Can fish disease be transferred through old dried up equipment?

[MrWhippy619]

Hi everyone new here im excited to get started on the forum! so i have just purchased the Fluval evo 13.5 after a year without a reef tank as my old one i had to sell as i moved away for a while
but i still have some of the equipment left like the thermometer, power head,heater,my turkey baster, few bits of rock now i may use some of this in the new tank however one of my clownfish had velvet at the time that i got rid of the tank (thankfully my friend got him back in good shape) now this may be a really stupid question but what iv always been curious about is can fish disease carry over/transfer from old equipment that's dried up? would save me abit of money if i didnt have to rebuy all these things but let me know what you guys and girls think

 

[T-J]

I don't believe anything can survive outside of the water that long. Considering that we tell people to let their tanks go fallow to get rid of fish diseases, a year long fallow period without water would be even better!

The only thing that I can think of that could "possibly" survive would be a cyst (egg) of something. I'm grasping at straws there, but Mother Nature can be pretty tough sometimes.

 

[davidcalgary29]

You should be fine, but I think that you're still going to have to clean your old equipment (and I'd do it with a bleach solution) to get rid of the old, caked-on gunk. Especially on that powerhead.

 

[MrWhippy619]

Yeah i think ill bleach it anyways its still practically purple from all the coraline do you think i should try and scrub all that off? or will the bleach do a good enough job?

 

[Dkmoo]

Let's put it this way. Whatever that can survive on the dry equipment for that long will eventually find its way into your new tank anyway

 

[Tamberav]

Yeah i think ill bleach it anyways its still practically purple from all the coraline do you think i should try and scrub all that off? or will the bleach do a good enough job?

Use vinegar for coralline.
And parasites cannot survive drying out so you are good there.

 

[BiggestE222]

Thermometer?

 

[GHOSTLY]

Now. They Can't but in the rare case they do I suggest Vinegar or bleach

 

[SteveMM62Reef]

Copper can Plate Stuff and leach back into the water. The ceramic magnets are especially bad about this. Double or triple this for Magnetic Drive pumps.

 

[QuarantinedCorals]

Hi everyone new here im excited to get started on the forum! so i have just purchased the Fluval evo 13.5 after a year without a reef tank as my old one i had to sell as i moved away for a while
but i still have some of the equipment left like the thermometer, power head,heater,my turkey baster, few bits of rock now i may use some of this in the new tank however one of my clownfish had velvet at the time that i got rid of the tank (thankfully my friend got him back in good shape) now this may be a really stupid question but what iv always been curious about is can fish disease carry over/transfer from old equipment that's dried up? would save me abit of money if i didnt have to rebuy all these things but let me know what you guys and girls think

No, if its not wet I don't think it'll transfer disease.

 

[MrWhippy619]

Thermometer?

What about my thermometer?

 

[E.J.]

Fish TB can survive for a long time in a completely dried state, and one of the only ways to kill it is with isopropyl alcohol. Bleach doesn't affect it. It's the most common disease found in freshwater aquarium fish. Not so much with marine fish, as far I know.

 

[TCoach]

Clean in a 1 cup : 1 gallon citric acid to water solution. That will quickly clean all the equipment and is easier on them than using vinegar.

After that, I might soak in a bleach solution to attempt to kill any left over pathogens. If you do this, soak with a couple rounds of RODI to try and be sure all the bleach is removed.