Melody
Jan 30th 2007, 11:58 PM
If you want to ensure that your plants are free of snails/eggs, bacteria, parasites, etc., there are three possible methods of general disinfection:
1. Soak a new plant in 10 mg Potasium Permanganate/L for 10-15 minutes. Rinse well with dechlorinated water. CAUTION: Potassium Permanganate should never be mixed with Formalin (often found in anti-parasite/anti-fungal meds) as the mixture can be explosive!
2. Soak a new plant in a 1:40 ratio of bleach & water {25ml Bleach to 1L of water or 1TBSP to a 1/2 quart of water}. Soak the plant for two minutes, keeping the roots, rhyzome or bulb propped out of the water. Then give the soft plant parts as defined above, a quick dip. Rinse well with dechlorinated water.
3. Soak plants in a Alum solution at a ratio of 10 tsp Alum USP to 1 gallon of water to kill off bacteria. Soak for three days to kill snails & their eggs. Rinse well with dechlorinated water.
Some plants don't cope well with these methods, but most will recover even if they do suffer for it. If anyone knows of specific plants that do not tolerate one of the above treatments at all, please speak up!
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1. Soak a new plant in 10 mg Potasium Permanganate/L for 10-15 minutes. Rinse well with dechlorinated water. CAUTION: Potassium Permanganate should never be mixed with Formalin (often found in anti-parasite/anti-fungal meds) as the mixture can be explosive!
2. Soak a new plant in a 1:40 ratio of bleach & water {25ml Bleach to 1L of water or 1TBSP to a 1/2 quart of water}. Soak the plant for two minutes, keeping the roots, rhyzome or bulb propped out of the water. Then give the soft plant parts as defined above, a quick dip. Rinse well with dechlorinated water.
3. Soak plants in a Alum solution at a ratio of 10 tsp Alum USP to 1 gallon of water to kill off bacteria. Soak for three days to kill snails & their eggs. Rinse well with dechlorinated water.
Some plants don't cope well with these methods, but most will recover even if they do suffer for it. If anyone knows of specific plants that do not tolerate one of the above treatments at all, please speak up!
---------------------------------------------------------
© Please note: While you are welcome to link directly to this thread, the contents are copyright CanadianAquariumConnection.com and cannot be copied. Thank you for respecting the effort that we've put into our content.
---------------------------------------------------------