I just bought some Giant Val and Vallisneria Spirulis for one of my tanks. I normally QT my plants for a couple weeks but would rather not go through the QT process if I don't have too. What would be an effective way to disinfect these plants to prevent transmission of ich or other unicellular parasites that the plants might carry other than KMnO3?
Disinfecting New Plants
- Thread starter rrkss
- Start date
I use bleach and water.
3 buckets.
One with 1 part bleach to 2 parts water.
1 Full of water and two capfuls dechlorinator
1 full of water and two capfuls dechlorinator
Dip the plant in the bleach and swish carefully. Let it sit for about 2 minutes.
Dip the plant in the first bucket and swish. Let it sit for a few minutes.
Totally emerse the plant in the last bucket and leave it there while you do the rest of the plants.
Will it kill the plants? I've not had it kill any of mine, however, some have reported theirs died, but I think they left them in for over 2 minutes.
JM2C
Roan
3 buckets.
One with 1 part bleach to 2 parts water.
1 Full of water and two capfuls dechlorinator
1 full of water and two capfuls dechlorinator
Dip the plant in the bleach and swish carefully. Let it sit for about 2 minutes.
Dip the plant in the first bucket and swish. Let it sit for a few minutes.
Totally emerse the plant in the last bucket and leave it there while you do the rest of the plants.
Will it kill the plants? I've not had it kill any of mine, however, some have reported theirs died, but I think they left them in for over 2 minutes.
JM2C
Roan
This method prevented transmission of ich? Since the Tomites in the gravel do have "armor" around them, I am wondering if 2 minutes is enough to kill them. These plants were bought from a plant only tank but I don't know when the store restocked the tank. My first plant purchase ended up bringing ich to my poor goldfish. It ended up dying because I did not know any better at that time and used malachite green based medications which seemed to just become ineffective (even in a barren tank with 100% new water) within hours.
:devil: Everybody down! This is a hijacking!
Would this method also kill off algae?
I've never QTed plants, or bleached them. Guess I've been lucky. But I like getting snails so bleaching wouldn't be an option on new plants.
Guess I could quarintine them into the shrimp, snail feeder breeding tank I'm starting. Can snail and shrimp catch ich?
Would this method also kill off algae?
I've never QTed plants, or bleached them. Guess I've been lucky. But I like getting snails so bleaching wouldn't be an option on new plants.
Guess I could quarintine them into the shrimp, snail feeder breeding tank I'm starting. Can snail and shrimp catch ich?
IceH2O said:
I dont think so.
I've read that some snails can carry flukes for up to 4 weeks - but i guess thats another thing people debate.
So far i used KMnO4 (potassium permanganate) as dip - but just found a new species of snail in my QT tank - so i guess somehow some/ few snails/ eggs survived the dip - i wonder if parasites possibly survived it too.
Maybe i must use bleach from now on....
I have read here that the bleach dip will kill any parasites. You may not think 2 minutes is long, but bleach is pretty caustic.
I have never had ich introduced from plants I dipped in bleach. I *have* had ich introduced with plants I did not bleach dip.
I have not had the following plants die from a bleach dip: vallisneria caulescens, hornwort, jungle val, apongeton caupronii/udalus, java moss (wilts a bit, but comes back in a week or so), java fern, cabomba, anacharis, millfoils, onions, clover, microsword, glosso, rotatla, anubias, melons, amazon swords, cyperus helferi (I forgot about it and it was in the dip for TEN minutes. Dang plant didn't even flinch) and . . . lights are off in my all my tanks now, so I can't get a look at what I put in there
Do a search in here and see if there are any older posts on bleach dips. I'm pretty sure there are, because that's where I got the idea from months ago.
Roan
I have never had ich introduced from plants I dipped in bleach. I *have* had ich introduced with plants I did not bleach dip.
I have not had the following plants die from a bleach dip: vallisneria caulescens, hornwort, jungle val, apongeton caupronii/udalus, java moss (wilts a bit, but comes back in a week or so), java fern, cabomba, anacharis, millfoils, onions, clover, microsword, glosso, rotatla, anubias, melons, amazon swords, cyperus helferi (I forgot about it and it was in the dip for TEN minutes. Dang plant didn't even flinch) and . . . lights are off in my all my tanks now, so I can't get a look at what I put in there
Do a search in here and see if there are any older posts on bleach dips. I'm pretty sure there are, because that's where I got the idea from months ago.
Roan
I used Potassium Permanganate (KMNO4). You can buy it from Sears hardware, in a powdered form. Start by adding a half teaspoon in a bucket, add more if needed, in order to turn the color of the water dark purple.
Dip the plants for about 30 minutes, rinse well and you are done. KMNO4 does not kill plants and is much safer than bleach.
Dip the plants for about 30 minutes, rinse well and you are done. KMNO4 does not kill plants and is much safer than bleach.
LOL, my thought that I'm doing some good by rinsing the plants in clorinated tap water is a bad one, eh?
I didn't realize the ratio should be so high. Thanks for the info!
I didn't realize the ratio should be so high. Thanks for the info!