Immediate frequent large water changes!

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I would immediately remove the fish to all new water. ANY sort of container, a bucket, a plastic storage bin...

Then start cleaning the equipment.
Gently slosh the filter media in a bucket of new water (add dechlor) until there are no more bubbles. Then set up the filter and run it on whatever container the fish are in. Soap is really hard on the beneficial bacteria. I hope they can be saved. Monitor the conditions in the container with the fish. (Ammonia, nitrite, nitrate)
The heater can be wiped off and rinsed several times and that should take care of it.
An air bubbler is probably not going to release the soap to any simple cleaning. You can clean the tubing, but I would toss the air stone, not even waste time on it. A chenile stick can reach up into the tubing, or else just cut off the part that was exposed to the soap.
Smooth rocks are as easy to clean as the heater. A few wipe-and-rinse or scrub with a stiff plastic brush and they should be fine.
Rocks with holes (lava rock or similar) will be a lot harder to clean. You might have to get a scrub brush on it, if you think the holes are just surface indentations, but leave it in the tank if the holes are all through the rock.
Driftwood is similarly difficult. If it is at all porous the soap can soak into the wood.
The rest of the tank: Plants can be rinsed and put in the container with the fish, but I would only do this with plants that are not in the substrate. Anubias, Java fern and similar plants if they are rooted to something that can be cleaned without harming the plants.
The soap has probably stuck to the substrate. That is the function of soap. It sticks to dirt and most similar materials. If it is a gravel or coarse sand tank you could take it all apart and wash the gravel until there are no more bubbles. Dirt or any of the clay substrates probably won't come clean.
Everything else (plants, dirted tank, rocks with lots of holes, driftwood), leave the tank set up and running, with any sort of filter you have. Yes, add activated carbon. Change it out a couple of times the first week, then a couple of more times through perhaps a month. Also, large water changes. Any soap in the water will get removed, and over time the soap that is stuck on things will break down. I do not know how long that would take, though. I would perhaps introduce a fish or two after several weeks to a month.

 

Thank you, Diana.

I was afraid there was no easy solution. This is a very long established (8 years), very "wild" kept tank. In other words, I don't keep it neatly pruned, and about half the plants are cryptocorynes, swords, and other plants that are 8 years old. The only rocks are small aquarium pea gravel. There is no filter media since it's 100% natural, just plants and sunlight and bulbs. The heater I will wash as you recommended, thanks.

Thank you for bolstering my reserve on what I need to do. I suppose the best to hope for is, as you said, repeated water changes. At first I thought the most damage would be my poor suffering fish, but it looks as though the plants will suffer quite a bit with repeated water changes and no fish, leaving them nutrient deficient and with low CO2.

OK, thanks, I shall get started!

From now on, all that goes in that tank, including my hands, will get a rinse with vinegar, then water, before taking the plunge!

Javalee

 

I guess you already did what Diana told you. But I know citric acid is used to neutralize soap. Perhaps you can try it in a small glass first, but I bet it works in your aquarium as well. Off course, don't use too much or the pH will drop. And change water afterwards.

 

Yo-Han,

Very interesting. I have started cleaning up, but that is very helpful and still useful if it works since getting soap out of even a glass takes a LOT of water. There are already fewer and smaller bubbles.

I was hoping for a chemistry solution like yours.

I am doing water changes with hard water hoping that will precipitate some of the soap, but your idea sounds great too. I'll see how to get pure citric acid in the mean time.

Thanks for thinking on my problem!
Javalee

 

sodium citrate is available as a pure pill since it's vitamin C and good for kidney stones...
Gonna check a pharmacy and do a trial.

 

Be sure to do a trial indeed. I've never used this solution myself. Also the softer the water the more the pH will drop and the more risk it is for you fish. So try to find out a dose in a glass of water using a pH meter

 

Activated carbon will also remove it. Na and mg salts also work, but not good for stuff in large quantitys. I would do massive water changes, wipe all the surfaces with paper towels and use carbon to finsh the clean up.

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Citric acid is sold in grocery stores, spice section as 'sour salt'. Also used in canning, and other kitchen uses. Look for it with both names.
It is the crystals that make Gummy Worms so sour.
So go get a jumbo bag of Gummy Worms and rub off those crystals into the tank.

The plants need not be deprived of their fertilizer. Just keep adding fish food to the tank. As it decomposes it becomes most of the nutrients plants need. It does not have to be digested by fish to become available to the plants. Whatever microorganisms have survived the soap will like the food, and will digest it for the plants.

 

Normal vinager cuts soap I would put a few table spoons in and let cycle for 30 min and water change and add more like a cup or so if no fish are in there since the ph will shift fast but shoud be fine fish live through worse things. This works great if you dump soap on the floor or counter too =)

 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks to all for the really great information and hints. I just wanted to let y'all know how it worked out. Especially in case anyone needs to read this thread in the future, but I hope not!

So Diana, great advice about finding the citric acid but I didn't see it in time for the run to the store which is quite a drive from here so I did as you originally suggested and with some use of Tank guy's strategy as well:

I have some disability so I had to make it as easy as possible on me physically which turned out to be best for the fish it seems: I started a vacuum and ran the water out the nearby window (no hauling buckets!) and meanwhile scooped water especially where I saw froth or bubbles. I left the fish in since catching them in all the plant growth was nearly impossible and stressful for us both.

I had already taken out everything that could be cleaned with vinegar and water: heater, pump. I did a major plant pruning since this was a seriously overgrown tank. I removed stem plants, floaters, driftwood, moss and rinsed all repeatedly in clean fresh water and put aside in water while I worked.

I took the water level in this 30g down to about 1/5. Then wiped the inside glass with a paper towel damp with vinegar, next a paper towel damp with tap water, then dried.

Then I refilled over the course of an evening the tank with fresh water that was hard water so that I would be adding Ca and Mg to precipitate soap.

The surviving fish looked better within an hour. Much better! The betta's gills are no longer inflammed and the others are breathing well with dorsal fins erect. There may still be a bit of residue left, but apparently that was enough to make fish feel well even without any aeration during the day---plants and lights only. I'm not seeing little bubbles on the edges of anything either.

I'm adding back fish food for all, Diana.


Thanks!

 

Use high absorbent microfiber towels to remove the residues in the tank !! This kind of towel pulls the dust easily from the surface without smearing around !!