Cleaning plants before putting them into your tank

[Cosmic]

Apologies if this has been asked before.

As a newb I'm concerned that any new plants I buy may contain contaminants either animal, vegetable or mineral! Before I go ahead and simply dunk them in my tank, what is the best way to remove any potentially harmful threats from the plants without doing any unnecessary damage to them?

 

[Cat]

I made a big mistake with a plant

Just put it in the tank,must have been a snail on it now I have 1000's I'll know better next time.

 

[Cosmic]

Yes, that's exactly the sort of thing I'm concerned about but what about parasites or diseases etc? Snails and eggs I guess you can see if you look closely enough. What I am asking I guess is how would you "clean" a plant of possible problems?

Someone suggested a quick dip into boiling water but, to be honest, I can only see that killing the plants off!

 

[maddskillz]

i dont know about snails but i give anything i put in my tank a ich bath

what ever ich medacine you have

 

[Cosmic]

Thanks for the advice

 

[sinistral]

If you're interested in snail prevention, I've read you can either try soaking plants in potassium permanganate or aluminum sulfate. Here is a link which describes these methods for snail prevention.

To be honest, I think it may be easier to pick the snails out or use the lettuce method (weigh a leaf of lettuce down at night, the snails crawl onto it, remove the leaf and snails in the daytime, discard), or view a snail outbreak as a sign of overfeeding and cut back accordingly. Both those chemicals are potentially caustic. I am uncertain how easy they are to obtain.

I typically have added plants straight to the tank after a rinse in tap water and haven't had a disaster yet.

Otherwise, I am unsure how to disinfect plants. HTH~

 

[lizard]

When I get new plants, I simply rinse 'em off and make sure there are no snails on 'em before they go in the tank.

Pamela
aka Married Lizard

 

[AquaSeaFoam]

some people also dip their plants in a bleach solution, i'm not sure what concentration though, go to www.thekrib.com and search around, there is a wealth of info there.
Personally, i've never felt the need to do this, i just rinse them in tap water and i have loaches in my planted tank so snails aren't a problem.

 

[Bangin]

sinistral mentioned aluminum sulfate-which can be bought at any grocery store. "Alum" can be found in the spice section. You're supposed to soak the plants for a couple of days in a solution of alum and water. This kills any microscopic bugs and snail eggs.

 

[konrad05]

I never do anything to my plants and I've bought hundreds of dollars worth. If any snails make the trip, my loaches take care of them B)

 

[sinistral]

sinistral mentioned aluminum sulfate-which can be bought at any grocery store. "Alum" can be found in the spice section.

Uh, I guess this means it isn't as caustic or difficult to find as I had thought ) Thanks Bangin, I learn something new every day from this section!