bad bacteria?|Skulls, Skeletons and European Mounts|Forum|Taxidermy Talk

the water in my tank has gone from green to bright red over the last couple of water changes, i know the red is the bacteria you want to avoid, and the skull is starting to become soft and peices are falling off. My question is will pulling the skull and letting it dry out for a day or two be sufficient enough to kill the bacteria on it? I already tried completely emptying and rinsing out the bin its been soaking in, but that didnt do it… theres just a little bit of meat in the places that are too tight to get at with hemostats or any other tool, but i dont want the bone to get any worse