Cleaning live plants from nature

[bazook]

I recently went on an excursion to a waterfall in the mountains of Ferguson, NC. I found these two plants and was wondering if anyone could identify and/or would know how to treat these plants for a planted freshwater aquarium.

I have a 20g long, with 8 tiger barbs and what seems to be healthy plants, besides being dusted with some black spots and brown stuff (I'm guessing is algae). Parameters are all in check, but I'm having trouble injecting co2 (with a powerhead and a 1 litre yeast rig).

I can't seem to find any articles online about treating plants from nature, or maybe im not looking hard enough, but any advice would be appreciated.

 

[Bert2oo1]

I recently went on an excursion to a waterfall in the mountains of Ferguson, NC. I found these two plants and was wondering if anyone could identify and/or would know how to treat these plants for a planted freshwater aquarium.

I have a 20g long, with 8 tiger barbs and what seems to be healthy plants, besides being dusted with some black spots and brown stuff (I'm guessing is algae). Parameters are all in check, but I'm having trouble injecting co2 (with a powerhead and a 1 litre yeast rig).

I can't seem to find any articles online about treating plants from nature, or maybe im not looking hard enough, but any advice would be appreciated.View attachment 297312View attachment 297313View attachment 297314

You could bleach bath them? 1:18 bleach to water. Drop and swirl for 30 seconds - 1 min then rinse it all straight away and soak in some dechlorinator for 10 mins. Rinse again and then add to your tank [emoji106]

 

[OnTheFly]

Great info Bert. I think I might add one more step and toss them in a five gallon bucket of water for a few days afterwards and see if anything hatches. You could always repeat the bleaching process. Probably not as 18:1 is an extremely potent ratio.

 

[Bubba643]

Wow I'm in NC also and can't help much as I'm a newbie on live plants but those native plants look amazing. Good find, I want some too now [emoji1305]