How to Clean my Vacant Tank?

[blazelet]

I just had a tragic few days. We got a new goldfish from a halloween party which we added to our 50 gallon freshwater tank. It must have brought something with it, from the symptoms (white film, trouble breathing, scratches and missing scales) I blame Protozoan Parasites. Whatever it was, it was sad. The goldfish died and turned to goo overnight. The Pleco died the next day, a few hours after we found them and started treating. We had a molly I was able to move to a hospital tank and is responding well to treatment ... starting to eat again and staying afloat.

Whatever it was, my question is this ... to what degree do I have to clean the tank? I've drained it completely, and plan on hosing everything down, sifting and spraying the gravel, wiping down the decorations, and hosing again. Whatever we had, does this sound likely to get rid of it? I've put everything on the back deck tonight, it's supposed to drop below freezing ... I just want to make sure whatever was in there is gone when I add my molly back in.

Thanks for any ideas.

[TheOldSalt]

A 10% bleach solution ( 9 parts water, 1 part bleach ) would be good for cleaning the tank and more importantly the gravel and filter. Let it soak for several minutes and them rinse. Then use a heavy dose of dechlorinator in the rinse water, stir vigorously, and then dump & rinse some more. That should do it. Set the tank back up and let it run a day or two before returning the fish.

Sounds a bit like Chilonodella or Ichthyobodo, by the way. Very nasty, but thankfully uncommon.