# Failed bleach dip



## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

Ok so about a week ago I confinscated some local plants from the lake while I was canoeing to put in my shrimp tank. I saw snail eggs on only one leaf of one of the plants. I wiped it off and decided to dip my plants for an extra minute or two to make damned sure there were no hitchhikers. I wasn't to worried if the plants survived or not and sure enough all but 2 disintegrated but I have now found 2 kinds of worms, some other type of insect that I have no idea what it was and about 50 baby snails in a corner of my tank. Seriously? I dipped the plants long enough to melt them but the bleach didn't kill anything else? What's up with that? I think that's the last time I trust bleach.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Bleach does not work well with aquatic insects, their eggs, or snail eggs. It works with filamentous algae. I don't think there is any dip that works differently than bleach in that it is more effective with insects, eggs, etc, and less harmful to the plants. If you get aquatic insects or snails, it is easy enough to separate the plants from them after they have hatched. It is really, really difficult to separate plants from filamentous algae, and that is why bleach is useful.


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## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

Oh I figured bleach should kill just about anything. Like me if I went swimming in it.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Potassium permanganate is pretty good at killing snail eggs and snails. I'm not sure how well it does against insects, but it kills crustaceans and most algae, but not plants.

Down side is it dyes anything with moisture in it purple...


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## aquabillpers (Apr 13, 2006)

Maybe your tank would be more interesting with some of those new creatures in it.

Bill


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## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

Yea the only thing I don't want is pond snails or something simular, or those worm/leachlike parasites that attach on to my fish. Anything else that isn't harmful to the tank or eyes I wouldn't mind so much.


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## Emily6 (Feb 14, 2006)

Bummer! Maybe your shrimp need a vacation in another tank while you load up on loaches and puffer fish.


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## dstrong (Feb 13, 2011)

What I usually do is just crush every one I see against whatever its on and let my shrimp eat the remains lol. Very eco-friendly and not to much of a pain if its a smaller tank like my shrimps 10g. I've successfully used the finger method on a 55g but I was fairly diligent and spend a few minutes each day snail hunting. They usually grow slow enough that few if any reach maturity to lay eggs. The more I talk about it I actually dont mind pond snails.. Its a nice carnivorous supliment for my shrimp for a few weeks. 

A did aquire some kind of insect I think because there was a bunch of tiny creatures swarming the corpse of a nerite that died recently. They kind of remind me of gnats but as long as they are scavengers I guess that's just one more addition to my cleanup crew.

I guess you're right Bill!


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