What's the best way to clean a contaminated aquarium?

Question

I had an aquarium apocalypse a while back. Overnight, some white fungus grew over everything and killed most of the fish in my 25 gallon aquarium. Rather than cleaning it right away, I ignored it like a responsible adult. So now I have dried crud on the inside of the aquarium glass.

I removed everything from the aquarium. I have all the gravel in a bucket and I was going to wash and strain it. I suppose I could boil the gravel to kill any remaining mold spores.

What about the plastic features? Whats the best way to clean and disinfect them to kill any remaining mold spores?

And what about the glass?

Obviously, it has to clean the equipment and be safe for the fish when I add water again.

Answer 1

Step 1: Quarantine the fish. Any fish still alive need to be moved into a new tank set up only for them. It doesn't need to be fancy. Just clean water, and nothing you can't stand to risk exposure to. If you notice any fungus growing on the fish, you'll need to treat them with an antifungal treatment.

[Note: Antifungal treatments are very bad for invertebrates so don't keep them in a tank that's being treated with it]

Step 2: Boil the contents. To sanitize the contents of the aquarium, simply boil it. The gravel, decorations, anything that can fit in a pot of boiling water should be done. It's especially important for decor like driftwood, which is the perfect harbor for bacteria and fungus as it's so porous. A few minutes of being boiled should kill the fungus/bacteria attached.

For plastic decorations that might melt in boiling water, just getting them to a simmer should be hot enough. I've heard suggestions of putting them through the rinse cycle in a dishwasher, but I personally don't think it's safe because of the possibility for soap residue. Soap is extremely toxic to fish, and should be avoided at all cost.

Step 3: Clean anything too big to fit in a pot, including the aquarium. Really, if you want to clean an aquarium thoroughly, taking the silicon off, and cleaning the glass, then putting it back together is the most effective way (since silicon is a bit porous and can hold any cleaning solution if not rinsed thoroughly).

Since no one want to really go through that process, there are two solutions. The first would be to scrub everything with a mixture of hot water and antifungal fish medicine. This might not be terribly effective as most antifungal medicines need time to work.

Another solution which is more effective but also more risky, is to use a bit of bleach diluted in water. Scrub everything with the bleach water, then scrub and rinse with dechlorinator, then rinse it thoroughly with plain water.

[Note: If you want to get the glass clear of calcium buildup while you're at it. Scrubbing with vinegar helps to clear the glass.]

Step 4: Re-Cycle the tank. Since now you've basically started from scratch, you'll need to set the tank up like it's brand new. Set it up how you want it, and fill it with new water. I would even wait a few days longer than normal before moving the fish back to that tank, to see if the fungus grows back.

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[Note: I'm basing this on the assumption that it is indeed a type of fungus growth in the aquarium. Although it's pretty common to see white growth in gravel after overfeeding, as the old food deteriorates and molds. That's generally kept in the gravel and not around the glass, so I suspect this is something more serious than decomposing leftovers.]

Answer 2

I know this question is a little old but I wanted to comment for other people who come across this post looking for answers too. I always use bleach to clean my tanks and decorations.

I also just had a tank get fungus all through it. So I set up a tank to transfer the fish into, took everything out of the tank, and scrubbed the whole tank out with hot water and bleach.

I siphoned the bleach water out and put a couple buckets of water back in. I used a cup to help me rinse everything. I did this a couple of times until I knew it was rinsed good. I then put in a couple of buckets of water again but this time I add water conditioner so it will get rid of any bleach that may be left in the tank. I use my cup and a rag to rinse the tank out and siphon out this water too. I do this two times. Then I do the decorations.

I have two buckets I use, one is for only aquarium water. I use this bucket for the water changes. The second bucket is used to only clean the decorations. I put all the decorations into the bucket and fill up with hot water and a touch of bleach.

I let it sit for a bit and then I start cleaning everything. I have a scrub brush I use and a tooth brush for the tight spots. After I am done scrubbing everything, I dump the bleach water out in the tub. Then I fill up the bucket and swish everything around and then dump the water out again. I do this maybe three times. I fill the bucket back up and add some water conditioner this time, then swish everything around again.

After the decorations I did the rocks. I put the rocks in the bucket and put some hot water and bleach and did the same thing, mix the rocks around to clean them and then I use a fine mesh strainer to rinse the rocks off and put them into another bucket of water that has the water conditioner in it.

You are now ready to set everything up again. It is a big pain but it is the best thing to do. Once fungus spreads all through the tank, no treatment will totally get rid of that much fungus. Bleach is the only sure bet I know of to get everything clean again. I have done this for years with no problem ever. As long as you rinse everything out good, you are good to go. I hope this helps.