Creeping Jenny Plant Disinfecting

[mark4785]

I recently bought some creeping jenny plant for my Koi pond, and like always, I disinfect the plants before putting them into the pond.

Usually I would dip the plant in 10 litres of water containing 25ml of Blagdon Pond Disinfectant which I presume was a kind of bleach. Unfortunately recently all types of pond disinfectant product have disappeared from the market so I am now forced to use thin bleach which has no dosage directions for disinfecting plants.

I decided to do a 1 part 19 part thin bleach dip for the creeping jenny in 10 litres of bucket water based on advice found during a basic Google search. The plant now has shrivelled up and looks to be dying completely. So for future reference, how much bleach should I be using per 10 litres to disinfect this plant without killing it?

 

[10 Tanks]

Hello. Apparently, this type of Creeping Jenny plant will grow in shallow water areas. Here's some that gets a lot of moisture and has taken over this rock garden area in our back yard. There's another plant called "Sedum" that grows in the same area as the Jenny plant and it has become hard to tell which is which. We've let this rock garden alone to do its thing and the plants just cover everything.

10

 

[wgoldfarb]

I have an irrational aversion to snails, so I have always disinfected my plants before I add them to the tank (yes, I know snails are beneficial, I did say it was irrational, don't judge me ;-). In the past I have tried different things including bleach, but the plants always seem to suffer, or a snail egg or two will survive.

Recently I came across "reverse respiration". It involves pre-treating plants overnight with just carbonated water, nothing else The idea is that the excessive pressure of CO2 is lethal for anything non-plant, but is tolerated quite well by plants (and appears to be beneficial). So after a 12 hour dip in carbonated water, any parasites, snails and even snail eggs are destroyed, with no ill-effect on the plants. It even kills algae, but not the plants! I tried it recently and it seems to have worked well, and did no damage at all to the plants. If you google "reverse respiration" you will find a few hits in aquarium websites, including the website of the people who developed (They are hobbyists with a scientific background, and their research on this was very thorough). The method is simple, 100% safe for plants, 100% lethal to anything else, and cheap (only requires a bottle of carbonated water).

I honestly don't understand why it hasn't become much more popular! I intend to do this to all my plants from now on.

Edit: Mods, if it is appropriate I am happy to create a separate post for this describing the process and my experience.

 

[GaryE]

I'll try to answer the question. You wouldn't be using the plant if you didn't know about it.

But I never disinfect or bleach plants. You won't get snails from a terrestrial plant. Anything you can get to will wash off with a garden hose, and in case of insecticides, won't be bleached. Roots clean easily. So why stress the plant?

It'll adjust to its wet world. I've added wild and greenhouse plants to tanks for decades, with no disinfection, and never had any problems from them.

 

[mark4785]

I’m not concerned about snails on the Creeping Jenny, I’m concerned about things like gill/body flukes that will wipe out my entire stock if it is on the plant.

I have no idea of the effectiveness of this reverse respiration method you talk about so would rather stick to what I know which is bleach treatment. I just don’t know the correct dosage to use.

 

[Oldspartan]

Bruce Plant has a blog post shoving instructions on bleach dipping. I have no idea of its value. I have just began researching the whole plant thing and also want to avoid guests.

 

[GaryE]

The old timers used potassium permanganate dips. Are you using terrestrial creeping jenny, or plants already water acclimated?

 

[mark4785]

The old timers used potassium permanganate dips. Are you using terrestrial creeping jenny, or plants already water acclimated?

I bought them from a pond plant supplier so would presume they had them in some body of water. They were supplied in the typical perforated black plastic pots that you would use in a body of water.

With the Potassium permanganate, this too is something I would avoid as Kusuri in their literature seem to suggest that other products need to be used to eradicate flukes alongside PP. This suggests it isn't an all round disinfectant like bleach is (see attached image).

Has anybody here tried a bleach treatment for their pond plants? If so, what dosing are you adhering to?

 

[mark4785]

Bruce Plant has a blog post shoving instructions on bleach dipping. I have no idea of its value. I have just began researching the whole plant thing and also want to avoid guests.

I think I found the blog post and there he suggests a one part bleach to 20 parts water concentration. This is pretty much what I used and it killed this particular plant.

I used to use 25ml of blagdon pond disinfectant and it never killed the plants. I guess I could use 25ml of bleach in the 10 litre bucket as opposed to 500ml?

 

[TwoTankAmin]

Two observations- The first is the time of the dip matters. But, not all plants can be leach dipped, there are a few that cannot take the bleach.

As a rule I dip things like anubias for 2 minutes. Other plants get about 90 seconds. And the ones which are the most flimsy may get 60 seconds. The more delicate the plant, the greater the odds it wont like the dip. When you are not sure, cut off a small piece and dip that and see how the plant reacts.

Bear in mind that some algae will die from the dip and you can tell it is dead. Other typeS will Not look to be dead but when you return them to the tank, they will die over the next few hours. A lot of the algae eaters will eat dead algae. They seem to like it. I have no idea why.

When I dip I go from the bucket if bech water to under my tap to rinse the plants. (I have well water which I ddo not have to dechlor.) But the amount of chlorine in ones tap is way less than in the dip, so rinse under the tap. From there put the plant into a bucket of water with a heavy does of dechlor in it, That will neutralize anything still on the plants. From there it can go onto the tank.

The proper mix is 1 part bleach to 19 parts water. If you are worried about chlorine/chloramine in your tap, get a few gallons of distilled water and use that or mix it 450/50 with your tap or collect rain water

 

[mark4785]

Two observations- The first is the time of the dip matters. But, not all plants can be leach dipped, there are a few that cannot take the bleach.

As a rule I dip things like anubias for 2 minutes. Other plants get about 90 seconds. And the ones which are the most flimsy may get 60 seconds. The more delicate the plant, the greater the odds it wont like the dip. When you are not sure, cut off a small piece and dip that and see how the plant reacts.

Bear in mind that some algae will die from the dip and you can tell it is dead. Other typeS will Not look to be dead but when you return them to the tank, they will die over the next few hours. A lot of the algae eaters will eat dead algae. They seem to like it. I have no idea why.

When I dip I go from the bucket if bech water to under my tap to rinse the plants. (I have well water which I ddo not have to dechlor.) But the amount of chlorine in ones tap is way less than in the dip, so rinse under the tap. From there put the plant into a bucket of water with a heavy does of dechlor in it, That will neutralize anything still on the plants. From there it can go onto the tank.

The proper mix is 1 part bleach to 19 parts water. If you are worried about chlorine/chloramine in your tap, get a few gallons of distilled water and use that or mix it 450/50 with your tap or collect rain water

I guess the creeping jenny is one of the plants that cannot take the bleach. I would be killing it all over again if I do a 1 part bleach to 19 parts water dosage.

I guess I will just lower the bleach dose, rinse it well under the tap and hope for the best.