Steralizing/Cleaning plastic plants

[Elisabeth83]

I had some plastic plants in a tank that had a bacterial infection in it. I now want to steralize/clean the plants I used in that tank.

Since the plants are plastic I can't boil them..I've tried that before and ended up ruining them. $$ down the drain

So I was wondering if I put them in the dishwasher with some soap in it if it would clean them good enough? I know you can soak them in salt but I heard you have to use a lot of salt to make sure to kill everything and if there was another way to do it I'd rather not "waste" my aquarium salt.

 

[WILDER]

A capful of bleach but rinse really well.

 

[Elisabeth83]

I know bleach works I was just wondering if running them in the dishwasher with some soap would work?

 

[WILDER]

Don't no never tryed it, could be abit harsh in there for them, if you do I would rinse them again just to be on the safe side.

 

[Polardbear]

You could put some bleach in a glass bowl and set that in the lower rack of the dishwasher and put the plants in the top rack. I'd still rinse the plants again afterwards. I usually just put the plants in a 5 gallon bucket with hot tap water and a small amount of bleach and let them soak for about 15 minutes and then rinse really well. Then to be safe I fill the bucket again and add dechlorinater.

 

[The-Wolf]

all you need to do is wash them in very hot(not boiling) water.
then allow to air dry for 48hrs (this will starve/kill any nasties that
survived the hot water).

 

[greyko]

Soap doesn't kill bacteria.
I guess the water in the dishwasher could be quite hot though.