mangolm Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 I ordered some plants from waterplantz on Trademe, they mostly dont have roots but look healthy - no visible algae, snails or eggs etc. It says they are sterilized before dispatch - would you still recommend quarantining the plants? Would you recommend quarantining LFS plants? For how long would you quarantine and other than snails what should I be looking out for? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alexyay Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Most of his plants are emersed so you wouldn't expect many/any aquatic diseases anyway. I've never QT'd plants - if you're worried (I've never seen anyone bother QT plants) you can dip them in a bleach dip (1:19 bleach to water ratio) which will kill anything on them. Snails would be the only concern and the bleach dip will get rid of them (copper dips will work too for snails) - only other worry is algae but if your tank is healthy you shouldn't have an issue as algae exists on just about everything and isn't really something you QT against - again most of his are emersed so no algae issues there. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mangolm Posted March 27, 2014 Author Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Thankyou! Do you use hydrogen peroxide or sodium chloride? What kind of dilution? I have finally rid my tank of snails from the last lot of plants i got from LFS, I definitely don't want to have to go through that again! I was also more worried if any kinds of fishy diseases or parasites could survive on plants from an infected tank? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 27, 2014 Report Share Posted March 27, 2014 Most people treat with 1 in 20 solution of chlorine bleach. No point if the plants have been grown emersed, and his are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kinnadian Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 All it takes is one Trademe seller to give you a plant with some black hair algae spores and that's it Total pain the ass. I quarantine all plants now as a matter of course, give them A LOT of light and dose high ferts to see if any black hair algae grows. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 28, 2014 Report Share Posted March 28, 2014 The spores for most types of algae will be in your aquarium and it depends on the conditions wether or not they will thrive, this also applies to "blue/green algae" as well so trying to sanitise plants with little chance of having aquatic algae seems a waste of time to me. It is not always easy to convert emersed plants to submersed so why give them more hassles to overcome. Treating aquariums for algae will drop the algal load but ultimately you need to change the conditions or it will come straight back. Just my thoughts. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Colour_genes Posted March 29, 2014 Report Share Posted March 29, 2014 I'm sure I have read on at least one website (The Skeptical Aquarist, I think it was called?) that the intermediate stage of Ich settles on any available surface (including plants) after the first infection on the fish, then 'reproduces/divides' before it releases again to re-infect the fish. So I guess, if the plants come from an aquarium with fish in it, they could potentially 'carry' ich to a new tank. I think 10 - 15 days was recommended for the quarantine of tank AND all it's 'non-fish' contents. Yes, just checked the website - see this link http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/ichthyophthirius . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
alanmin4304 Posted March 29, 2014 Report Share Posted March 29, 2014 These plants are grown emersed--no fish, no ich. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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