# Do you quarantine your plants?



## artgecko (Apr 7, 2009)

Hey folks,

I apologized if this has been asked before, I did a search and came up with squat...

I'm going to be getting a shipment of plants in next week. In the past, I have simply rinsed plants off, removed any dead / diseased leaves, checked for snails, etc. then planted them in the tank. After reading a couple threads on here, I'm thinking about quarantining my plants in my Q tank that will be setup for some snails I am getting in (p. briggs...don't eat plants). 

What I'd like to know, is do you quarantine and why (what issues have you had from non-quarantined plants)? How long and what methods do you use? Do you dip your plants in chemicals, just rinse and put in the tank, etc? Also, if they are quarantined for long, do you light their Q tank? 

The plants I'm getting in are a mix of crypts, stem plants, and dwarf water clover BTW.

Thanks!
Art


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## crystalview (Mar 9, 2008)

Yes

http://www.aquajake.com/blog/planti...planting/disinfecting-plants-before-or-after/


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

No, I don't... Never seen or had a reason to... I would if I had wild collected plant, to make sure no dragon fly larva or other bad stuff from the outdoors got in my tank.


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## orlando (Feb 14, 2007)

I don't really quarantine per say, but I do clean and dip them. I think its good healthy tank practice.
There are critters you cant see they may be lying dormant on leaves or rhizomes you don't want. Not to mention pond snails...


-O


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I wash them and then examine with a magnifying glass for hair algae, and I always have found some. I treat with 5% bleach stem plants for two minutes and thicker stem plants for 3 to 4 minutes. Thin stem plants, such as Najas, are damaged a lot by the two minute bleach treatment, but I have been able to get them to recover by floating them in a well-lit aquarium with fish.


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## rodrigaj (Aug 17, 2008)

I never have, but the potasium permanganate solution mentioned in the link above seems like a reasonable procedure. I never have been a fan of bleach, after watching some foxtail wither away along with the algae. It did recover however.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

I am willing to cope with the damage that bleach does, because I have been able to keep my aquaria free of all the bad kinds of hair algae.


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## rodrigaj (Aug 17, 2008)

HeyPK said:


> I am willing to cope with the damage that bleach does, because I have been able to keep my aquaria free of all the bad kinds of hair algae.


If you are able to keep your aquaria free of hair algae it is most emphatically, *not* because you do a bleach treatment.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

> If you are able to keep your aquaria free of hair algae it is most emphatically, not because you do a bleach treatment.


Why do you say that? Don't tell me that you believe that hair algae comes in from spores that are everywhere. That is not true. It comes in on plants you get or in water that comes with a fish from an infested tank.


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## rodrigaj (Aug 17, 2008)

HeyPK said:


> Why do you say that? Don't tell me that you believe that hair algae comes in from spores that are everywhere. That is not true. It comes in on plants you get or in water that comes with a fish from an infested tank.


Let's look at it the other way around.

There are plenty or us that do not have hair algae that have never done any treatment at all. So to say that you need bleach treatment to avoid hair algae misses the mark. I currently have a snail tank sitting on my windowsill, in direct sunlight, that is filled with cladophora and java moss and various stem plants. I routinely move plants and snails from that tank to my 55gal tank. The cladophora never takes hold.

If I look with a magnifying glass, I suppose I will find it, but who cares. The plants are thriving and the cladophora never gets a foothold. Rapid and healthy growth and densely grouped plants are the major prerequisite for preventing and eradicating algae.


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## HeyPK (Jan 23, 2004)

Cladophora has been bad for a lot of people, and I know that a lot of them spend time every week cleaning it out. Oedogonium is even worse, because it can't be cleaned out. For me, it is easier to keep these and other species, such as black beard algae and Rhizoclonium out of the tank all together.

I just ran across a thread http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/61675-hair-diatoms.html that illustrates why I give my new plants the bleach treatment. In fact, it was Oedogonium that forced me to develop the bleach treatment in the first place.


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## dougrm3 (Nov 7, 2009)

HeyPK said:


> Cladophora has been bad for a lot of people, and I know that a lot of them spend time every week cleaning it out. Oedogonium is even worse, because it can't be cleaned out. For me, it is easier to keep these and other species, such as black beard algae and Rhizoclonium out of the tank all together.
> 
> I just ran across a thread http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/forumapc/algae/61675-hair-diatoms.html that illustrates why I give my new plants the bleach treatment. In fact, it was Oedogonium that forced me to develop the bleach treatment in the first place.


Old Thread but wanted to say thank you to HeyPK. Follow the same bleach practice as HeyPK and what a difference it makes. Had always bleached for years with no problems with hard to fight algae. Got over confident and lax and introduced some nasty algae into one of my aquariums from Aquabid. Appreciate the search feature. HeyPK reinforced what I had been doing and returned to doing. Thank you HeyPK.


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