Potassium Permanganate Help

[cassiejx8]

Hey Everyone,

I could use a little help. I am currently in the progess of starting up a new shrimp tank. In this tank I was going for a no snails approach. After reading online I decided Potassium Permanganate was a good solution. So I went out and bought Jungle Clear Water. I found a bunch of different water to solution ratios ranging from 10 minutes to 3 hours. I believe that I soaked the plants for 40 minutes. The ratio is a little fuzzy, but it was enough to turn the water a dark purple. So i soak, rinsed, then introducted the plants into the tank. A couple days later I noticed something. The plants seem to be dying - loosing most of their leaves or completely falling apart. Even worse I saw baby snails in the tank today. I know I must have doen something wrong, but I am not overly sure where I went wrong.

Anyone know where I went wrong?

Thanks,
Cassie

 

[authmal]

As a guess, since I've been looking up using potassium permanganate myself, is that you used too much. Everything I've read said light pink is the target color, implying dark purple is way too much. You plants may just take some time to recover from the trauma. Again, this is just a guess, because I've started looking at getting some for my own use.

 

[tiger_cory]

What kind of plants do you have? I agree with authmal that you may have used too much. Also, indian fern ( aka water sprite) is sensitive to potassium permanganate. I'm sure that other plants are also that way too.