Plant quarantine.

[tomkeogh]

Hello all, my live plants of which I have 8 in 2 tanks are beginning to die out, am down to 6 at the moment. I have not had the chance to buy more as I have had my hospital tank in use and will do for a few months to come yet.

Will having plants in a bucket of water be acceptable as a quarantine? {this is how my shop displays the plants not sure if this makes a difference) I am an absolute novice when it come's to plants so I have no idea if they can survive out side of the ecosystem inside the tank, My guys love swimming through and floating in live plants much more than plastic and I love the look of live plants.

Any advice on this problem is much appreciated

 

[Dreamtheory]

I wish i could help you out, but i just don't know... just trying to get this post back to the top.


no post left behind!

 

[harliquinnraver]

why are you quarantining your plants? do you know what kind of plants you have? if you can post a picture, i can help you identify them and let you know how best to keep them alive. i have a heavily planted 55 gallon tank and both my 29 gallon and 5 gallon are also lightly planted.

 

[tomkeogh]

I was under the impression I HAD to quarantine live plants... I have been advised my shizeriec and azhael. but thank you

 

[bunny27]

I've never quarantined my live plants before. I just made sure I washed the roots and looked for any snails or attached living critters and then I put them in the tank. My method could be wrong, but that's just what I've been doing all this time.

EDIT: Actually you know what, I think I answered your question wrong. Sorry, just ignore my comment. *slaps head*

 

[Greatwtehunter]

There are commercial products specially made for cleaning plants and should be easily found in a good pet shop. Make sure any kind you get is lime based as this is safe for amphibians. Follow the instructions on the bottle and then keep the plants in quaratine for 30 days.

 

[Mac Myers]

I've tossed lots in without quarantine when I just kept fish.

But I do a lot of stupid stuff.

 

[jclee]

Quarantining plants can come in handy if you're paranoid about Chytrid and have reason to believe the plants could have shared space with an amphibian in the past 7 weeks. Some plants can tolerate mild bleach solutions, which I suspect would take care of chytrid worries. Others can be washed with a mild vinegar solution, which will chase away certain snails and such, but it doesn't completely sterilize the plants. Research the plant beforehand, though; some species like Anacharis can't tolerate bleach solutions etc. (While the bleach rinse is incredibly mild and brief, and fish keepers do this and then wash/rinse/soak the heck out of the plant before adding it to their tanks, I would worry about doing this for amphibians. I've never tried it.)

I will admit that, while I understand the theory behind quarantining plants -- that the water on them can carry nasties, and you can't really let them dry out fully to take care of it the quick way -- I rarely quarantine my aquatic plants. I hope I don't come to regret my impatience any time soon. I just clean them up like bunny 27 describes.

 

[blueberlin]

I "quarantine" my plants but for a simple reason - to get any fertilizers out of them. Store-bought plants are often also wrapped in a lead ring. I have bought plants at aquarium show which filled all of my tanks with various types of algae as well. I even found a tiny (and very expensive sort of) catfish in a plant once.

I remove any metal ring and stone wool (I always forget what it's called in English) from the plant and its roots, give it a gentle rinsing, and put it in a bucket so that it is covered in water. I change this water 100% daily and let the plant sit in that bucket for 3 days. I'm not sure if this qualifies as quarantine; again, I mainly do it to leach out any fertilizer residue and to watch for algae.

-Eva