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Tank use after sick fish?

2K views 3 replies 3 participants last post by  Andyandsue 
#1 ·
Sadly my betta got dropsy and died. : (

As soon as I saw it, I removed the snail, upped the temp, added melafix and some epsom salt. He did so much better for almost a week, but then all of a sudden he got worse, and he just didn't make it. I'm so sad. he was a great betta. Had a lot of "personality".

Anyway, I want to put a couple of danios into that tank now along with the snail. The danios are baby, about 3 months old and living in a net breeder which is starting to become too small for them really. I am a little leery about using the tank after a sick fish was there, but I am under the impression dropsy is not contagious. I will start fresh so to speak as far as filter media and water, but I have a bio wheel and cycled gravel that I want to re-use to keep the cycle going.

Anyone know if this is ok or not? The tank is currently empty. The betta just died yesterday. : ([/code]
 
#2 ·
I could not find anything that talks about how long Dropsy could be in a tank after a fish dies. I did find that it is not a common disease to wipe out a tank and is most often contageous to, if at all, fish of the same species when one gets it.

If I were to do this, I would do a really dood gravel vac changing my water 3 times getting out as much as possible each time over a day or two and then let it sit for a day just to make sure. There is nothing that says that dropsy should be contageous after this effort so I think it would be a safe way to do it.
 
#3 ·
fish_4_all said:
I could not find anything that talks about how long dropsy could be in a tank after a fish dies. I did find that it is not a common disease to wipe out a tank and is most often contageous to, if at all, fish of the same species when one gets it.
Dropsy is rather common and is not a disease but a sign of damaged organs, bacterial infections, resence of internal parasites and may other factors. There is no way of knowing the cause unless you can perform autopsy on a fish. Transmission is easily done by just contact of an infected fish, infected wastes and cannibalism. This can be a surefire sign of bacterial infections.
 
#4 ·
He shared this tank only with a snail, so there will obviously be no cannibalism since the snail was removed immediately.

I'm going to do a 100% water change (which I have to do anyway since I added epsom salts and want to return the snail to his home), give the substrate a few swift rinses so as not to jeopardize the (good) bacteria balance, leave the bio wheel, wipe out the inside (maybe with a little melafix), and refill, letting the tank filter for a few days before adding my baby danios and the snail.

It's very sad and I know it's been mentioned before but I've found that bettas purchased from chain stores are just not bred and handled properly and they never seem to live long even under the best conditions. *sigh*
 
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