Parasites in Aquarium?

Question
Hello my aquarium is a 3 gallon eclipse by marineland. I am currently using the stock filter, I had one Zebra Danio in the tank with ammonia and nitrite levels both at zero. The pH is currently 7.5. I do 25% weekly water changes. My Zebra Danio, which was the only fish I had just died of internal parasites. I want to clear out the parasites in the tank before adding another one. What is the best way of ridding the tank of parasites? Can I wait for them to naturally die off? If they can naturally die off how long would it take? Thanks again.

Answer
Hi Adrian;

Unless we know what kind of parasite it was, I really couldn't guess if it can die off by leaving the tank empty. There are many possibilities. If you want to just sterilize the tank and start over, I usually do it with bleach.

First, throw away all the gravel and other decorations, and throw away the filter pad. With the tank full of water, just pour in a teaspoon of plain common household bleach, not the scented type, just regular. Be careful with that stuff, it will permanently stain your clothes and many other things. Let the filter circulate it around for an hour or two and then dump it. Then rinse, rinse, rinse, and RINSE. Pull the filter all apart and be sure to rinse every nook and cranny. Set it back up and let it run for a week with the lid open. Once there is no longer any bleach smell, add a dose of water conditioner and you can add fish again.

Good luck...

At Your Service;
Chris Robbins