Did I Just Kill My New Plants?

[symon_say]

Hi

I purchase elodea and hornweet yesterday, they had a lot of snails, and i use the bleach method to kill the snails, i put 1 part of bleach for 20 parts of water a put the plants in that solution for about 5 min, but when i took then out they were yellow without any color, i put the in clean water to take bleach out and immediately in clean water with a lot of dechlorinator, is this color change part of this process or are they dead??

Thanks

 

[KittyKat]

Quite possibly, I have never heard of anyone bleaching plants! Next time maybe try an aquarium snail killer solution.. the plants are more likely to survive that (should also be rinsed under the tap after).

 

[symon_say]

Quite possibly, I have never heard of anyone bleaching plants! Next time maybe try an aquarium snail killer solution.. the plants are more likely to survive that (should also be rinsed under the tap after).

I have read about this method in here, and found a lot of info about it on the internet.

 

[PDSimon]

I thought the best method was to stick a peice of veg in the bottom over night and take it out in the morning?

 

[SuperColey1]

There's a lot of info on the net r.e. bleaching plants before puting them in the tank. A Lot of people still do it. Its more some paranoia over snails and such.

If you have to clean the plants then run them under a fast flowing tap first. I would never use bleach on them. It can pretty much destroy some and will weaken others.

I personally put my plants straight into the tank!!!

AC

 

[JoshuaA]

Heh, afaik the method is ideally used to kill the gel like eggs that are left by pest snails. I've never tried it usually just limiting the food you feed tends to result in the death of the snails.

I also remember reading over this a while ago and I think the solution suggested was a lot less than you have used I also think they merely just dipped the plants in and then ran cold water over them from the tap straight away.

 

[KittyKat]

I also just avoid overfeeding to control snails a few are more of a good thing than bad!

 

[symon_say]

I'll buy the plants again and just put then under water, a keep feeding low to control then, and for the ones i bleach, i'll keep then in a bucket with water and outside to see if sun can help.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

The proper ratio is 19water-1bleach i.e5% bleach.
The proper dip time is a max of 90s seconds, less for more delicate.fine leaved plants.

Some plants will not tolerate this treatment at all. I know sprite and anachris are two. I suggest next time before doing all the plants you make a test with a piece of a stem plant as these are usually the types that may not like bleach.

After you do the dip, rinse well in dechlorinated water and then drop the plants into a bucket of water with a nice dose of dechlor. After a couple minutes they are plantable.

I have been bleach dipping plants this way for about 8 or 9 years now.

It also works to kill algae on plants if things get out of balance in a tank and the algae gets the upper hand. The algae my not come off immediately but it dies and will either be eaten by fish or dissolve on its own pretty fast.

 

[Ostara]

The proper ratio is 19water-1bleach i.e5% bleach.
The proper dip time is a max of 90s seconds, less for more delicate.fine leaved plants.

Some plants will not tolerate this treatment at all. I know sprite and anachris are two. I suggest next time before doing all the plants you make a test with a piece of a stem plant as these are usually the types that may not like bleach.

After you do the dip, rinse well in dechlorinated water and then drop the plants into a bucket of water with a nice dose of dechlor. After a couple minutes they are plantable.

I have been bleach dipping plants this way for about 8 or 9 years now.

It also works to kill algae on plants if things get out of balance in a tank and the algae gets the upper hand. The algae my not come off immediately but it dies and will either be eaten by fish or dissolve on its own pretty fast.

+1 on this

I tried bleach dipping once, but I only stuck them in and gave them a good swish before running them under the tap for a few minutes. And you'll never want to do it with anacharis... I tried and what was dipped never fully recovered. Some if it did finally send out a few new undamaged stalks, but it took ages. Now I generally just fill a bucket with tank water and use that to hold, clean, and examine them.

Bleach dips definitely have their place though. I bought all of my plants for my discus tank online and they came from Florida. I rinsed, soaked, and thoroughly examined them all, but they still managed to bring snails, algae, and duckweed into my tank. I definitely wish I'd dipped those.

 

[RadaR]

I'd never use bleach on new plants.
Besides, what's wrong with a few snails? If you get over run with them then it indicates that you're overfeeding the fish.

 

[ian]

Yep, i'm in the 'just rinse and put them in you tank' camp. As for pest snails, that's why Assassin snail were invented.

 

[Verminator89]

IME Assasin snails are useless. Me and Gill (member here) went to Northampton MA and both came back with some Assasin snails. Whislt he noted effective snail "assasinations" (?) and regular kills, i didnt see one and my snail population only got worse it seemed.

I've been bleaching plants for a few years now. Mainly only tough plants such as Anubias which i leave in for approx 2 minutes, take out and give a good rinse over fast water, given a promt dechlorinator and plonked back in the tank. I usueally do this to remove algae build up on the plants, usually only my anubias. I'd give serious concideration as to which plants i'd dip in bleach though, as mentioned some just can't take it, even only a few seconds!

 

[KittyKat]

I hear that assassin snails can also breed out of control, in a similar way to MTS or ramshorns..

 

[JoshuaA]

Well I bought two assassin snails but I was concerned he might have a go at some shrimp so I gave them to my girlfriend. All they have ever done is dig down into the sand and stay there for what seems to be weeks before they resurface pounce on something and then go back under.

To see something as slow as a snail eat something else as slow as a snail appears really odd, there is no thrill of the chase to be had there.

You can buy bunches of plants on eBay which should sooth the problem if you paid quite a lot for the ones you accidentally damaged in bleach.