FishRKool28 Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 If you read my other post about can stress from petco to car to tank kill fish… well all my neon tetras died 😢. How do I sanitize my tank and start over? 10 gallon tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 (edited) That is very disheartening.  I am sorry this is your first experience… As a general rule, assuming tank parameters stayed stable throughout, the most likely culprit was some sort of bacterial issue.  Bacteria kills quickly.   Keep in mind, anything that is going to sanitize the tank will also wipe out your beneficial bacteria… You could separate out your plants in to some water and soak with some hydrogen peroxide and after bubbling stops change the water, add some fertilizer and provide light while working on the tank. drying everything else out goes a long way to killing anything infectious. substrate and rocks can be baked in oven tank and decore can be sprayed down with hydrogen peroxide….  Sponge filter soaked in peroxide etc…  you might consider a 10 gallon tank for quarantining, treating fish before placing in main tank. Edited July 9 by Pepere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mmiller2001 Posted July 9 Share Posted July 9 Potassium Permangenate Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishRKool28 Posted July 9 Author Share Posted July 9 My first mistake was being impatient and not waiting til my water parameters were good before adding fish, my second mistake was adding fish when I knew I was going out of town… home just now and I have 2 fish left swimming around together, I’m going to get the dead fish out and do water change. I feel bad for the fish 😔, I feel like they died because of my impatience On 7/9/2023 at 5:49 PM, FishRKool28 said: My first mistake was being impatient and not waiting til my water parameters were good before adding fish, my second mistake was adding fish when I knew I was going out of town… home just now and I have 2 fish left swimming around together, I’m going to get the dead fish out and do water change. I feel bad for the fish 😔, I feel like they died because of my impatience Started with 18 neon tetras Thursday and now Sunday at 5:50pm I have 2 left 😔 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AllFishNoBrakes Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 Patience is one of the hardest parts of the hobby. Don’t beat yourself up! We’ve all made mistakes, and all of us continue to do so. Simply see it as a learning opportunity to not make the same mistake in the future. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nuggets Beard Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 Just wait. Don't add anything. Sounds like it wasn't an ideal situation for them to start. As stated above, patience.  Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HelplessNewbie Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 I am sorry this happened to you. I am going through a similar situation but with green neon tetras. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pepere Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 (edited) If the loss of fish seems to be due to ammonia nitrite levels, I would not be doing a decontamination.  18 neons in a 10 gallon tank is a fair amount of fish especially if tank wasnt well cycled… However having fish in even for a short time goes a long way toward seeding with beneficial bacteria.  Fish poo is rich in all needed beneficial bacteria and will seed the tank far more reliably than bacteria in a bottle products. I would not be in a hurry to kill all that beneficial bacteria if there is evidence the fish were dying from ammonia or nitrite levels rather than a bacterial infection. Edited July 10 by Pepere Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishRKool28 Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 I did a 40% water change to dilute the ammonia, so far 2 neons left but I fear they’ll start nipping at each other because of stress of just being 2 fish Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AndEEss Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 I have to ask: why do you think you need to sanitize your tank? If you did do this, what would you do with your remaining fish? 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FishRKool28 Posted July 10 Author Share Posted July 10 That’s why I posed the question because I wasn’t sure if I need to sanitize it or just change the water out which I what I ended up doing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colu Posted July 10 Share Posted July 10 What I would do is test daily if your test shows any ammonia or nitrite do a 50%water change and add a double dose of prime or Fritz complete to help detoxify any ammonia or nitrite till your ammonia and nitrite constantly stay at zero I think this was a water quality issue that killed most of your fish I would just monitor for now and keep up with water changes I wouldn't disinfect your tank Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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