Plants collected in the wild

James0816

James0816

AC Members
Feb 14, 2007
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I've read quite a bit of late of people collecting plants from their local lakes, streams, etc. But haven't seen any thing of how to prep the plant for aquarium use.

I'll admit that I'm always tempted to work over the creeks and such here, just to see what might be there. But .... the impact of bringing something back and introducing it into a tank of course would be bad.

I know to QT it...but what about disinfecting it and so forth?

Maybe I'll take a walk this weekend.

:rolleyes:
 
Hmmmm, I have collected a few emergent plants for my pond, sounds like maybe I need to go on another trip, lol.

Kristina
 
I've tried the bleach bath 1 part bleach per 20 parts water for 2 minutes - but I've had mixed results... I'm certainly no expert on this but I kind have noticed that stem plants with fine leaves don't tend to fare well in bleach. Almost completely killed off the hydrilla I collected on my first outing. (although I did notice a tiny bit survived and now has new growth... hurrah)

Plants with rounded (or non fine stringy leaves) survive better.

I know Potassium Permanganate and Hydrogen Peroxide are both also used- although I haven't tried any personally- I have a batch in isolation (for 3 weeks to kill off virus/bacteria) before I attempt the killers for bugs.

Algae isn't a concern for me... There are enough plants not covered in algae that I just completely ignore the ones that are.
 
I ordered Star Moss off ebay, and found it locally camping last week lol. I collected some and soaked it in a h202 mixture, and now growing it in the window
 
i just gave it a try. i dipped all of my plants in bleach 1:20 and now all i have is an empty tank w/ driftwood and some pond snails that came with the plants. everything else melted away
 
What concentration of h202 should be used? I just came home with some neat finds :D

Kristina
 
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