Cleaning tank after ick infestation

Question
I have a 10 gal aquarium.  Usual story brought home a couple of new fish from the pet store.  I did quarantine them for a few days (obviously not long enough), long story short they had ick, I treated with the ick medicine containing malachite green but all the fish except the algae eater died.  I got rid of all the water, cleaned the gravel and plastic plants, shells, etc under running water and washed out the tank with water then refilled.  Waited several days with the filter running before I got new fish.  The new ones were doing well when I suddenly found one dead. Didn't notice any spots but had another dead fish the next day.  Started treatment as before. All fish gone except the algae eater.  I've moved him and the snail into a smaller quarantine tank.  I'm planning on boiling the tank ornaments and probably the gravel or should I start over with new gravel?  What's the best thing to use to clean the aquarium (glass)? or is that an issue?  If I let the tank and everything dry out before setting it up again would that kill any remaining ick parasites or are they like they like the brine shrimp and can be dried out and brought back to life with hydration?  Thanks for your help.

Answer
Hi Aleta;

It is common for new fish to get sick with ick because of the stress of being moved to a new home. If it was little dots that look like the fish were sprinkled with salt, that's ick. If it didn't look like salt-specks it may have been the effects of waste toxins. When new fish are added the system needs to compensate for the new bio-load by growing more colonies of beneficial bacteria. Sometimes the bacteria can't consume the waste fast enough so toxins rise and the fish get sick. New fish are very vulnerable so it is very possible for new ones to die and other fish that were already in the tank seem to not be affected at all.

Without fish in the tank for a few days the parasites will die. You can just just rinse everything out and refill the tank if you feel you need to. Don't go to the trouble to boil everything. It isn't necessary. I really think it just needs time to balance again with only the algae eater and the snail in it. Consider it a "new tank" that needs to settle in. Don't add any new fish for 4 to 6 weeks while it goes through this with just the algae eater and snail. This period of time is also called "New Tank Syndrome" or "Cycling". The beneficial bacteria responsible for this process is very slow-growing and it just takes time for it to really get a foothold. Get a test kit that detects the level of ammonia and nitrite. You can watch the progression of the break-in period by testing both of those. Once it is fully balanced again, add only one small new fish and then wait for several days before adding another.

Here is a link to my web page about new tank syndrome to help you know more about it;

http://www.xanga.com/expert_fish_help

Let me know if you have more questions...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins