Cleaning/disinfecting a tank

[Creepella]

My axolotl recently died. I'm not sure about the cause of death. She just suddenly stopped eating and started floating at the top, and died the same day before I could fridge her. There was no external sign of lesions, fungus etc.

I would like to use her tank, sand, plastic plants again for another axie, but I want to make sure that no illness is transmitted to the new axolotl. What, if anything, should I do to clean or disinfect everything before it's reused. I had just cleaned the tank before the previous axie got sick and died.

 

[auntiejude]

A mild bleach solution should be all you need for the plastic and resin ornaments. Just give them scrub in warm water and bleach and rinse well, then soak in a dechlorinator solution to neutralise the bleach.
The tank can be cleaned with a mild bleach solution too, and rinsed thoroughly.

I would discard the sand and filter media, but you can scrub the filter housing and add new media.

You could also use a pet-safe sanitiser or peroxide solution as long as you rinse really well.

 

[Creepella]

Thanks for the information! I wasn't sure if it would be safe to use bleach solution to disinfect an axolotl tank because they're so sensitive to chemicals. I'll just reuse the sand for my cacti.