ich in a plastic aquarium

Question
Recently bought a one gallon plastic tank with a small filter.  We put a fantail goldfish in and it turned up with ich two days in.  Treated him to no avail.  Is there any way to save the tank and kill off the ich for another fish or should we just invest in something else.

Answer
Laura,
Firstly, a goldfish cannot be housed in a 1 gallon tank. The minimum size tank for a goldfish is 20 gallons. Goldfish are very messy and because they do not have a stomach, everything they eat comes right back out in the form of ammonia, which will kill any fish. To be honest there is no fish that can be housed in that small of a tank. The only fish that can be in a 2.5 gallon tank is a Betta, but a 5 gallon is better. I am thinking the goldfish died because of the Ich. You can clean the whole thing, filter, gravel and tank with very hot water and a little bleach. Just make sure you rinse it out well. When I do that, I always let the aquarium, gravel, heater, filter dry in the hot sun. This will ensure the bleach is gone. If after you rinse the stuff and you still smell bleach, keep rinsing. If you do not want to use the bleach, just using very hot water should get rid of all the Ich. Just let everything dry outside in the hot sun. I hope this has helped, and if you have any other question(s), don't hesitate to ask.