Oh no... real plants... where did I go wrong...

NeonJulie

NeonJulie

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Nov 13, 2006
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I purchased some plants online, and I got them about a day later than I was told to expect them - I think there was a mess up on the address. (It was sent to my old address, and not my new address.)

The mailer said they'd be a bunch of anacharis and possibly a bunch of ambulia. (But to me, it looks like one kind, not sure which kind though.)

When I did get them they smelled a little bit and seemed a little lackluster, but I put them in some water for a while, and then I made up about a 1/10 bleach solution and swished them around for about a minute, and then rinsed well with dechlorinator. The whole time the plants were losing pieces that were coming off.

After a while I added them to the tank.

Despite how brown and sort of... clear the leaves look, right away my Otos began working on them and the Gourami seemed to like them as well.

Only the plants still look very brown and still like lettuce that's sat in dressing a long time (like you can see through the plant). I don't know if it's still alive, it's still shedding pieces? But then I noticed yesterday it looks like a bunch of bubbles are under the leaves, and I think I see little green buds like the plant is trying to grow. The green buds look ok, but the rest of the plant just looks real brownish like it's disintegrating. And some pieces are still falling off. (But when I cleaned the tank, the strands did feel stronger, like maybe it's recovering from shipping.)

Unfortunately, now the problem appears that I have a parasite on the neons. It looks a LOT like Ich. (Except that the clear possibly raised white spots seem larger in diameter than last time.) First there was one on the side of one neon. About twice the size of the last Ich infestation "granual." The next day it was gone - but two other neons have Ich-like spots on their tails now. They are all miserably twitching and rubbing on the acrylic of the tank. :(

I had hoped that my bleach dip would have kept this from happening. What did I do wrong? What should I do now? Should I have soaked the plant in bleach longer? A stronger solution? (I didn't want to risk further killing the plant that already seemed so weak.)

Should I start a salt treatment??

:headshake2: :headshake2:
 
Salt is not the best Ich treatment. I'd go for a cure (antibiotic, preferebly an invert safe one - melafix?). Given what you said, the Ich didn't come from the plants.

If you did not do an adequate job of rinsing the bleach off, you might have stressed them a bit by introducing traces of it to the tank, but I doubt the gourami & otos would have hit the dying leaves if that were the case...

I suggest picking any more large dying plant chunks out, treating the ich (preferably in a QT) and letting the plants go - they'll probably make some sort of a comeback.

good luck
 
I didn't measure it but I'm guessing it was probably 1/8 cup to about a gallon of water... it didn't smell real strong.

I soaked the plant afterward in extra dechlorinator for a good 15 minutes.

I wonder where else the ich-like symptoms could have come from though in an established tank with no new residents... it's the only thing that's new.
 
I suspect that the soft damaged leaves may have soaked in the bleach, and it would have made it harder to wash out. So yes, remove the dead leaves and give the new shoots a chance.

Also Neons are quite fragile fish. I look at Neons as the canary in the coal mine - they will be the first to show danger signs if anything goes wrong in the tank.

Quarantine the fish in a seperate tank if you can and treat them.
 
What do you think I should treat them for? Parasites? Bacteria? Fungus? I got Para Guard on order but it won't be here for a few days. I have Melafix, but it doesn't seem to have ever improved anything for me, and several different bottles from different stores...

Should I up the temp? Do you suppose I need to treat the main tank if it is something like Ich...
 
lazyNode said:
I suspect that the soft damaged leaves may have soaked in the bleach, and it would have made it harder to wash out. So yes, remove the dead leaves and give the new shoots a chance.

Also Neons are quite fragile fish. I look at Neons as the canary in the coal mine - they will be the first to show danger signs if anything goes wrong in the tank.

Quarantine the fish in a seperate tank if you can and treat them.
Click to expand...

If it was in the solution for around a minute, is it possible the leaves soaked up bleach, that couldn't have been rinsed away with Prime? Just enough to swish thoroughly, probably 30-60 seconds, then I dumped the water, and swished in lots of Prime water, and let sit for 15 minutes.

But after these white spots appeared, I wondered whether I hadn't let the plant sit long enough in the bleach, and that it didn't clear any pathogens after all. I guess I'm glad I didn't leave it in longer though - I didn't think about the plant absorbing it.
 
It might be ich already sitting on the plants.

My theory of the damaged leaves absorbing the bleach came from thinking of how if you cook leafy vegetables for longer it tends to absord the sauce more compared to quickly tossing the vegies around. If that makes any sense. I guess it doesn't help that I'm slightly hungry now too.
 
Have you checked the ammonia level? If the plants are brownish and decaying, your ammonia level could have risen a bit and that stressed the Neons out enough to cause the ich outbreak. Ich doesn't always have to be introduced to the tank right before an outbreak. It can be dormant in the tank and sometimes when the fish are stressed, it can trigger an ich outbreak.

I'd treat for ich. I like to use Kent Marine RX-P (can be used for FW too...I've used it) because its safe for scaleless fish and plants.
 
I did check the ammonia, even before the water change after the plants had sat in the tank for 5 days, it was 0. No NitrItes either, and 20ppm NitrAtes (but after the water change, 10.)

The pH is 7.2, the only other variable is with the super hot days, it's been 78 degrees instead of the 76 I was enjoying.

I guess that's what I'm interested in finding out... did it come in on the plants, or is it already there waiting to attack.

One possible stressor is the fact that even though I put the plants at the top of the tank, they are not doing the job of dimming the light the way the plastic setup had been. So it's been kind of brighter in the tank. They haven't been hiding or anything though.
 
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