Do plants need QT?

[sfdiscus]

Hi - I am evaluating buying plants from private hobbyists from Craigslist. Do I need to QT these plants? If this too risky? thx

[ericatdallas]

I think a lot of people give it a potassium permanganate or bleach bath and that's enough. Some people QT them.

[MKD]

I'm not an expert. Not sure about qt but for sure you have to dip them in pp or bleach to make sure no snails or eggs. I'm having snail problem right now in none discus tank. Gl



Ps: Eric beat me

[GenkiDiscus]

MadDiscus, i'm currently have a snail explosion in my tank after adding plants from a few sources. How do you get rid of them without harming fish and water parameters?

[dbfzurowski]

You can buy "Clear Water" from Jungle sold at pet smart. Active ingredient is pp. I just do a pp bath and in the tank it goes.

[ericatdallas]

MadDiscus, i'm currently have a snail explosion in my tank after adding plants from a few sources. How do you get rid of them without harming fish and water parameters?

you know, I had a snail infestation a month back. I didn't do anything active to kill them off but I noticed all of a sudden I had a mass die-off of snails. So I looked it up. Apparently when I dosed my tank with potassium nitrate I might have killed them off. I dosed to 10ppm-20ppm in my planted tank. I found a few posts that say snails are very sensitive to nitrate levels. My fish don't seem to care. I do have discus in my planted tank but they don't seem to care about the dosing. The plants are pretty good at absorbing it but the brief spike might be hurting the snail. I also dose with magnesium sulfate and that apparently also inhibits the ability of the snail to hang on the glass.

Just some things to consider especially if you have a planted tank.

That or you could always buy some snail eating fish.

[MKD]

MadDiscus, i'm currently have a snail explosion in my tank after adding plants from a few sources. How do you get rid of them without harming fish and water parameters?

I haven't solved it yet. I read some threads here, they suggested clown loach, assasin snails, or lower ph. Right now I bought a few assasin snails let see what happens.

[Eddie]

You can buy "Clear Water" from Jungle sold at pet smart. Active ingredient is pp. I just do a pp bath and in the tank it goes.

Pp or hydrogen peroxide.


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[maxpain]

where can you buy pp? this might be a dumb question but do you soak the plant in the hydrogen peroxide or bleach solution or do you just pour it on the plants. what is the ratio of water to bleach or is it straight bleach? also same question for hydrogen peroxide and pp.

[Eddie]

where can you buy pp? this might be a dumb question but do you soak the plant in the hydrogen peroxide or bleach solution or do you just pour it on the plants. what is the ratio of water to bleach or is it straight bleach? also same question for hydrogen peroxide and pp.

You can get pp at pool supplies stores.

If using hp, I basically dip the plants in a bucket that's about 1/4 filled with hp.


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[seanyuki]

You get PP from here..... 1 lb for $14.99

http://www.koienterprise.com/Argent-Labs/Potassium-Permanganate-p-71.html

[3dees]

I soak my plants in alum for 30 min. kills the snails and eggs.

[Harriett]

I soak my plants in alum for 30 min. kills the snails and eggs.

I have used alum, which you can get at any grocery store in the baking section--it will be with the spices; A gallon of water and a couple tablespoons of alum for 30 minutes is probably enough.
If you are going to use bleach, use a 10/1 ration of water to bleach, give it 10 minutes and take the plants out--dunk in plain water to shake the bleach off.
If you are going to use PP, fill a gallon or better sized container with plain water--tap just a FEW crystals of PP into the bucket and stir--add more crystals as needed, just a couple at a time--when the water is a nice light to medium lavender color, you are good to go. 10 minutes max for PP plant dips, and dunk in plain water after to stop the PP action.

There are some plants that are quite delicate and bleach or PP is too harsh and will melt them, so be careful which you dunk--the usual crypts, echinodorus, etc weather those treatments welll, but some fine stem plants can't take it.

I personally love clown loaches and have always kept a pack of them in my discus tanks, with absolutely zero problems--I have close to a dozen that are 10 years old now and larger--still no problems. They live to about 30 years old. I do find that the the younger ones are more voracious eaters of snails.

Good luck with your planted tank!
Best regards,
Harriett

[3dees]

I got that alum tip a while back from you Harriett and forgot to thank you. it really does work.

[chemjab]

I have used alum, which you can get at any grocery store in the baking section--it will be with the spices; A gallon of water and a couple tablespoons of alum for 30 minutes is probably enough.
If you are going to use bleach, use a 10/1 ration of water to bleach, give it 10 minutes and take the plants out--dunk in plain water to shake the bleach off.
If you are going to use PP, fill a gallon or better sized container with plain water--tap just a FEW crystals of PP into the bucket and stir--add more crystals as needed, just a couple at a time--when the water is a nice light to medium lavender color, you are good to go. 10 minutes max for PP plant dips, and dunk in plain water after to stop the PP action.

There are some plants that are quite delicate and bleach or PP is too harsh and will melt them, so be careful which you dunk--the usual crypts, echinodorus, etc weather those treatments welll, but some fine stem plants can't take it.

I personally love clown loaches and have always kept a pack of them in my discus tanks, with absolutely zero problems--I have close to a dozen that are 10 years old now and larger--still no problems. They live to about 30 years old. I do find that the the younger ones are more voracious eaters of snails.

Good luck with your planted tank!
Best regards,
Harriett

these recipes for "plant disinfection" are exactly what I am looking for. Thanks! :)