plan is fine. I would normally just rinse with hot water but the vinegar is good precaution. If it’s from another tank with no problems, same answer except if it was someone else’s tank then I’m gonna use something more that just water again vinegar is good. But if it’s from a problem tank I would not use at all I always will error on side of caution if there’s a possibility I could bring something foreign into my tanks. 
with that all being said a few days in the sun will kill almost anything (it’s the almost I’m worried about) 

[md363]

@Atitagain Thanks for the advice 🙂 Well the decor I want to add is new but is in a plastic bag along with old decor from a tank that had an ICH outbreak.  I did however thouroughly rinse with hot water then clean with a white vinegar solution all of the pieces of decor from the problem tank that are in the plastic bag with the new piece of decor.  Actually, my large artificial rock cave came from two separate tanks that had ICH outbreaks.  I cleaned it each time with a white vinegar solution and am using it in my current aquarium.  The ICH in the first two tanks, one tank is the current one I am using, came from other fish and from a new plant.  At least I think that's where it came from.  I actually had to try three times before having a successful first aquarium, my current one.  The first two attempts I had Neon Tetras that I added additional fish to the tanks after one got stuck in the filter intake and died, the new fish brought ICH, then when I started over I brought a new plant into the tank that I'm pretty sure brought ICH as well.  These fish and plants were from a big box store by the way.

I am using everything including the substrate from my ICH outbreak tanks actually because I read online from another couple of forums that as long as there are no hosts for the ICH to attach to it will die off within two weeks for sure and I should just thoroughly clean all of my tank accessories etc. and can then re-use them.  I cleaned everything other than the gravel substrate (which I rinsed repeatedly with hot water) including my thermometer, water heater and decor, with a white vinegar solution, and am using it all in the current aquarium.

[Atitagain]

Yea ich is one of those things easy to treat if you catch it early enough. I’ve had real good luck using ich-x . There are plenty of threads on here involving treatment of ich. Hope it works out 

[Odd Duck]

On 9/28/2021 at 2:06 PM, md363 said:

@Atitagain Thanks for the advice 🙂 Well the decor I want to add is new but is in a plastic bag along with old decor from a tank that had an ICH outbreak.  I did however thouroughly rinse with hot water then clean with a white vinegar solution all of the pieces of decor from the problem tank that are in the plastic bag with the new piece of decor.  Actually, my large artificial rock cave came from two separate tanks that had ICH outbreaks.  I cleaned it each time with a white vinegar solution and am using it in my current aquarium.  The ICH in the first two tanks, one tank is the current one I am using, came from other fish and from a new plant.  At least I think that's where it came from.  I actually had to try three times before having a successful first aquarium, my current one.  The first two attempts I had Neon Tetras that I added additional fish to the tanks after one got stuck in the filter intake and died, the new fish brought ICH, then when I started over I brought a new plant into the tank that I'm pretty sure brought ICH as well.  These fish and plants were from a big box store by the way.

I am using everything including the substrate from my ICH outbreak tanks actually because I read online from another couple of forums that as long as there are no hosts for the ICH to attach to it will die off within two weeks for sure and I should just thoroughly clean all of my tank accessories etc. and can then re-use them.  I cleaned everything other than the gravel substrate (which I rinsed repeatedly with hot water) including my thermometer, water heater and decor, with a white vinegar solution, and am using it all in the current aquarium.

It sounds like you might benefit greatly from a quarantine tank (QT).I have severe MTS, so I always have a tank set up to use as a QT.  Even with that, I recently had a very short Ich outbreak since I did a slightly shorter QT than I should have (only 3.5 weeks instead of a full 30 days.  🤦🏻‍♀️🤷🏻‍♀️ I was lucky and everyone responded well to low dose salt and a bit of heat along with using a UV filter temporarily.

It sounds like you cleaned well, but repeated Ich breakouts means you might want to take a closer look at water parameters and any other possible stressors, plus add a QT since it’s usually sooooo much easier to treat a QT tank (which should be bare bottom, have some species appropriate hides or plants (I use plastic sometimes and real plants sometimes), and well aged biofiltration with the option to be able to add activated carbon to remove meds after a treatment if necessary.

[Atitagain]

On 9/28/2021 at 5:10 PM, Odd Duck said:

well aged biofiltration with the option to be able to add activated carbon to remove meds after a treatment if necessary.

Never thought of this, I always use sponge filters in QT then have to do 100% water change and extra cleaning. But the activated carbon in a HOB would do most of the work. Glad I have extra HOBs will be changing this out. Thank you 

[md363]

@Atitagain@Odd Duck thanks for the advice and encouragement!  🙂