# so all my fish died from ich



## cranium (Oct 7, 2009)

what do i do next 

i drained my tank and i froze all the bodies.

whats the best way to clean everything that was in the tank in order to re use it.

and i am going to fix the problem and get a better water heater.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

why freeze the bodies?

Since there is nothing in the tank anymore, you can do 2 things:

1) crank the temp to 90F, pour in salt (2 teaspoon per gallon), and if you want, 1 teaspoon per 10 gallon of Rid-Ich. But the high temp and salt would do the job. Add the salt and Rid-ic (if you chose) on days 1, 2 and 3. Leave alone for another 7 days and EVERY ich parasite would be killed. 

2) fast but more drastic way: bleach everything. Make the tank water a 20:1 water to bleach solution. Run for 12-24 hours and rinse thoroughly.


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## ksimdjembe (Nov 11, 2006)

why you freeze the bodies? send them out with your compost or flush them. do you need them still?
washing everything witha mild bleach solution might work, but I would be more prone to refill with reg tap water, do a whole bunch of gravel vacs, de-chlorinate, and start over your cycling process.
Good water quality and a cycled tank are the best defenses. Often ich is brought on by not great water conditions.

please read this (specifically 1A):
http://www.gtaaquaria.com/forum/showthread.php?t=3563


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## cranium (Oct 7, 2009)

Hitch said:


> why freeze the bodies?
> 
> Since there is nothing in the tank anymore, you can do 2 things:
> 
> ...


im going the fast drastic way is there anything i should not forget to do that i might overlook?


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## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

yeah, make sure you get the tank back to being properly cycled and qt your fish when adding them. that's about it. if you haven't done everything yet, it would be easier just to turn up the temp and add salt. that way you won't have to start cycling the tank over from scratch and wait for two months to get new fish, you can just do the treatment and lots of water changes and start restocking in a month vs 6-8 weeks.


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## gucci17 (Oct 11, 2007)

lol I'm curious why you would freeze the dead fish as well. Saving them for a rainy day?

I see no problem with bleaching your tank if there's nothing living left in it. If you're not in a rush to restock that is. Just be sure to overdose on a dechlorinator until there is no ammonia smell left. 

But yes, it would be so much easier to just add salt and high temps.


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## Hitch (Apr 26, 2009)

With both the bleach and the salt technique, your bio filtration will take a huge hit. Bleach will kill everything obviously, but even with the salt, unless you add everything very slowly and raise the temp about 2F per day to get to 90F, the bacteria will go through shock. 

With the bleach, just make sure you rinse everything thoroughly. It is safe once yuo no longer smell the chlorine smell.

With both the salt and bleach technique, make sure to recycle the tank. (even though the salt will leave some viable cells in the filtration, many will be killed of).


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Yes....why are we freezing dead fish? I have to ask because it seems so odd.

In my opinion, you could do whatever you want with your tank to kill the ich, but it will come back unless you rectify what was probably some severe water quality issues with the initial setup.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

lots of people save the fish for whatever reason, its not odd. Returns, gardens.. etc etc.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

Fair enough, I didn't even think of that.


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

They also have a more satisfying crunch to them when frozen...

Ewww.


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## cranium (Oct 7, 2009)

i already drained the tank but i haven't done anything else yet can i really just refill and start over and just cycle with a higher water temp and teh reccomended salt levels


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