Buying plants online

[JeffNebraska]

Thinking of buying some plants from liveacquaria.com. Do I face the same risks with online plants as I do with online fish (i.e., introducing disease or parasites)? Does anyone quarantine plants?

What have been your experiences with online plant purchases?

[justDIY]

plants cannot harbor disease... but they can harbor dormant parasites, bacteria and most deffinately will have SNAILS!

potassium promaginate is the best way to disinfect plants ... as for the exact mixture I'm not sure - I just use enough to get a light purple color in the water.

but it will kill everything living on the plant, and the plant itself if your mixture is too strong or you let it soak way too long... I find it penetrates better than bleach, but it can stain your clothes (well, so can bleach).

but potassium doesn't seem to do much to algae - best bet for that is still bleach, as the bleach kills both the plant and the algae, but the plant, being bigger, can take more abuse than the algae.

since your plants just had a very stressful trip through the mail, I wouldn't subject them to bleach - if you have a QT tank that would be good to put them in for a few weeks and see if any critters come crawling out - otherwise, give them a good stiff rinse in cold tap water - the small amount of chlorine in the tap water should help some in disinfecting.

[JeffNebraska]

So, is your advice that a stiff rinse in cold tap water is sufficient, or does that have to be coupled with a bath in potassium promaginate?

[justDIY]

well, I would need to know what plants you received - some plants are "tougher" that others ...

anything with thick stems and large strong leaves I'd probably give them a 15 min dip in a light mixture of promaginate followed by a good rinse with tap water.

anything with fine stems, fine leaves or no stems / leaves at all (like ricca, java moss, etc) I would soak it a while (10 min?) in a bucket of tap water followed by a light rinse.

[Biggen]

Honestly, when I was a newbie to the aquarium world, I didn't do a darn thing to my plants when they came in from the mail. I didn't even rinse them off in the sink. I just put them right in the tank. They must have had a ton of snail eggs on them since I had an "outbreak" but that is why I keep 3 clown loaches. They totally destroyed the snail population within about 3 days.

I didn't have any algae problems associated with them either that I know of. Of course I also keep 3 SAE so I don't have algae related problems other than the normal spot algae on the glass.

The next time I get in plants, I will probably wash them off first in the sink and then put them in the tank. Messing around with chemcials isn't my "cup of tea'. Besides, potassium permanganate will stain the heck out of anything it touches, including your skin.

I would suggest you, at least, wash them off. Anything else you do is up to you.

[JeffNebraska]

Thanks guys. I am pretty hesitant about chemicals, though I'm also fairly scared of parasites, so I'm not exactly sure what to do.

I'll probably just continue to refrain from shopping online, but when that special plant comes along and I can't resist, I suppose I'll do a water soak and rinse and hope for the best.

Anyone else who's had good (or bad) experiences, without using chemicals, please chime in. [Feel free to make a drug joke here, but only if it's actually funny]

[TankGirl]

I would not hesitate to order online because of snails and parasites, because you get those with ones you pick at the [acronym:bbe5eaa6a9="Local Fish Store"]LFS[/acronym:bbe5eaa6a9] as well, so the precautions would be the same. I usually run them under tap water and feel carefully with my fingers, and any slippery areas that might be a wad of snail eggs gets extra attention. For me the friction of my fingers and strong stream of water usually keeps things under control. You can often feel the tiny baby snails, too, so those get plucked out. I have had very good luck with Arizona Gardens' stuff.