Potassium permanganate

[Guest]

Potassium Permanganate... i read this as the active ingredient in a product that claims to clear cloudy water and odors. Has anyone ever used it? Is it safe? It also says it may remove iron from tapwater, but would it remove the chelated iron thats in plant fertilizers?

p.s. I am not planning on using the product, my mother-in-law uses it regularly in her aquarium, seems like the more she uses it the more she needs it, i was just curious about the safety of the product.

 

[gheitman]

Potassium Permanganate is an oxidizer that can be highly dangerous unless handled properly. It can be used to sterilize tanks but the user should be extremely careful to make sure that it doesn't get on the skin (especially exposed cuts). It will also stain anything that it gets on. Although I use it myself to clean tanks that have seen outbreaks of contagious diseases (like fish TB or neon tetra disease) I cannot recommend it to the casual user.

 

[Guest]

wow, i had no idea, does it mess up the biological Filter?

 

[An t-iasg]

Wow, I didn't know that either. Thanks for the explanation, Gene! I was thinking about getting some potassium permanganate to kill snails and eggs on my new plants. I read that you just use enough to turn the water pink, and then soak the plants for 15 minutes or so. (I read these directions somewhere on the web-- I didn't buy the product.) At the end of the directions, it said -- Caution - Respiratory Irritant. That was all I needed to read! I decided not to use it for my plants. You make a very good point, Gene -- potassium permanganate should only be used by someone who is knowledgable about its properties.

 

[BrianNY]

Great post Ashley. Any chemical used improperly can cause alot of grief. There is a product on the market called Flukes Control. It is nothing more than pure Potassium Permanganate. I use it frequently in QT as a preventative against gill flukes and other external parasites. Some fish like discus and goldfish seem to be more prone to a variety of parasitic infections and I subscribe to the ounce of prevention theory. It should not be used on smooth skin fish such as loaches or plecos. It will not harm the biological filtration.

I've never used it to disinfect plants but I would think used properly, it's not a bad idea. Plants can harbor not only snails but parasites as well.

 

[BillD]

Alum is probably a lot safer to use to sterilize plants. If I remeber correctly it is about 1 tablespoon per gallon, and you soak the plants for 1/2 hour, and rinse.

 

[greenmaji]

Alum is probably a lot safer to use to sterilize plants. If I remeber correctly it is about 1 tablespoon per gallon, and you soak the plants for 1/2 hour, and rinse.

Is Alum a short version of the name of the product?

 

[Guest]

Alum is a product.. it looks like large pieces of salt, its used for pickling and some reicpes.

 

[gheitman]

Potassium permanganate can be used as a dip to kill snails and their eggs on plants before the plants are put in a tank. As long as it is handled properly it is perfectly safe.

 

[An t-iasg]

The respiratory warning is what concerned me. Trying to get rid of some snails that way is not worth an asthma attack. If a respiratory problem was not a concern for you (and you still should make sure you're in a well-ventilated area) then it would be fine to use. How about copper? I have some Aquarisol that I could put in the critter keepers (not the tank -- my plants are still in critter keepers at the moment). Would the plants end up absorbing the copper and leaching it into the tank later? LOL, it sounds like I plan to drown the plants in Aquarisol -- of course I would only use a few drops per critter keeper.

 

[BillD]

Alum is probably a lot safer to use to sterilize plants. If I remeber correctly it is about 1 tablespoon per gallon, and you soak the plants for 1/2 hour, and rinse.

Is Alum a short version of the name of the product?

I believe the actual chemical name is Aluminum Sulphate, and can be purchased as Alum at the drugstore or in the pickling section of the supermarket. It is used as a coagulant for swimming pools as well.