Real Plants

[Apolloefc]

I am done with them.

Last plant I bought carried some sort of parasite and I lost half my fish in a matter of 2 weeks. My very first fish included in that. I have tried plants from several different LFS and never seemed to be problem free.

Since i binned them all and bought a load of fake plants my tank looks the most crystal clear it ever ever has. Fish seem happier, water looks clearer. Win win as far as I am concerned.

 

[bleepy]

Fake plants are alright, but live plants to help with the chemical balance of your water.

Not sure how you could go about "disinfecting" your plants before putting them in your tank.. maybe someone else will know a method?

I must say I've never had a problem with plants from my LFS, except the odd snail that hitches a ride.

 

[doresy]

Hi, sorry to hear of your troubles. Failure is never easy to accept.

As an artificial plant user in my early days I was scared of branching out into real plant growing and all the required equipment. Watching my fakes very quickly losing their realism and requiring more cleaning than the rest of the tank put together, I binned the lot.

I now have real plants which have greatly improved my water balance and appearance. I do not use Co2 and have no fancy lighting. I use Flourish fertilizer every water change. Maybe I have been lucky but there have been no problems within my set-up that I could blame on the source of my plants.

Can you be sure your problems came from plants?

 

[DarkEntity]

I am done with them.

Last plant I bought carried some sort of parasite and I lost half my fish in a matter of 2 weeks. My very first fish included in that. I have tried plants from several different LFS and never seemed to be problem free.

Since i binned them all and bought a load of fake plants my tank looks the most crystal clear it ever ever has. Fish seem happier, water looks clearer. Win win as far as I am concerned.

Ive never ever had a parasite on a plant before, snails yes, live plants are pretty much essential in aquariums they help with the water stats and remove some toxins. If you buy plants you can do salt water dips before adding to the tank or leave them in a warmed aerated bucket overnight with a lettuce leave, this will draw any snails off. Im pretty sure there will be other ways of doing similar things, but tbh i usually just run them under tank water then chuck them in the tank for a day, then plant them

 

[nakomis90]

i had one parasite with plants once!
but now i soak them before i put them in... there is a parasite away treatment i used to rinse my plant in!
im forever re stocking with darn plants as the guppies eat them grrr!
lol

 

[djultimate]

I brought some plants from pet's at home , as there wasnt many in the display tank , the store assistant told me i could pick plants in there tanks to buy....Never again !!

The plants lookednice and healthy .. though after 4 days of them being in the tank , Whitespot broke out !

Luckly after treatment , my fish have recovered , though i am going to be very picky when buying new plants

 

[Mikaila31]

I soak my plants in water with either coppersafe or aquari-sol, to kill any possible snails or parasites.