Cleaning live plants from any flukes

[rickztahone]

a buddy of mine gave me all his plants.. we were having some drinks at his house when i went to get them.. he was kind of wasted.. lol

so he was like.. hey.. i lets disinfect the plants before you take them.. he filled up his tub and poured ALOT of bleach.. lol.. we left them there while we had a few more beers.. when i left.. we rinsed them off.. and put them into my tank when i got home.. never saw any problems.. and the bleach/water was strong.. it was all in you nose.. LOL..

the plants were java ferns and Anubis..

Those 2 are very resiliant. That isn't to say that they can withstand any ratio, but I have had the most luck dipping those 2 in the past with no problems. It is when you get in to the pricey plants that they tend to do really poorly with bleach dips.

[Jack L]

I think Alum that you find in the grocery store for pickling should be better than bleach and if it is good for humans than it should be good for the fish.I have used both alum and bleach to get rid of snails at different times over the years and found with Alum the snails came back many of the times on the other hand with bleach dip got rid of the snails but the some of the plants turned a bit on the brown side and was not able save those plants. For those failures I have concluded that my mix ratio was not correct.Last week I treated some plants with "Clout" a half a tablet in 2 gallons of water, soaked the plants for 24 hours . So far no snails and no plant damage.

okay thanks, i've only used bleach and it has been harsh on some plants.

[Jack L]

a buddy of mine gave me all his plants.. we were having some drinks at his house when i went to get them.. he was kind of wasted.. lol

so he was like.. hey.. i lets disinfect the plants before you take them.. he filled up his tub and poured ALOT of bleach.. lol.. we left them there while we had a few more beers.. when i left.. we rinsed them off.. and put them into my tank when i got home.. never saw any problems.. and the bleach/water was strong.. it was all in you nose.. LOL..

the plants were java ferns and Anubis..

try that on crypts and i bet a different result will happen : )

[strawberryblonde]

I've always used bleach and never had any problems with my plants dying.

I use a 19:1 solution. So 1 part bleach to 19 parts water. Get two buckets ready, one with the bleach solution and one with a triple dose of safe or prime and water. Do this near your sink!

Dip the plant into the bleach solution by holding the roots in your hands. Count to 60 for normal plants (Swords, Anubias, etc) and count to 30 for crypts and vals. Now pull them out and quickly dip the roots into the solution, making sure that the base of the plant leaves also goes back into the solution. Count to 30 for normal plants and 15 for crypts and vals.

The minute the plant roots come out of the solution, run them under tap water to rinse well. Then toss the plant into the Safe or Prime treated bucket and continue on with the next plant.

When you're done with all your plants, dump the bleach solution, rinse the bucket well, then fill with water and add a triple dose of Safe or Prime. Remove the plants from the first bucket of Treated water, rinse lightly and dump them into the fresh bucket of treated water.

Let them sit for an hour, then rinse and plant them in your tank. Done. No more hitchhikers or pathogens on your plants.

[jimg]

some plants cannot tolerate any bleach strong enough to do any good, others can. i used to use pp then leave them in a separate tank for a few weeks to make sure no snails. plants need quarantine the same as a new fish would.

[ipace]

Just wondering.... if you treat the whole tank with a double dose of wormer plus to get rid of flukes..... wont this also kill them from the plants?

[jimg]

never tried it but it should.