Jake’s Planted Aquarium Pages

On this page, we’re going to go over the how-to’s of disinfecting plants, after receiving them and before planting in your tank, and before sending or giving your own plants to someone.
First, why disinfect plants?

Some parasites can actually hitchhike on the little bit of water droplets attached to a plant. Ich is one of those, or at least is rumored to be. Also, bacteria can travel on plants, and that’s no good. If that wasn’t enough, snails or snail eggs can travel on plants and that can be illegal, especially if you have “pest” snails in your tank, depending on where you are shipping your plants. But wait, there’s more! The snails that are hitchhiking on a plant can have parasites hitchhiking IN them! Somewhere in that mix of reasons is at least one good reason to disinfect plants you receive AND disinfect plants you are sending out.

Different types of disinfection methods or chemicals:

Bleach- Common household bleach, mixed with water in a ratio of 19 parts water to 1 part bleach ( 5% bleach). You mix the bleach and water in a sink, for example, and then place the plants into that water, or you could grab a bucket. Soak for 2 – 3 minutes ( big, meaty plants can be soaked for 3 minutes, fragile smaller plants for 2 minutes) and then remove the bleach water and replace with fresh water, adding a bunch of dechlorinator to the new water. If doing in buckets, you can have this step already done in a new bucket. I like to swish the plants a bit and make sure the dechlorinator gets to all of it. Rinse it again with fresh water. *READ CAUTION AT BOTTOM OF PAGE*

Do not use “ultra” bleaches or any other kind except plain old ” bleach”. No gels, no bleach powder, etc.

Pros – It kills algae very well, as well as bacteria and little critters, snails, snail eggs.

Cons – It can easily kill the plant as well. Some plants are more sensitive then others, like Anacharis, which will just plain old die if dipped in bleach water. If not careful, can bleach carpeting, clothing, etc.

Potassium Permanganate- Or, “PP”, can be found online, at Sears in the water filter section ( Kenmore Potassium Permanganate, used to regenerate manual iron removal filters), and maybe in a few other places like Ace Hardware. You can almost always find some on Ebay if nothing else. Also, Jungle’s Clear Water product, available at your local Walmart, is nothing but a strong solution of potassium permanganate and water if you can’t find any other source.

You add just a few grains of this to a container or sink and then add the water. It takes it a little while to dissolve, but no big deal. Your goal is to get a good dark pink tint to the water. Once you get it a good dark pink ( but not light pink, not dark purple), add the plants and give them a bath for a good 15 to 20 minutes or so. After that, drain and add fresh water. Stir in some dechlorinator or hydrogen peroxide, both of which will neutralize PP. You can go heavy on the dechlorinator, but don’t go overboard on the hydrogen peroxide. Rinse plants again, quickly, and they should be ready. *READ CAUTION AT BOTTOM OF PAGE*

Pros – Just as cheap as bleach. Even a tiny 6 oz. container of the stuff will last indefinitely. Much safer than bleach, for the plants, yet still very effective for some algae and most bacteria. I usually have snails fall off plants in this bath , (especially ramshorns for some reason), and the snail eggs on the plants don’t seem to hatch. Bleach is probably more effective for snail prevention, but I have good luck with PP as well. VERY good for use as a net/equipment dip when using nets or other equipment in more than one tank, to prevent spread of anything, including ich, fungal and bacterial infections. If you have a tank that you know has issues, it’s better to use only one set of equipment for that particular tank, but using PP as a net/equipment dip when everything seems to be ok is a great way to localize any problems. Nothing is worse than realizing all of a sudden you have a tank full of sick fish and have been using the same net in that tank as you have in all of your other tanks for the last few weeks.

Cons – Not as easy to find as bleach is. Can stain clothing, carpeting, etc. if splashed. Doesn’t kill algae and snails quite as well as bleach.

Alum – Aluminum sulfate, found in the grocery store pickling section or with the herbs/spices, can be used to kill snails, snail eggs, and microscopic critters. 1 Tablespoon per 1 gallon of water is the strength to mix it. A few hours takes care of most things, and then you’ll want to do a good rinse. It’s said to take days of soaking to kill snails and such though, which is kind of lame , in my opinion.

Pros- Easy to find, safe for plants.

Cons- Does nothing to combat algae

My favorite is the potassium permanganate. It’s effective and not as dangerous as bleach or as slow and specific as alum. It makes an awesome net dip as well. For net dip, you’d just mix it so it was a darker purple. Between tanks, especially if one tank has new fish or sick fish, it’s good to use a dip like that so as to not spread the disease or potential diseases. A small bucket (2 gallon or so) with a dark purple mix of PP works great for this. After using the net in one tank, you dip it in the bucket and leave it there for a few minutes then rinse off under tapwater and use in the next sink. You know it’s time to change the PP solution when it’s looking brown, which shows it’s been exhasted.

Summary:
If you have beefy plants that can take a bleach dip, it’s probably going to be your best all around algae/snail/snail egg/bacteria killer, and the easiest to find. If you have plants that aren’t going to handle the bleach very well, i.e. fragile stem plants and the like, you can still get some of the benefits of a bleach dip with a PP dip. If you only want to kill snails, you might go for the alum.

USE CAUTION : You do NOT want to use any of this stuff inside the tank. It’s to be used outside of the tank in a sink or in buckets, etc. You do NOT want to mix anything with these chemicals besides straight tap water. There are some fish medications that you can mix with the PP , for example , which will cause a gas to form which can HURT OR KILL YOU. If any of you have ever accidentally mixed ammonia and bleach together while cleaning something, ( or on purpose for that matter because you didn’t know), you know what I’m talking about. It can knock you on your back and you can die. These chemicals are corrosive and can burn your skin while active, burn your eyes, etc. I hope this is sinking in… always treat caustic chemicals like Potassium Permanganate and bleach with total respect and take appropriate measures to safeguard yourself.

*******Safety googles or glasses and rubber gloves are a GREAT idea when handling these chemicals.**********