Finding the cause for the problem - how to sanitize a tank?

Hi there,

I posted a thread about my T. gran Peter a few days ago who had developed a strange lump and swelling in his lower jaw. He is still on Baytril and the vet started him on Metronidazole to treat any possible protozoan parasites or anaerobic bacteria. The swelling in his lower jaw has gone down markedly. My biggest concern is that he hasn't eaten since Monday and the infection definitely seems to be systemic rather than confined to a local area.

I am now trying to figure out the cause for the infection. I noticed that my life plants started to look different. There is a brown film on the leafs and some leafs have holes in them and some of my java fern has strange black coloration. I would like to safe some of the plants if I can. I thought about keeping them in a bucket of water for a while and cleaning out all the leafs that have holes or look otherwise unhealthy.

The only thing I found so far were a couple of tiny snails.
I will do a thorough tank cleaning today and a complete water change to eliminate any possible causes for Peter's infection.
What is the best way to sanitize a tank? I read that bleach can be used.
Thank you for any suggestions.

If you are attempting to sanitize the plants and the tank to avoid bacterial pathogens, then to some extent this is a futile effort as many of the amphibian bacterial pathogens are opportunistic bacteria that are going to be present in the enclosure regardless of what you do. This is really only the way to go if you have a documented outbreak of redleg, mycobacterial infection or chytrid. In the first two, you would have to discard everything and sterilize the tank and in the third, anything that cannot be throughly dried or heated to greater than 120 F for 16 hours or more needs to be discarded.

With the plants, this is common with leaves that have been damaged and is not reflecting on the newt.

Ed

Thank you Ed. I just called the Aquarium store where I purchased the anubias and java fern and they thought that the holes are caused by snails. They suggested to put a piece of lettuce in the tank as the snails come out at night and collect on the lettuce. I will take a close look at the plants today and clean out all effected leaves. I just tested the water and everything is in proper range except for the pH which is a little high. I went and got some Poland Spring water, as the pH is slightly lower at 6.8 and try to bring the pH down a little. I know that the pH is not as crucial, but I am trying to eliminate anything that might cause stress. The ammonia, nitrite and nitrate levels checked out. Taking your concerns into consideration, I will do a large water change and do a good gravel cleaning instead of sanitizing the tank.
As mentioned, my T.gran Peter has a systemic infection and I am not sure whether he got infected from my recently deceased newt who developed what seemed to be an abscess or from something else. I am wondering about the life black worms I have been feeding. Maybe they carried the agent that caused the infection. I switched my healthy newt Moe to frozen bloodworms. Peter hasn't eaten since Monday but if he gets better I will keep both on a diet of frozen blood worms for a while.