Potassium permanganate is indispensable in the treatment of fish affected by protozoa (ichthyophthirius, chylodonella, costia, oodinium, trichodina), crustaceans (lernia and argulus), multigenetic flukes (dactylogyrus and hydrodactylus), as well as leeches (piscicolas). Potassium permanganate is also used for dermatomycosis. It is ineffective only in cases of fish infection with infectious diseases.
Recipe for medicinal baths: 0.5 g of potassium permanganate per 10 liters of water. Fish are bathed in the morning and evening for 15 minutes (the interval between baths should be 12 hours).
Fin rot
All fish, without exception, are susceptible to a disease such as fin rot. It begins with a bluish-white clouding of the edges of the fins, then the ends of the rays fall off.
In the early stages, the disease can be easily treated with salt and potassium permanganate. First, the fish are bathed for 10 minutes in a 2.5% salt solution, then for about a minute in a 1% solution of salt and potassium permanganate, diluted to a pale pink color. The plaque disappears literally before our eyes.
Argulez (fish louse)
Therapeutic baths are carried out according to the previously described recipe. Moreover, we should not forget that the potassium permanganate crystals are first dissolved in a glass of water, and only then this solution is added to the bath. There is a nuance here: not the whole solution is poured out at once, but only half of it, the rest is added only after 5 minutes.
When bathing fish, it is important to monitor their behavior: if the fish sway or turn over on their side, they are immediately placed in a container with fresh water and the concentration of the solution is reduced. If air bubbles appear on the fish's body, there is no need to worry: it is not dangerous.
Do not forget that an aquarium is a real home for fish. It, like a human home, needs cleaning. If a person can provide himself with frequent cleaning, then such a luxury is not available for fish, so it is the owner who must disinfect the aquarium and monitor the condition of his pets. Many people know about this, but not everyone knows how to disinfect an aquarium correctly.
Primary activities
The first disinfection of the aquarium occurs immediately after you purchase the tank. The future house for fish must undergo careful processing before the first inhabitants of flora and fauna appear there.
How to properly carry out primary disinfection:
- Fill the aquarium with plain water.
- Dilute the potassium permanganate solution to a dark color and pour it into an aquarium filled with tap water.
- After this, leave it for a day. During this time, all pathogenic bacteria will die.
- Drain off all the water and wipe the walls dry with a dry cloth.
- Rinse it several times with clean running water.
The next step will be preparing the water to start a new aquarium. In order for free chlorine to leave the water, it is necessary to leave 100% of the water for at least 3 days. Then pour it in and wait a couple of days again. Only after this will the aqua be ready to accept its first inhabitants.
In order not to waste time, prepare the rest of the equipment and decor for your exclusive pond. Don’t forget, they also need to be thoroughly disinfected before they end up in the same water as fish. Particular attention is paid to the soil. It is most often used sea sand and pebbles collected in natural conditions. Of course, the substrate contains a huge variety of pathogenic bacteria that will poison the entire environment in the water. To overcome the negative consequences, you need to calcine the soil in the oven or in a large frying pan. It is necessary to expose the entire soil to maximum temperature for at least 20 minutes. For convenience, divide it into portions. Do not pour hot sand into the aquarium! Cool and rinse it thoroughly. One wash is not enough, it is better to repeat the procedure 3-4 times, only after that you can place it in the aquarium. You should not ignore this stage of the initial start-up of the aquarium.
Accessories are considered among the mandatory elements of the normal functioning of an artificial reservoir. Collect all decorative elements, excluding plastic options, and boil them thoroughly. Since heat treatment can cause plastic parts to melt, it is better to treat them with a dark solution of potassium permanganate.
Disinfection of an aquarium is a necessary measure that aquarists have to take in order to protect pets and plants from death. The need to disinfect the water and elements in the aquarium arises after the manifestation of infectious viruses and microorganisms in the reservoir, as well as after the death of pets. However, not all owners of artificial reservoirs know how to disinfect an aquarium correctly so as not to harm the inhabitants of the aquarium.
In what cases is disinfection necessary?
Disinfection of an aquarium is carried out in two cases:
- During the initial launch of a new artificial reservoir.
- Disinfection of an existing reservoir with disinfectants when infectious diseases are detected.
When starting up the tank for the first time, disinfection is necessary in order to destroy possible contaminants, bacteria, microbes and other viruses, which can subsequently lead to dire consequences and even the death of pets, so it is necessary to treat the aquarium immediately after purchase. An existing aquarium is disinfected if contagious fish diseases or harmful algae have been identified, for example, with ichthyphothyrius, blackbeard or blue-green algae. In these cases, disinfecting the aquarium will not only destroy the remains of bacteria and viruses, but will also help the owner treat their pets.
Primary disinfection of the aquarium
Primary disinfection of the aquarium is carried out before planting plants and laying out soil in order to protect vegetation and fish from possible infections that get inside the tank upon purchase. It is necessary to treat not only the container, but also the soil, as well as the stones for the aquarium. Disinfection of the plant before planting is also required. The primary disinfection procedure can be easily performed at home and will take 72 hours.
To disinfect a pond with potassium permanganate, you must perform the following steps:
- The container is filled with ordinary tap water.
- Prepare a solution by mixing water with potassium permanganate until the liquid acquires a dark tint.
- The solution is poured into the tank and left for a day.
- After a day, all the liquid from the container is drained, the container is rinsed and wiped dry with a clean cloth.
- The procedure is repeated two more times.
Soil and plant treatment
Successful cultivation of plants in a pond depends on the quality of the soil, so before laying out the substrate must undergo a disinfection period. To process, it is necessary to thoroughly rinse the soil, let it dry and calcine the substrate in an oven for 15 minutes at a temperature of 100C. The finished soil is allowed to cool at room temperature and placed in a tank.
New plants are disinfected in a weak solution of potassium permanganate, putting aquatic flowers there for 15–20 minutes. The main thing is not to overdo it with potassium permanganate, otherwise there is a risk of burning the tender leaves.
Scenery processing
Decorations made of wood, stone or metal, and stones for the aquarium are disinfected by boiling in boiling water for 15–20 minutes - this time is enough to destroy possible harmful bacteria and viruses that can harm the fish. Decorative elements made of plastic cannot be boiled, so a solution of potassium permanganate is used for bactericidal treatment.
Disinfection of an existing aquarium
An existing artificial pond with fish is treated with antibacterial substances. To make the tank disinfected, a solution with penicillin (10 mg/2 l) is used, and the procedure itself takes 72 hours. There is no need to worry about the flora: aquarium plants will not die. If a fish suddenly dies in the tank, the treatment is carried out using a bactericidal lamp, turning on the device for 15 minutes for three days in a row.
Effective disinfection methods
The most effective and popular methods of treating an existing tank are:
- Disinfection with boiling water - when using this method, all harmful algae, bacterial colonies and infections are guaranteed to die. The temperature should be increased gradually so that the glass of the container does not crack. The method is only suitable for seamless reservoirs or with persistent glue, otherwise leaks and damage to the container are possible.
- Potent antibacterial agents are used in case of fish infection with dangerous infectious diseases - the tanks are disinfected with a powerful cleaning agent or chlorine-containing agent. You cannot use white in this case! After the tank has been treated, rinse the container with water several times.
- Hydrogen peroxide will help disinfect the pond as a preventative measure. The action of the product is not as strong and powerful as the previous method, but hydrogen peroxide is the most careful and safe to use. However, after using peroxide, the container should be rinsed.
- A mixture of table salt and thick water will also help disinfect the pond. After mixing salt and water, the resulting slurry is applied to the corners and seams of the tank, then the container is filled with liquid and left for two hours. After treatment, the liquid is drained and the tank is thoroughly washed, since salt is very dangerous for many phenotypes.
- Methylene blue is one of the most popular drugs. It is safe for fish, so when treating an aquarium with blue, pets do not need to be resettled from the reservoir. Blue is added to the liquid in a ratio of 2 mg/10 l. The disadvantage of using this method is that methylene blue turns the water blue.
- An ultraviolet lamp is another fish-safe way to disinfect a tank. A lamp with ultraviolet radiation can be used as an independent method, and in combination with the above methods.
Disinfecting an aquarium is a simple and effective way to ensure the destruction of dirt, bacterial colonies and algae that harm fish, plants and shellfish. When disinfecting the tank, you should follow the general rules and instructions on the packaging of antibacterial agents in order to upset the ecological balance and not harm your pets.
Video about disinfecting an aquarium
However, its effectiveness is fully demonstrated only if the rules for its use are observed.
Disadvantages include restrictions regarding application to certain types of fish that do not tolerate increased concentrations of sodium and chlorine ions. These include:
— Sumatran barbs, including varieties, which are colloquially called “mutants” by aquarists;
Salt treatment of juvenile labyrinths should be used very carefully (the maximum easily tolerated salt concentration is 1.5%).
For fish of the above species, the maximum salt concentration should not exceed 2-2.5% for a bath duration of ten minutes, but if the fish can withstand this time without problems, it is extended to fifteen minutes.
One method to overcome this disadvantage is to gradually add salt to the aquarium water. Start with ¼ teaspoon per ten liters and gradually increase the dosage to 2 tablespoons. The method is effective if it is used in nursery aquariums. However, this method ultimately has a drawback - the fish get used to salted water and are no longer able to live in ordinary freshwater aquariums.
Another disadvantage is the intolerance of higher concentrations of sodium and chlorine ions by higher aquatic plants. Lower algae are resistant to increased concentrations of these ions; as a result, an outbreak of increased growth of these algae may begin in the aquarium.
Salt treatment should also not be used in aquarium water with a high nitrate content.
Therapeutic baths with solutions of high salt concentration are successfully used in the treatment of diseases such as:
The minimum time for using baths with saline solution to destroy the pathogens of the diseases listed above is 10 minutes, and the higher the proportion, the more effective the treatment. But for aquarium fish, the practical limit for the concentration of the saline solution is in the range of 4% -5%. Therefore, choose a concentration of 2% and increase the treatment time to ten to fifteen minutes.
The time of treatment in solutions with a concentration of about 2% within the specified time interval is best selected experimentally. Start by checking the time interval of ten minutes. For the first time, a low-value fish is bathed in the bath, carefully monitoring its behavior. If the fish do not show symptoms of intolerance (they do not try to jump out, there is no increased breathing with convulsive bouncing of the fins, when they rise to the surface they turn over on their side, cannot sink to the bottom, increased secretion of mucus begins), the time is extended to fifteen minutes. If during this time no symptoms of intolerance appear, increase the concentration (optimally - reaching a threshold of 4%).
To prepare a medicinal solution, you can use any, including iodized one. If you don’t have accurate scales, you can use the traditional method of determining weight using kitchen utensils. For the proportion of a 2% solution per 1 liter of water, you will need 2 teaspoons with a small hill of salt. The solution is stirred until the salt is completely dissolved.
The bath treatment method is as follows. Two outpatient tanks are being prepared. The prepared solution for treatment is poured into the first one, powerful aeration is installed (it must be arranged so that the fish is not captured by the emerging current) and the temperature is equalized with that maintained in the aquarium with the fish to be treated (the temperature difference of 2˚C is not allowed to be exceeded) .
Naturally, higher dosages of salt are more effective, but in cases of starting treatment for severe forms of advanced lesions, the weakened body of the fish may not be able to withstand the treatment. In such cases, treatment begins with bathing in a 1.5% salt solution and increases the concentration on the second day, an even more concentrated solution on the third day, and so on until the optimal concentration is reached (from 2% to 4%).
The difference between the pH of the water in the aquarium with fish and in the treatment bath and in the rinsing bath should not exceed more than 0.2 units (in either direction). The temperature of the water in the rinsing bath should not differ from the temperature in the treatment bath.
In cases where emergency assistance is necessary, you can boil ordinary tap water, wait until it cools down to the temperature in the aquarium, and install powerful aeration as soon as the temperature conditions for the equipment allow it. You need to aerate for at least half an hour.
When using salt as a medicine, the effectiveness will increase if potassium permanganate (potassium permanganate) is added to the solution for medicinal baths. Permanganate (potassium permanganate) is added until the solution becomes raspberry-colored.
For complete treatment with salt baths, you need to carry out at least three baths at daily intervals.
Table salt is also used to create long-term baths for treatment. Such baths can be used in quarantine tanks, in nursery aquariums - that is, in aquariums without decoration with higher aquatic plants. Such treatment or prevention is carried out with solutions of concentration at the rate of one and a half grams of salt per liter of water. The duration of detention in such a solution ranges from several days to two weeks. If you keep fish in such a solution for more than the specified time, then disorders of independent osmoregulation may occur. Returns to normal conditions are carried out by changing 10% of the water daily - the process is continued until the salt content reaches zero. Such long-term baths are well tolerated by livebearers, spawning carp, cichlids, and varieties of goldfish.
Disinfection of an aquarium is a necessary measure that aquarists have to take in order to protect pets and plants from death. The need to disinfect the water and elements in the aquarium arises after the manifestation of infectious viruses and microorganisms in the reservoir, as well as after the death of pets. However, not all owners of artificial reservoirs know how to disinfect an aquarium correctly so as not to harm the inhabitants of the aquarium.
Disinfection of an aquarium is carried out in two cases:
- During the initial launch of a new artificial reservoir.
- Disinfection of an existing reservoir with disinfectants when infectious diseases are detected.
When starting up the tank for the first time, disinfection is necessary in order to destroy possible contaminants, bacteria, microbes and other viruses, which can subsequently lead to dire consequences and even the death of pets, so it is necessary to treat the aquarium immediately after purchase. An existing aquarium is disinfected if contagious fish diseases or harmful algae have been identified, for example, with ichthyphothyrius, blackbeard or blue-green algae. In these cases, disinfecting the aquarium will not only destroy the remains of bacteria and viruses, but will also help the owner treat their pets.
Effective disinfection methods
The most effective and popular methods of treating an existing tank are:
- Disinfection with boiling water - when using this method, all harmful algae, bacterial colonies and infections are guaranteed to die. The temperature should be increased gradually so that the glass of the container does not crack. The method is only suitable for seamless reservoirs or with persistent glue, otherwise leaks and damage to the container are possible.
- Potent antibacterial agents are used in case of fish infection with dangerous infectious diseases - the tanks are disinfected with a powerful cleaning agent or chlorine-containing agent. You cannot use white in this case! After the tank has been treated, rinse the container with water several times.
- Hydrogen peroxide will help disinfect the pond as a preventative measure. The action of the product is not as strong and powerful as the previous method, but hydrogen peroxide is the most careful and safe to use. However, after using peroxide, the container should be rinsed.
- A mixture of table salt and thick water will also help disinfect the pond. After mixing salt and water, the resulting slurry is applied to the corners and seams of the tank, then the container is filled with liquid and left for two hours. After treatment, the liquid is drained and the tank is thoroughly washed, since salt is very dangerous for many phenotypes.
- Methylene blue is one of the most popular drugs. It is safe for fish, so when treating an aquarium with blue, pets do not need to be resettled from the reservoir. Blue is added to the liquid in a ratio of 2 mg/10 l. The disadvantage of using this method is that methylene blue turns the water blue.
- An ultraviolet lamp is another fish-safe way to disinfect a tank. A lamp with ultraviolet radiation can be used as an independent method, and in combination with the above methods.
Disinfecting an aquarium is a simple and effective way to ensure the destruction of dirt, bacterial colonies and algae that harm fish, plants and shellfish. When disinfecting the tank, you should follow the general rules and instructions on the packaging of antibacterial agents in order to upset the ecological balance and not harm your pets.
Video about disinfecting an aquarium
You will need
- Disinfectant;
- Ultraviolet lamp (if available);
- A saucepan for boiling soil (if necessary).
Instructions
The easiest way is hot, ideally boiling water. In this case, everything and microorganisms will die. Be careful: the water temperature must be increased gradually so that the glass does not crack. But this method is only suitable for seamless aquariums and structures with hard glue - it looks like ceramics. If the glass is sealed with soft silicone sealant, hot water will make it soft and the aquarium may begin to leak, and the glued container may even fall apart.
Another effective way is a strong disinfectant. You can treat your aquarium with a powerful liquid cleaner or a chlorine solution. But after treatment, the aquarium must be thoroughly rinsed, since even small residues of the cleaning agent can kill the fish. Ideally, the aquarium should be thoroughly rinsed several times, then filled with water, allowed to stand for a day and then rinsed again.
You can also use hydrogen peroxide to disinfect an aquarium. It is weaker than previous options, but safer. Of course, the aquarium will have to be washed with water, but not so intensively.
To treat the aquarium, you can use ordinary table salt. First, make a paste of salt and water and use a soft sponge to treat the glass and seams. Then fill the aquarium with water, add salt at the rate of 1 teaspoon per liter of water and leave for a couple of hours. Then drain the water and rinse the aquarium thoroughly - salt is harmful to many fish, and fatal to some.
Another disinfection method that can be applied even to aquarium plants without the risk of destroying them is potassium permanganate. Make a medium pink solution and rinse the aquarium, wiping with a soft sponge. Then wash the aquarium with water. Plants for disinfection should be placed in a solution of potassium permanganate for 10-15 minutes. Do not overdo the concentration - there is a risk of burning the plants and staining the glass with a brown coating.
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