Plants And Quarantine

koinukun · Jun 19, 2008

Hi everyone!
I wasn't sure if I should post this here or in the planted section...but I opted for here.
I would like to get some plants that are attached to some driftwood from the LFS but I always boil drift wood from their tanks before I put it into my tank. How do you quarantine or kill any badness that may be in the wood without killing the plants attached?

Also if I wanted to get some more regular plants, how do you quarantine them? Or is there no real risk just bringing plants straight from the shop and into your tank?

Thanks for any advice you can spare!

koinukun~

Miss Wiggle · Jun 19, 2008

people don't boil driftwood to get 'badness' out of it. it's so it becomes soaked and then will sink and also to remove tannines. generally if you buy wood from an lfs with plants on it's already been sat in a tank and waterlogged and tannine free therefore just stick it in your tank. :good:

waterdrop · Jun 19, 2008

The main "gotcha" with bringing plants in is getting unwanted snails and snail eggs. There have been some great threads way back in TFF about ways to deal with this. You can start by searching on the word "snail" I think (haven't done it in a while or I would provide a link) -- there are several good threads out there I think. Seems like it took me several long reads to see that ultimately there was some recipe for a mild bleach solution (just guessing, so don't do this unless you find the thread!) or something that one of the very experienced members knew about...

~~waterdrop~~
ps. not to say that people don't just give their plants a mild rinse in tank or tap water and plant 'em, they do! (put 'em on a tray and keep the wet with a sprayer while you clean off dead material. Give the root tips a clip with the scissors, then plant them deep and bring the crown back up just above the gravel, so that the roots are pointing down more hopefully.) There's probably many more tips but I'm just a beginner myself mostly.

fishncan · Jun 19, 2008

something I do to live plants is to give them a quick dip in a saline solution. DO NOT SOAK THEM...JUST A QUICK DIP!!!! . This can cause whatever invertebrates that may be clinging to them to let go

koinukun · Jun 19, 2008

Oh cool! Thanks for the advice! So there's no possible chance of any harmful bacteria being absorbed by driftwood in LFS tanks? I just want to be extra careful since my tank has just finished treatment for an annoying case of camellanus and other nasty outbreaks, so I'm being extra cautious from now on.

Thanks again!

koinukun~

waterdrop · Jun 19, 2008

Oh sure, I think there's always some chance of harmful stuff getting in with anything we put in our tanks, but we just end up taking those chances most of the time and not worrying too much about it.

It certainly couldn't hurt, given your concern, to perform the "put it in a bucket and pour multiple kettles of boiling water over it" routine that people often do with woods that are going to go in their tank. There are also people here who report that they leave their wood in the bucket for a period of time to watch for tannin amounts and some even test the water to see what the wood will do to the pH etc.

It ends up being a judgement call depending partly on how the piece of wood seems and looks to you and your level of patience.

~~waterdrop~~

Miss Wiggle · Jun 19, 2008

waterdrop said:
It certainly couldn't hurt, given your concern, to perform the "put it in a bucket and pour multiple kettles of boiling water over it" routine that people often do with woods that are going to go in their tank.

apart from kill the plants of course :unsure:

most plants don't take all that well to having boiling water poured over them. :lol:

waterdrop · Jun 19, 2008

Well I missed you putting this one over on me this morning, drat!

I thought you were just having a complete laugh on me .. but,

upon re-reading it occurs to me that maybe the OP meant that the LFS had -already- tied the plants to the bogwood. Is that it? Is this all about dealing with the two of them, the plants and the wood both, already tied together?

koinukun · Jun 19, 2008

That's right. The wood's for sale already in the tanks with the plants preattached. So pouring boiling water on them is obviously a no-no as it would kill the plants.

TetraLinz · Jun 20, 2008

Actually, yes, plants can and sometimes do bring nasties in with them - including bacterial infections and parasites such as ICH. If the wood has been in a tank with fish in it in the LFS, the risk is increased still further.

Best thing to do is to put the plants/driftwood in a bucket or something and treat the bucket with a broad-range medication. In the UK, I'd recommend Esha 2000, but I'm not sure if you can get it in Aus :unsure:

Dave Spencer · Jun 20, 2008

TetraLinz said:
Actually, yes, plants can and sometimes do bring nasties in with them - including bacterial infections and parasites such as ICH. If the wood has been in a tank with fish in it in the LFS, the risk is increased still further.

Best thing to do is to put the plants/driftwood in a bucket or something and treat the bucket with a broad-range medication. In the UK, I'd recommend Esha 2000, but I'm not sure if you can get it in Aus

Why buy from a source that is suspect?

I get my plants from Tropica and The Green Machine in the UK, and my fish from The Green Machine. I get what I pay for.

Dave.

Miss Wiggle · Jun 20, 2008

waterdrop said:
Well I missed you putting this one over on me this morning, drat!

I thought you were just having a complete laugh on me .. but,

upon re-reading it occurs to me that maybe the OP meant that the LFS had -already- tied the plants to the bogwood. Is that it? Is this all about dealing with the two of them, the plants and the wood both, already tied together?

yeah quite often you buy plants like java fern or anubius already tied onto some plants..... so yeah not a good idea at all to pour boiling water over them.

I agree with Dave, I'm very careful where I buy stuff from for the tank, weather it's plants, fish, wood or whatever if I'm not comfortable about the conditions of their tanks I just don't buy from there.

waterdrop · Jun 20, 2008

you guys have such good sources in the uk... haven't established good sources really for plants in the usa, wish I knew

Miss Wiggle · Jun 20, 2008

i think we are lucky with the quality of shops available to us over here, plants we do generally have to go on-line for good quality ones or anything unusual, but there's a few really good suppliers with very reasonable delivery charges in the UK.

koinukun · Jun 20, 2008

Thanks for your advice guys! I'll have to have a shop around too see what some of the other places are like around here. I doubt I'd be able to order any online as Tasmania's quarantine is the strictest in Australia when it comes to plants and livestock. If nothing comes up I'll just get some from a tank which looks to be in good health from the LFS and just treat it with a general med like you said.

Thanks again!

koinukun~