Puffer Experts.....

[E.intheC]

So the very long story short is this:

a WHILE ago (more than 1 year), I got a small dogface puffer, put him in my QT tank, and observed him for a month or two. He was eating, happy, etc. After a while he unfortunately started doing poorly and passed away. he was found attached to my power-head.

The tank was in my basement, and because I never go down there, was terribly upset by the loss, and didn't know how to handle the tank (more on this later), I have not done anything with the tank. I removed the fish and disposed of him obviously, but the tank, rock, powerhead, everything is still there. the water has since evaporated and there's only salt left.

Here is my question: since the puffer died in my tank and has the toxic organs/flesh (poisonous? I can't recall), what do I need to do in order to properly handle this tank? Is there still a danger, even after a year? I've done tons of reading about this but haven't come up with anything helpful (lots of second hand stories relating to people eating pufferfish and getting sick, but not much else).

Yes, I realize I should have handled this much more quickly, but here we are.
Help!

Thank you.......

 

[rssjsb]

Just scrub it out. I've lost a dogface puffer in tanks full of other fish and, except for the eel that tried to eat it, it had no effect on the other inhabitants. I can't imagine there's any toxins in the tank, but rinsing everything off should take care of anything.

 

[E.intheC]

Thank you for the help Robin.

I'm probably being OCD, but do I need to worry about rocks, powerhead, tank, etc and how they will effect people (not just the fish?) I don't want to throw out the tank and have the garbage folks handle it and get exposed or inadvertently inhale something when i'm cleaning the tank. To note, the fish was in rough shape when I found him, unfortunately.

But i'm also pretty sure it's only through ingestion that it can harm, correct? On one hand, I'm sure there are lots of puffer fish that die in the fish trade, and are subsequently disposed of, but on the other hand, I'd rather be over-cautious than under.

 

[rssjsb]

I applaud you for being conscientious, but I do think you're worrying too much. I doubt anyone's going to be exposed to anything harmful from hauling off old rocks. Maybe a hernia.

And I think you're right that you'd have to ingest the fish to be hurt.