Live Plants

[purple]

Hi. Can anyone tell me what the best way is of ensuring that newly bought live plants are free from snails and their eggs please? If the plants should be just rinsed, should the water be warm and soft? The water where I live is very alkaline. Thanks

 

[4ftguppy]

you'll have to search it leaf by leaf. Wash it in old tank water, looking out for jelly like lumps - snail eggs

 

[SPLiSH]

You can buy a snail-soak that you wash nets, plants etc. to kill snails. It doesn't harm the plants.

 

[Bignose]

You should be quarantining - in a completely fishless tank - new plants for at least a week to make sure the plants didn't carry some ich or something else in anyway. That same week should give you an idea if it was carrying snails, too. Then, a quick dip in an anti-snail agent, or some diluted bleach should work pretty well. Just be sure to rinse really well after so as little as possible of the chemicals get into a fish tank.

 

[4ftguppy]

I'm fairly sure that snail away type chemicals do not kill the eggs - maybe there are some that do, but i've not come across them.

Quarantining is a good idea - i'm not sure that bleach is a good idea though - if you do use it, make sure you soak in plenty of dechlorinator to get rid of any traces.

 

[Kevstir]

my tank is still fishless cycling with 4/5ppm of ammonia and over 4ppm of nitrite would any snail eggs survive in water that highly toxic??? i did wash the plants before i put them in but just in case i missed any was just wondering if the tank conditions at the moment would be enough to kill anything i may have introduced into the tank

Kev

 

[Creature Seeker]

You should be quarantining - in a completely fishless tank - new plants for at least a week to make sure the plants didn't carry some ich or something else in anyway. That same week should give you an idea if it was carrying snails, too. Then, a quick dip in an anti-snail agent, or some diluted bleach should work pretty well. Just be sure to rinse really well after so as little as possible of the chemicals get into a fish tank.

How would you know if a plant had Ich and how would you know when it's gone?

...

 

[Tsi_User]

my tank is still fishless cycling with 4/5ppm of ammonia and over 4ppm of nitrite would any snail eggs survive in water that highly toxic??? i did wash the plants before i put them in but just in case i missed any was just wondering if the tank conditions at the moment would be enough to kill anything i may have introduced into the tank

Kev

Snails can live through some pretty rediculous conditions. We had alot of snails come with a plant that was added to 4ppm amonia in a cycling tank

 

[Bignose]

You should be quarantining - in a completely fishless tank - new plants for at least a week to make sure the plants didn't carry some ich or something else in anyway. That same week should give you an idea if it was carrying snails, too. Then, a quick dip in an anti-snail agent, or some diluted bleach should work pretty well. Just be sure to rinse really well after so as little as possible of the chemicals get into a fish tank.

How would you know if a plant had Ich and how would you know when it's gone?

...

Well, the point isn't so much if the plant has ich, but if some ich hitched a ride along and would be acting as a carrier. Ich is a parasite for fish only, so you cannot tell by looking at the plant. The plant won't get the salt-looking grains on its leaves, for instance.

But, at tropical temperatures, the ich goes through its lifecycle every 3-5 days. It has to, no strain of ich has been found that had a dormant stage ever. And, to continue its lifecycle, ich has to have fish. So, a plant kept at tropical temperatures, in a fishless tank, for over a week, if it was a carrier for ich, all the ich had to have died in that time. It is the same for all other fish-only parasites. If there is no fish, no matter how many hangers-on came with the plant, without fish, those parasites will die. That is why quarantining is so important.