I was at a local pond and got tons of diff plants, and was wondering what do you guys dip them in when you get them from a pond or store?
What do i dip my plants in when i gust got them from a local pond?
- Thread starter Coral Keeper
- Start date
most people I know use a bleach solution - I think it is 1 part bleach to 20 water. I am sure someone will chime in if I am wrong. I would spend some time to make sure that the plants are truly aquatic plants or you may find them quickly rotting in your tank and really making a mess.
i would carefully inspect hornwort from a pond for snail eggs. then soak it in 1 parts bleach to 8.4835 parts water anyway. hornwort from a pond will have worms all over it that you can't see until it's in your tank. same goes for your other plants
I am sure that many will disagree with me, but what I did was to buy one of those anti-parasitic meds (the name was Clout), dissolved that in a rubbermaid storage 2 gallon tub, and left the plants in for about 2 hours. I then rinsed my plants (hornwort and java fern) and soaked in good old tap water for another 2 hours. I have White Cloud Minnows and they love hornwort which is hardy. Many will say that it will stress the plant but I didn't have any problems and I didn't have any "stow-aways" on the plants. My plants were purchased at the Aquarium supply store, and in the past I have had worms and other little "stow-aways" which is why this last time I decided to dip my plants.
How did you get rid of the worms? Will any kind of shrimp or invert or fish eat those worms or bugs? I got 5 ghost shrimp in there with 5 fish, and a lot of plants.
I took everything out of the tank (it was only a small 3 gallon Eclipse system) and started over. I was over run with snails, copods, and some hydra. I have read that hydra has a tough time surviving without perfect conditions but was not the case with my little White CLoud tank. The tiny "worms" or planaria are eaten by some fish. I have seen my White Clouds pick a few off of the glass. I had so many though that I just started over! And of course the Hyra multiplies quickly and is dangerous to small fish and to fry. They are almost like little jellyfish, and will sting small fish. With dipping my plants for a short amount of time I still had some snails and other little life forms make their way to the tank but their numbers were greatly reduced from what I had happen in the past.
