Hey all-

My Lionehead just died a day ago from a tapeworm...he was acting kind of sick for a day earlier in the week with no physical signs of infection...then the next moring he had a long elastic-like worm comming out of him...No sooner had I satrted treating him and the next moring he died...

My question is since i had him in a fully cycled 10 gallon tank is there any way to salvage that bio filter for a new fish? I know that a bio filter can only be maintained by having a living fish in my tank, but how long till it is no longer cycled?

I have a 10 gallon tank without a bio-wheel...pH 7.4, Ammonia 0, Nitrite 0....

Secondly, I am thining since my Lionhead died from an internal parasite I may have to breakdow the entire tank and start all over again anyway to avoid any new infection? If this is the case, how do I full remediate any presence of the parasite in the tank?

Any feedback would be much apprecaited...

Hi, Rob -

I am sorry to hear about your Lionhead!

I don't really know enough about tapeworms (if that is what it was for sure) and any concommitant parasites that might still be in your tank - maybe you could post that specific question in Disease and Discussion if you don't get an answer quickly enough here...

Could you maybe put a few small tropis or a Betta fish in there to keep your cycle going - of course, provided it is disease-free?

I have also wondered how long a tank can stay cycled without fish - there is the fishless cycling method for getting a tank started... can some of the techniques there be applied to maintaing a cycle without fish? Good question!

Well, I hope you will not have to breakdown you tank!

Yep, you could use ammonia to keep it cycled.
I dunno on the tapeworm. I'd definitely find out how they reproduce and spread before putting anyone new in the tank.

you have to use the ammonia without the suds though right? I wonder if that is readily available...I just read about the fishless cycle using ammonia yesterday! What a fabulous idea too! I will do that from now on!