Rinsing Off Salvinia Natans

[Bugdozer]

Today my order of Salvinia arrived from a supplier that gets its plants from Singapore. I keep shrimp in my tank and of course I do not want dangerous pesticides to kill them, so I am keeping the plants floating in a bucket for a couple of days, with water changes, in order to help reduce pesticide presence.
However, the Salvinia leaves are extremely water repellent, I guess to help it float, and I am concerned it will not be easy to get rid of pesticides on the upper parts of the leaves as trying to rinse them just makes the water roll off - even submerging them you can see a large covering of trapped air on the leaves. Any tips?

 

[fluttermoth]

Hmm, that's a tough one...

I don't know if it's of any help at all, but apparently the pesticide is very quickly neutralised in alkaline water, of pH 8 or above. If you happen to have any pH Up or Rift valley salts, you could use that to help, but I'm not sure what to suggest about the water repellent properties of Salvinia!

In a mesh bag, weighted down, perhaps?

 

[Bugdozer]

Hmm, that's a tough one...

I don't know if it's of any help at all, but apparently the pesticide is very quickly neutralised in alkaline water, of pH 8 or above. If you happen to have any pH Up or Rift valley salts, you could use that to help, but I'm not sure what to suggest about the water repellent properties of Salvinia!

In a mesh bag, weighted down, perhaps?

I suppose that's probably the best way. I don't have anything to adjust the pH up but my water is naturally about 7.5, so has slight alkalinity.

 

[Bugdozer]

I have put the plants in two new washing machine tablet bags, weighted down with a fork stuck through the prongs of the mesh and a plate on top of the fork! Those things float like polystyrene! Was a job to hold them down.