how to clean after a infection

Question
will parsites and bact infections die by just letting everything dry out? i don't want to reinfect my tank i've been treating for ick and bact  infections, how do i clean my bucket and hose and net? perfer not haveing to buy any thing,

Answer
Hi Sandra

The best way to clean/disinfect, use a solution of bleach and water.  People scream-oh no you can't use bleach with fish tanks, but you can. Here's a link for the ingredient in bleach hypo chlorite, need to copy and paste:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium_hypochlorite

Under the section titled packaging, it basically says household/laundry bleach contains 3-6% of the main ingredient-sodium hypochlorite.  12% of that ingredient is used for chlorinating water.  So, diluting a 3-6% solution in water to disinfect, then using a dechlorinator, will be fine.  The key though, is to rinse very very good.  Rinse until the item doesn't smell like bleach anymore, then rinse again.  Then sometimes I'll use a dechlorinator rinse(the same water conditioner/dechlorinator you use to remove chlorine from the tap water before adding to the tank) as well-especially if I made the bleach/water solution too strong, just mix some of the dechlorinator and some water and soak the item in that for a few minutes.  I've done this for several items for my fish tanks-and have had no problems.

And honestly, as far as just letting them dry out, I'm not sure if that would kill everything or not.  You would think it would, but I know there's several human bacterias and viruses that can live for several days dried out.  

Good luck and hope that helps!!!

Christy