Sterilizing Wild Plants

[GodFan]

So I found some bamboo at a creek behind my house. This creek has NASTY water with NASTY thinks living in it. How do I clean and sterilize the bamboo? Only the roots are going in my tank obviously but I DO NOT want to deal with the mess from the creek water. Not to mention the dirt on the roots.
Thanks and God bless!

 

[jetajockey]

Potassium permanganate is good, but most people don't have it on hand. As far as wild plants go, I just rinse them really well, soak them in the sink for a few minutes and make sure everything is rinsed off, and then add them. I don't like doing salt or h2o2 treatments onto sensitive plants or roots, it seems to do more harm than good.

 

[jlk]

You may be able to find a product called 'Clear Water' made by Jungle in some lfs. Its a potassium permagnate solution. You can also consider a dilute bleach solution (1-19 ratio). Just an suggestion, consider qt'ing the plants for 2-3wks as well. My biggest fear is now leeches & their eggs which will survive a bleach, potass permg, or ammonia dip.

 

[GodFan]

Well I will do that. I will use bleach then qt for a week or 2.