Buying plants incubated in weak Buprafezin solution?

[Wills]

I'm looking at buying some plants for my tank to help fill it out after a couple of mistakes. I've come across a retailer that sells submerged stems of quite a few of the plants I want but it comes with a weird disclaimer - has anyone ever seen this before?

• Plants are incubated in a solution of 0.01% of the insecticide Buprafezin for one hour (Please do not just drop these in a shrimp tank or with any other crustacean. To use these within a tank please wash in water with baking soda under light. These are treated to remove the insecticide but there are cases where this has not been fully removed causing casualties in crustacean.

It's not something I've heard of before? The baking soda bit seems pretty extreme too? Possible to do don't get me wrong but its just kind of put me off.

Wills

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Yep, I've heard of it... I nearly lost my shrimp colony to it. Really wasn't worth it to save a few quid on plants!
It's because plants grown outside the UK/EU have to, by law, be treated with a pesticide that kills snails (and shrimp). It's not so simple to get rid of it either once you read up on these chemicals. I wouldn't trust the baking soda soak to completely make the plants safe.

@Essjay knows a lot more about it, and I'll find and link my thread from when we found out my shrimp were dying because I'd added pesticide treated plants to their tank.

Now I'll only buy plants grown inside the EU, in-vitro, or from a trusted hobbyists tanks.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Help! Contaminated plants arrived? Baking soda?

I ordered a mixed stem plant package from amazon, have used them before and the last times, plants arrived healthy, with warnings about possible snails. Fine by me. This time, many arrived rotting (have emailed them, I'm blaming the heatwave), but going to try to save the rest. Problem is, the...

www.fishforums.net

Essjay and Seangee informed me about the risks, and I decided not to use the plants I knew had been treated with that pesticide. But I did add four plants I'd bought from my LFS, not knowing that they'd changed supplier, and that those plants had been dipped too.

I ended up having to set up a new, uncontaminated tank to save my shrimp colony, and it took months before the pesticide that had contaminated the tank to break down and become shrimp safe again. Not worth the risk.

 

[Wills]

Yep, I've heard of it... I nearly lost my shrimp colony to it. Really wasn't worth it to save a few quid on plants!
It's because plants grown outside the UK/EU have to, by law, be treated with a pesticide that kills snails (and shrimp). It's not so simple to get rid of it either once you read up on these chemicals. I wouldn't trust the baking soda soak to completely make the plants safe.

@Essjay knows a lot more about it, and I'll find and link my thread from when we found out my shrimp were dying because I'd added pesticide treated plants to their tank.

Now I'll only buy plants grown inside the EU, in-vitro, or from a trusted hobbyists tanks.

Thanks thats all I need to know not to buy lol The company is more of a pond plant nursery place so I thought maybe its just something commercial farms do?

My only shrimps are my Amanos which are a bit hardier than others I supose but not going to risk it they are coming up to a year old with me now and quite attached lol.

Wills

 

[Essjay]

I know of a couple of shops which sell shrimp safe plants. You probably know them already but here are the ones I know about
seller k2aqua on eBay

Aquarium Plants Online UK | Aquatic Plants UK & Ireland

Aquarium Plants Online UK - UK's leading online supplier of Aquatic Plants. Aquarium live plants & supplies. Delivery to UK, Ire & Europe

java-plants.com

Live Aquarium Plants – Plantek Lab

planteklab.com

Pro Shrimp UK - Aquascaping Experts, Aquarium Plants & Shrimp - Pro Shrimp

One of the leading Aquarium Plant and Aquascaping Suppliers in the UK. Your Shrimp and Aquatic Expert since 2014

www.pro-shrimp.co.uk

In vitro plants and plants grown by Tropica, Dennerle and Aquafleur (all European companies)

Edited to add ProShrimp which I forgot till Adorabelle's post

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Thanks thats all I need to know not to buy lol The company is more of a pond plant nursery place so I thought maybe its just something commercial farms do?

My only shrimps are my Amanos which are a bit hardier than others I supose but not going to risk it they are coming up to a year old with me now and quite attached lol.

Wills

I'm pretty sure you're talking about the same place I bought those pesticide treated plants from... One in Lincolnshire?

If it is the same place, then I'm glad they now include the warning about the pesticide being a shrimp risk in the adverts. They only used to warn that plants might come with snails (guessing they grew those themselves in the UK), then tell you about the plants being dipped in pesticide and to do the baking soda thing by including a leaflet with the package. After you'd already bought the plants. I phoned them and kicked up a stink about no warning in the advert last year.

I suspect they grow a lot of pond plants themselves, but import a lot of the more tropical tank species, as a lot of other places do. It's cheaper than growing them here, but means if they've been grown in Thailand or Indonesia, they have to be treated with pesticides before import. Not a widely known fact, I didn't know until Essay told me, and even my LFS claimed they had no idea. That Lincolnshire supplier does say on their website that they also import plants from Thailand.

Now, I wouldn't even risk it in fish only tanks. Even if it doesn't kill fish, the less random chemicals added into my tanks, the better. There are some great EU and UK suppliers. I like Pro-Shrimp, it's not too pricy if you check out their potted plants section

 

[Wills]

I'm pretty sure you're talking about the same place I bought those pesticide treated plants from... One in Lincolnshire?

If it is the same place, then I'm glad they now include the warning about the pesticide being a shrimp risk in the adverts. They only used to warn that plants might come with snails (guessing they grew those themselves in the UK), then tell you about the plants being dipped in pesticide and to do the baking soda thing by including a leaflet with the package. After you'd already bought the plants. I phoned them and kicked up a stink about no warning in the advert last year.

I suspect they grow a lot of pond plants themselves, but import a lot of the more tropical tank species, as a lot of other places do. It's cheaper than growing them here, but means if they've been grown in Thailand or Indonesia, they have to be treated with pesticides before import. Not a widely known fact, I didn't know until Essay told me, and even my LFS claimed they had no idea. That Lincolnshire supplier does say on their website that they also import plants from Thailand.

Now, I wouldn't even risk it in fish only tanks. Even if it doesn't kill fish, the less random chemicals added into my tanks, the better. There are some great EU and UK suppliers. I like Pro-Shrimp, it's not too pricy if you check out their potted plants section

Yes we are talking about the same place lol just annoying as not many places sell submerged form plants and not many places sell Pearl Weed other than the 1-2-grow pots which I've had mixed results with... I've been watching MD Fishtanks on YouTube and it looks great when it grows out (not a super fan of MD in some ways but he gets good results).

I know of a couple of shops which sell shrimp safe plants. You probably know them already but here are the ones I know about
seller k2aqua on eBay

Aquarium Plants Online UK | Aquatic Plants UK & Ireland

Aquarium Plants Online UK - UK's leading online supplier of Aquatic Plants. Aquarium live plants & supplies. Delivery to UK, Ire & Europe

java-plants.com

Live Aquarium Plants – Plantek Lab

planteklab.com

Pro Shrimp UK - Aquascaping Experts, Aquarium Plants & Shrimp - Pro Shrimp

One of the leading Aquarium Plant and Aquascaping Suppliers in the UK. Your Shrimp and Aquatic Expert since 2014

www.pro-shrimp.co.uk

In vitro plants and plants grown by Tropica, Dennerle and Aquafleur (all European companies)

Edited to add ProShrimp which I forgot till Adorabelle's post

I really like these guys I've used most before but planteklab is new to me I also buy from Scaped Nature, Horizon Aquatics and World of Mosses (a facebook group).

Wills

 

[JazzyV]

Nah…I wouldn’t put that in my tanks or in my soil gardens area if I were you. I have bees and all kinds of pollinators like hummingbirds so no insecticides anywhere would I use around animal…or family

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

I've been watching MD Fishtanks on YouTube and it looks great when it grows out (not a super fan of MD in some ways but he gets good results).


Wills

I know what you mean! I've only watched some of his videos, so perhaps I'm being unfair, but I get the sense that he really wants to be a big FishTuber, and grow his channel fast -more than he wants to help people learn to scape the way he does... does that make sense?

But there's no denying that he has stunning tanks! And I'll definitely be watching more of his videos to try to pick up some tips.

ETA: I'd like to get some pearl weed too, and haven't seen any. Could try emailing pro-shrimp and see if they can order any? They answered an email I sent them quickly, and were helpful.

 

[JazzyV]

Yes he does…I think he’s got well water I’m not sure been a while…you check out the several studio rooms of planted tanks he does?
A lot is repeat too and he’s says it no biggie..he wants to try different so I can understand that ..scaping the same over and over 100 scapes does seem old

 

[Wills]

The thing that winds me up is when he plays dumb - there is no way he is not super intelligent with how quick he has developed the hobby and established the YouTube channel it must be his full time job and with the obvious sponsorships he has that’s not a simple thing to do but he still acts like he’s done it all by accident lol. I get it’s part of his charm but at some point you have to realise how much you have learned rather than laughing it off.

From what I’ve heard on his channel and a Facebook group where he lives has really soft water and really pure water so not loads of nitrates and phosphates. There must be so many people that live near him that find tanks so easy in comparison to where I live with rock hard water and high levels of nutrients and nasties lol.

You can get Pearl weed in emmersed form in pots and 1-2 grow but the place i mentioned had it as submerged stems which would mean it will get going much quicker which is what I want.

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

The thing that winds me up is when he plays dumb - there is no way he is not super intelligent with how quick he has developed the hobby and established the YouTube channel it must be his full time job and with the obvious sponsorships he has that’s not a simple thing to do but he still acts like he’s done it all by accident lol. I get it’s part of his charm but at some point you have to realise how much you have learned rather than laughing it off.

Yeah, that's part of what annoys me I think. All the flashy youtuber stuff, flashy edits and not being quite so authentic by playing dumb. He's a likeable guy, don't get me wrong! But instead of getting lost in fishkeeping/scaping details and facts, I'm a bit too conscious of the channel promotion and it being a flashy youtube video carefully curated to get clicks.
But again, I haven't watched so many of his vids, and I do still think he's worth a watch! Nothing wrong with wanting the channel to grow and be his full time job. I just don't have him playing in the background while I do tank maintenance, the way I do with Aquarium Co op or The Secret History of Your Aquarium.

You can get Pearl weed in emmersed form in pots and 1-2 grow but the place i mentioned had it as submerged stems which would mean it will get going much quicker which is what I want.

Ah now @Wills , you're certainly knowledgeable enough to know that you can't rush these things! Patience is essential "Act in haste, and repent at leisure" and all that.

Not that you did act in haste of course! You checked it out first

 

[JazzyV]

I just fast forward

 

[Wills]

I don’t think there is going to be a perfect fish tuber lol maybe George farmer I can rarely fault him.

I think I’ll go with the 1 2 grow but need to wait until I can get algae under control otherwise it will just go nuts and kill off the plantets. Hopefully starting my RO at the weekend so will get there soon.

Wills

 

[Myraan]

or get potted plants from the pet store tank if you notice snails in there.... that ofc means you will have to put up with hitchikers

I told my shop - last plant I have from you have snail - I was happy with free gift but want to let them know because maybe other customer complain