Do you need to QT plants?

[hulkamaniac]

I know it's recommended that you use a quarantine plant on any new livestock. I'm wondering if it's also recommended to do the same with new plants. If so, how exactly do you run it? I've got a 10 g that's currently housing a male convict who was suffering from baby mama drama (mom doesn't want him around the kids for some reason). This would make my job harder as convicts really don't like plants. generally speaking. I could move them into a 20g tank that I have just baby guppies in though. The lights aren't very strong in either tank as they're not planted, but I think they're enough to keep the plants alive for a few days.

 

[theotheragentm]

I don't think a QT tank is really necessary. Just do dips for snails and algae and you should be okay.

 

[hulkamaniac]

How exactly is that accomplished?

 

[theotheragentm]

If you dip plants in a 10% solution of Flourish Excel, that should deal with your algae. A copper dip would kill of snails, but I don't know the percentage. Someone else, please chime in if you know.

 

[7Enigma]

~30 seconds in hydrogen peroxide will kill nearly everything (including the plants if you don't wash off immediately). I use this on most additions and when treating hearty plants I don't want to trim affected leaves. Completely harmless once rinsed off (unlike bleach which would require dechlor to be sure).

Excel is also a viable option but I don't know what strength or amount of time (and its not as cheap as the peroxide).

 

[Purrbox]

Quarentines are recommended for plants, although most don't bother. It's much more important when getting plants from untrusted sources or collect from the wild. Dips will go a long way toward mitigating the risks, but even then I would still quarentine plants collected from the wild.

 

[hulkamaniac]

Quarentines are recommended for plants, although most don't bother. It's much more important when getting plants from untrusted sources or collect from the wild. Dips will go a long way toward mitigating the risks, but even then I would still quarentine plants collected from the wild.

How exactly does a QT work for a plant?

 

[Purrbox]

Pretty much the same as with a fish. The difference is that instead of looking for disease, you looking for harmful hitchhikers like dragonfly nymphs (sp?).