paulthomas
Punk
I want to sterilize a couple QTs and equipment. Is bleach really the way to go? I read this regarding bleach as a sterilizing agent (in FW aquariums) and now I'm not sure what to use.
From another site:
Almost everyone who has been in the aquarium hobby for awhile has had to deal with at least one fish parasite; one they just couldn't get rid of. The fish in the tank die. You change all the water, wait a few days, and then add new fish. A couple of months later, those fish die of apparently the same thing. After that you bring in the heavy artillery - bleach, and lots of it to sterilize everything. No success. Fish continue to die, either from chlorine poisoning (you didn't rinse well enough) or the DISEASE (by this time it rates capital letters).
Many aquarists believe that chlorine bleach not only cleans aquarium equipment but also kills any kind of bug. It will certainly kick fish into the Great Beyond quicker than you can say Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ich). However, the fact is, chlorine does not sterilize your aquarium stuff. It may get rid of a lot of the critters living in your gravel, but maybe not the critter you've been trying to eradicate.
I'm sure your thinking, "how can she say this?" All the aquarium literature says bleach will kill any bug you can think of. That's what I thought too until I discovered just the opposite by accident.
I "borrowed" some gravel from my sister's aquarium to put into a box filter as a cheap means of maintaining biological filtration for several fry tanks. After setting up two of the tanks, I picked up a handful of gravel to dump into the third filter and noticed something moving in the gravel. I looked closer, and sure enough, there were a few creepy crawlies in the gravel. I rinsed the gravel a number of times, yet they continued to weave their way through the gravel. Since I didn't have any other gravel to use, I decided to sterilize this stuff, put it in an established tank for a day, then set up the third fry tank.
I put about 10 pounds of gravel into a two gallon bucket, poured some water into it and added about three cups of CloroxR. After 24 hours, the critters were still junketing about. OK, enough of that! I added half a gallon of Clorox. These guys were not going to get the better of me. Three weeks later, and still reeking of chlorine, the little creepies were still crawling. Since there weren't any fish to eat them, the critters were happily doing the backstroke in my two gallon bucket. They were supposed to be dead! Where's the Grim Reaper when you want him?
I brought some of the bugs to a biology instructor who identified them as a Gammara species. Oh, so that's what they are - fish food! Gammaras are small crustaceans that grow to slightly over 1/4 inch long (at least that's as long as they get before they get eaten). I rinsed the gravel really well and dumped it into an unoccupied tank. After adding chlorine neutralizer and testing the tank for chlorine, I added fish. I now have three colonies of Gammeras in different tanks providing extra food to my fish.
Anyway, to return to the subject, I promptly put this event out of my mind until I read an article in an exchange publication where the author recommended using bleach (while he didn't specifically mention "sterilize" it was implied). I decided to futher investigate the effects of chlorine bleach.
Since I had access to a biology lab at the University of Minnesota, I took the opportunity to look at two samples of aquarium water under a microscope. The first sample was just plain aquarium water; lots of little bugs swimming around, some doing the backstroke, some looking sort of like those things that attach to your clothes when you walk through the woods. Others look like something you would expect to find in a horror movie about mutant cichlids. The second sample contained a solution of 50% aquarium water and 50% Clorox; I let this sample sit for three days. Under the microscope there were a lot of things swimming or otherwise moving around. I say 'things' because I don't know if they are protozoans or bacteria. I also say 'otherwise moving around' because it would be stretching the imagination to say that they were swimming. For example, one little creature moved about in the water by stretching and then contracting (similar to an accordion or fireplace bellows).
From these observations, I've concluded that using Clorox may not be 100% guaranteed to rid you of your particular bug. So now what? How do you get rid of the pest in your tank? Use Salt. While some of the various bugs seem to survive Clorox just fine, far less things survived the sudden transition from freshwater to marine water. After three days, the only thing moving around in the water looked sort of like a sand burr (one of those porcupine-like thing the stick to your socks and shoelaces when you walk through sandy areas).
When all else fails, spread everything out and let it dry; this should get rid of almost all disease causing agents. You might even want to give your gravel to an African Violet enthusiast and get some new stuff.
I have not tried this experiment a second time. Perhaps you won't see anything under a microscope (try a higher power). While this experiment will not win me the Nobel prize, lacking rigorous scientific controls, it should indicate that the authenticity of some of the "tried and true" methods should be questioned. In older publications (20 years ago), bleach was commonly recommended as a cleaner. No claim was made about sterilizing. I suspect that somewhere along the line clean became synonymous with sterile. I'd like to add that most aquarists feel that household bleach still works better than most products on the market to loosen dried-on garbage on aquarium equipment.
Be aware of the limitations of a procedure. At the same time, don't discount all the old methods. The old fashioned box filter with filter floss, which has been around since at least the 1930's, works almost as well as the "technologically advanced" sponge filter (in some situations, better!). Glass wool, which could break up and damage fish gills, was replaced by a safer fiber.
Note: After I completed this article, I checked many of my fish books. None with a copyright date after 1980 mention any sterilizing qualities regarding chlorine bleach.
Would using distilled white vinegar (a mild acid) and thorough rinsing be a better alternative? What about simply letting everything dry out or a combination of both vinegar and drying out?
Thanks,
TSE
From another site:
Almost everyone who has been in the aquarium hobby for awhile has had to deal with at least one fish parasite; one they just couldn't get rid of. The fish in the tank die. You change all the water, wait a few days, and then add new fish. A couple of months later, those fish die of apparently the same thing. After that you bring in the heavy artillery - bleach, and lots of it to sterilize everything. No success. Fish continue to die, either from chlorine poisoning (you didn't rinse well enough) or the DISEASE (by this time it rates capital letters).
Many aquarists believe that chlorine bleach not only cleans aquarium equipment but also kills any kind of bug. It will certainly kick fish into the Great Beyond quicker than you can say Ichthyophthirius multifiliis (Ich). However, the fact is, chlorine does not sterilize your aquarium stuff. It may get rid of a lot of the critters living in your gravel, but maybe not the critter you've been trying to eradicate.
I'm sure your thinking, "how can she say this?" All the aquarium literature says bleach will kill any bug you can think of. That's what I thought too until I discovered just the opposite by accident.
I "borrowed" some gravel from my sister's aquarium to put into a box filter as a cheap means of maintaining biological filtration for several fry tanks. After setting up two of the tanks, I picked up a handful of gravel to dump into the third filter and noticed something moving in the gravel. I looked closer, and sure enough, there were a few creepy crawlies in the gravel. I rinsed the gravel a number of times, yet they continued to weave their way through the gravel. Since I didn't have any other gravel to use, I decided to sterilize this stuff, put it in an established tank for a day, then set up the third fry tank.
I put about 10 pounds of gravel into a two gallon bucket, poured some water into it and added about three cups of CloroxR. After 24 hours, the critters were still junketing about. OK, enough of that! I added half a gallon of Clorox. These guys were not going to get the better of me. Three weeks later, and still reeking of chlorine, the little creepies were still crawling. Since there weren't any fish to eat them, the critters were happily doing the backstroke in my two gallon bucket. They were supposed to be dead! Where's the Grim Reaper when you want him?
I brought some of the bugs to a biology instructor who identified them as a Gammara species. Oh, so that's what they are - fish food! Gammaras are small crustaceans that grow to slightly over 1/4 inch long (at least that's as long as they get before they get eaten). I rinsed the gravel really well and dumped it into an unoccupied tank. After adding chlorine neutralizer and testing the tank for chlorine, I added fish. I now have three colonies of Gammeras in different tanks providing extra food to my fish.
Anyway, to return to the subject, I promptly put this event out of my mind until I read an article in an exchange publication where the author recommended using bleach (while he didn't specifically mention "sterilize" it was implied). I decided to futher investigate the effects of chlorine bleach.
Since I had access to a biology lab at the University of Minnesota, I took the opportunity to look at two samples of aquarium water under a microscope. The first sample was just plain aquarium water; lots of little bugs swimming around, some doing the backstroke, some looking sort of like those things that attach to your clothes when you walk through the woods. Others look like something you would expect to find in a horror movie about mutant cichlids. The second sample contained a solution of 50% aquarium water and 50% Clorox; I let this sample sit for three days. Under the microscope there were a lot of things swimming or otherwise moving around. I say 'things' because I don't know if they are protozoans or bacteria. I also say 'otherwise moving around' because it would be stretching the imagination to say that they were swimming. For example, one little creature moved about in the water by stretching and then contracting (similar to an accordion or fireplace bellows).
From these observations, I've concluded that using Clorox may not be 100% guaranteed to rid you of your particular bug. So now what? How do you get rid of the pest in your tank? Use Salt. While some of the various bugs seem to survive Clorox just fine, far less things survived the sudden transition from freshwater to marine water. After three days, the only thing moving around in the water looked sort of like a sand burr (one of those porcupine-like thing the stick to your socks and shoelaces when you walk through sandy areas).
When all else fails, spread everything out and let it dry; this should get rid of almost all disease causing agents. You might even want to give your gravel to an African Violet enthusiast and get some new stuff.
I have not tried this experiment a second time. Perhaps you won't see anything under a microscope (try a higher power). While this experiment will not win me the Nobel prize, lacking rigorous scientific controls, it should indicate that the authenticity of some of the "tried and true" methods should be questioned. In older publications (20 years ago), bleach was commonly recommended as a cleaner. No claim was made about sterilizing. I suspect that somewhere along the line clean became synonymous with sterile. I'd like to add that most aquarists feel that household bleach still works better than most products on the market to loosen dried-on garbage on aquarium equipment.
Be aware of the limitations of a procedure. At the same time, don't discount all the old methods. The old fashioned box filter with filter floss, which has been around since at least the 1930's, works almost as well as the "technologically advanced" sponge filter (in some situations, better!). Glass wool, which could break up and damage fish gills, was replaced by a safer fiber.
Note: After I completed this article, I checked many of my fish books. None with a copyright date after 1980 mention any sterilizing qualities regarding chlorine bleach.
Would using distilled white vinegar (a mild acid) and thorough rinsing be a better alternative? What about simply letting everything dry out or a combination of both vinegar and drying out?
Thanks,
TSE
