Quarantine
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I never quarantined plants. Some members do, in a no-fish tank for a couple weeks. Dipping the plant into this or that I would not due. Anything strong enough to kill algae or snails/eggs will inevitably harm the plant; a planted tank author on TFH said this in her column.
BettaFishGirl
Fishaholic
As Long as my plants are from a trusted source, I just rinse them off with tap water. I don't quarantine them
I haven't but almost wish I had as I did accidentally introduce pest snails a few weeks ago through one plant. I've removed them all now, must've been about 10 that I spotted altogether and haven't seen any for about a fortnight so hoping that's the last of them!
Most people don't quarantine plants but it's a good idea too just so you can make sure they don't have things like snails, dragonfly larvae and other pests on them.
If the plants came out of a tank with fish, then quarantining them for 2-4 weeks will ensure they don't introduce diseases to the main tank. If they do come from a tank with fish in, the water in the quarantine tank should be replaced completely at least 2 times during the quarantine period. You should also rinse the plants under tap water when you do this, and wipe the inside of the glass down.
If the plants came out of a tank with fish, then quarantining them for 2-4 weeks will ensure they don't introduce diseases to the main tank. If they do come from a tank with fish in, the water in the quarantine tank should be replaced completely at least 2 times during the quarantine period. You should also rinse the plants under tap water when you do this, and wipe the inside of the glass down.
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For those members in the UK, look at Horizon Aquatics website. I'm lucky enough to live reasonably close to this shop, and last time I was there they were reorganising the plant room to create a lot of shelving for in vitro plants. Other shops also sell in vitro, but this one has really gone to town on them.
www.horizonaquatics.co.uk
I've also bought plants from Aqua Essentials, though no in vitro yet.
aquaessentials.co.uk
Tissue Culture
www.horizonaquatics.co.uk
I've also bought plants from Aqua Essentials, though no in vitro yet.
Tissue Culture Plants - Aqua Essentials
Tissue Culture aquarium plants use the latest techniques of growing aquatic plants and offering them - Aqua Essentials
aquaessentials.co.uk
Hello Alex. I keep extremely clean tanks with good filtration, so I don't worry about quarantining anything. But, for whatever reasons, not everyone removes and replaces as much tank water as I do. So, I've never worried about separating plant or fish for a period before it goes into my tank. For plants, I just rinse them in warm water and remove any leaves that don't appear healthy. Then, they go into the tank. Aquarium plants are tropical, so they're used to long hours of daylight. I recommend keeping the lights on for at least 10 hours a day. Up to 14 hours is the maximum. If you keep low to medium light plants, you won't need to fertilize. Just feed your fish a variety of foods and they'll do the job of fertilizing.
10 Tanks (Now 11)
Buying non-in vitro plants in the UK comes with one of two issues.
#1 If the plants are grown in the far east, they'll have insecticide and/or snail killer on them. This is an issue when there are shrimps and ornamental snails in the tank as the plants (or to be accurate, the chemicals on the plants) will kill them. This is due to the EU banning all species of Pomacea snails about 10 years ago and insisting that any plants imported from an area where these snails are endemic must be treated to kill them. I know the UK has left the EU but I can't see far east plant growers shipping two lots of plants this way, one treated, one untreated.
#2 If the plants are grown in the EU there will be no chemicals on them but there are likely to be pest snails/eggs on them.
So we need to either quarantine the plants or buy in vitro plants.
I do not know if plants bought in the USA have the same issues. If they don't, you don't need to quarantine them.
#1 If the plants are grown in the far east, they'll have insecticide and/or snail killer on them. This is an issue when there are shrimps and ornamental snails in the tank as the plants (or to be accurate, the chemicals on the plants) will kill them. This is due to the EU banning all species of Pomacea snails about 10 years ago and insisting that any plants imported from an area where these snails are endemic must be treated to kill them. I know the UK has left the EU but I can't see far east plant growers shipping two lots of plants this way, one treated, one untreated.
#2 If the plants are grown in the EU there will be no chemicals on them but there are likely to be pest snails/eggs on them.
So we need to either quarantine the plants or buy in vitro plants.
I do not know if plants bought in the USA have the same issues. If they don't, you don't need to quarantine them.
BettaFishGirl
Fishaholic
Not sure if your in the US, but if you are, BucePlant.com have really nice tissue cultures and amazing plants. The plants aren't guaranteed to have no pests but the tissue cultures are.
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