How do you quarantine a plant?

[Zephyrski]

Hi all. My Betta seems to have ich, and I'm wondering if the moss I just put in with him has/had it attached. I got it from a small pet store.
Is there a way to tell if that's how he got it for certain,.or how to quarantine it because I've already got it in a cycling tank aswell.

 

[FishHobby99]

Hi all. My Betta seems to have ich, and I'm wondering if the moss I just put in with him has/had it attached. I got it from a small pet store.
Is there a way to tell if that's how he got it for certain,.or how to quarantine it because I've already got it in a cycling tank aswell.

Quarantine the moss? I have removed unhealthy plants from tanks & placed them in large 1 gallon jugs. Sometimes they recover & sometimes they don’t.

If I suspected a plant had some pathogen, I’d immediately throw it away.

 

[Zephyrski]

Quarantine the moss? I have removed unhealthy plants from tanks & placed them in large 1 gallon jugs. Sometimes they recover & sometimes they don’t.

If I suspected a plant had some pathogen, I’d immediately throw it away.

Well, I guess quarantining the moss wouldn't do too much now that it's in both tanks..
I think I'd try to get rid of the issue even if that is the issue before tossing it. Would there be a way to do that?

 

[Sgooosh]

Quarantine the moss? I have removed unhealthy plants from tanks & placed them in large 1 gallon jugs. Sometimes they recover & sometimes they don’t.

If I suspected a plant had some pathogen, I’d immediately throw it away.

You can bleach dip it. Use 19 parts of water and 1 part of bleach, dip the plant in for 2 minutes and take it out.

 

[Zephyrski]

You can bleach dip it. Use 19 parts of water and 1 part of bleach, dip the plant in for 2 minutes and take it out.

I've heard of people using bleach for tanks before but it just seems pretty.. harsh to me. I just think of bleach as a hardcore cleaner and not of a fish tank cleaner. Perhaps I'm wrong, I've never used it so I can't judge on what I haven't tried.

 

[FishHobby99]

I’ve heard of it’s rather common use & don’t go there myself. But it’s said a 20:1 ratio for a few seconds is ok. idk

 

[Sgooosh]

I’ve heard of it’s rather common use & don’t go there myself. But it’s said a 20:1 ratio for a few seconds is ok. idk

i've read stuff all over the place but i think it should at least be one minute...

 

[FishHobby99]

These guys say 2 minutes. Thought I saw 10 seconds.

6 Easy Steps to Bleach Dip Aquarium Plants

Written by: Bryson and Team Buce Plant There are reasons why many of us aquarists choose to buy tissue culture plants: no snails, no algae, an abundance of healthy plants. However, buying tissue culture plants every time isn't a luxury that everyone can afford. Lead bunch or potted plants...

buceplant.com

 

[Sgooosh]

These guys say 2 minutes. Thought I saw 10 seconds.

6 Easy Steps to Bleach Dip Aquarium Plants

Written by: Bryson and Team Buce Plant There are reasons why many of us aquarists choose to buy tissue culture plants: no snails, no algae, an abundance of healthy plants. However, buying tissue culture plants every time isn't a luxury that everyone can afford. Lead bunch or potted plants...

buceplant.com

i saw that one that one is good

 

[FishHobby99]

Bleach still scares me. I have no problems throwing plants away.

 

[Uberhoust]

I use the 20 to 1 bleach solution on all my new plants. I suffered a really bad case of ich 2 or 3 years ago now and I don't want to have snails of an unknown type with in my tanks. Nothing goes in my tanks without quarantine or treatment even stuff from my ponds.

I make about 1/2 a gallon of the solution, 1/2 a cup of bleach, 10 cups of water. I also fill a 5 gallon pail with water and water treatment solution at about 3 times the typical dosage. I use gloves because I always feel my hands are slippery with bleach if I don't use them but in reality it is the oils that have left my skin.

I use a countdown timer on my phone which I set to 2 minutes.

Process:

1. Start countdown
2. Add plant to bleach solution
3. I gently agitate the plant in the solution, and try to get the solution on all parts
4. When the timer goes immediately rinse the plant in about 75 f water rinsing it very thoroughly
5. When you can no longer smell bleach on the plant put it in the solution of water treatment, gently agitate till fully covered by the solution.
6. After about 15 minutes I do a second rinse and place in the tank

Some plants do not handle the treatment well but most do. I have had issues with some floaters, water lettuce in particular, so I only treat those for 1 to 1.5 minutes. On new plants I will sometimes take just a leaf and do a dry run, if the bleach adversely affects the plant they seem to become a bit "limper"?, in which case I use a smaller than 2 minute time. I also start the rinse immediately after the timer goes off.

I haven't had a plant die from this treatment though some might have been set back. I haven't killed a plant yet and some were pretty questionable before I started.

I have done this about 20 times both with store bought plants and plants collected from nearby bogs and ponds.

If at any time you can smell bleach or chlorine you haven't rinsed you plant good enough and it should not go in the tank.

I discovered the method some time ago on the net. Full discloser, I am not a very good chemist so I don't know if the water treatment helps with bleach. Perhaps one of our chemist members could speak to that.

 

[FishHobby99]

How about soaking plants in conditioned water before returning to the tank?

 

[Zephyrski]

I use the 20 to 1 bleach solution on all my new plants. I suffered a really bad case of ich 2 or 3 years ago now and I don't want to have snails of an unknown type with in my tanks. Nothing goes in my tanks without quarantine or treatment even stuff from my ponds.

I make about 1/2 a gallon of the solution, 1/2 a cup of bleach, 10 cups of water. I also fill a 5 gallon pail with water and water treatment solution at about 3 times the typical dosage. I use gloves because I always feel my hands are slippery with bleach if I don't use them but in reality it is the oils that have left my skin.

I use a countdown timer on my phone which I set to 2 minutes.

Process:

1. Start countdown
2. Add plant to bleach solution
3. I gently agitate the plant in the solution, and try to get the solution on all parts
4. When the timer goes immediately rinse the plant in about 75 f water rinsing it very thoroughly
5. When you can no longer smell bleach on the plant put it in the solution of water treatment, gently agitate till fully covered by the solution.
6. After about 15 minutes I do a second rinse and place in the tank

Some plants do not handle the treatment well but most do. I have had issues with some floaters, water lettuce in particular, so I only treat those for 1 to 1.5 minutes. On new plants I will sometimes take just a leaf and do a dry run, if the bleach adversely affects the plant they seem to become a bit "limper"?, in which case I use a smaller than 2 minute time. I also start the rinse immediately after the timer goes off.

I haven't had a plant die from this treatment though some might have been set back. I haven't killed a plant yet and some were pretty questionable before I started.

I have done this about 20 times both with store bought plants and plants collected from nearby bogs and ponds.

If at any time you can smell bleach or chlorine you haven't rinsed you plant good enough and it should not go in the tank.

I discovered the method some time ago on the net. Full discloser, I am not a very good chemist so I don't know if the water treatment helps with bleach. Perhaps one of our chemist members could speak to that.

I wish I would've found this out before I put the moss in my tanks ugh.
You mentioned quarantining plants aswell, is that just In a running tank as if a fish would be in it? I think I'll definitely be doing something like this from here on out.

 

[Colin_T]

Can you post pictures of the fish so we can confirm it has white spot?

The safest treatment for white spot is simply raising the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keeping it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the spots have gone. You can leave the plants in the tank during treatment.

Before you raise the temperature, wipe the glass down, then do a huge (80-90%) water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter in a bucket of tank water too. This all reduces the number of parasites in the tank and means there are fewer to infect the fish.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

------------------
If you get new plants, put them in a spare tank or plastic storage container for a month. Change the water a few times during this period.

 

[Zephyrski]

Can you post pictures of the fish so we can confirm it has white spot?

The safest treatment for white spot is simply raising the water temperature to 30C (86F) and keeping it there for 2 weeks, or at least 1 week after all the spots have gone. You can leave the plants in the tank during treatment.

Before you raise the temperature, wipe the glass down, then do a huge (80-90%) water change and gravel clean the substrate. Clean the filter in a bucket of tank water too. This all reduces the number of parasites in the tank and means there are fewer to infect the fish.

Make sure any new water is free of chlorine/ chloramine before it's added to the tank.

------------------
If you get new plants, put them in a spare tank or plastic storage container for a month. Change the water a few times during this period.

Thank you for this info it's very helpful. I probably won't be able to do a full water change until tomorrow sometime, will the temperature raise still be effective until then?Also should I do anything with the plants that may have caused the issue, or if the plant isn't thought to be an issue could it just be stress or something? Perhaps a perfectly timed issue of the fish himself?
Sorry for all the questions I just want to make sure I take care of it for my current fish, and my cycling tank that has the same plants in it.