Possibly a silly question, but: Should I quarantine plants ordered from Aquarium Co-Op's website?

[Jungle Fan]

When they arrive I first inspect them for damage, place them in a bucket of water with Prime to hold them during processing, trim off the damaged, or dead leaves, and put the processed plants in a basin with water and Prime until processing is complete and then they get planted as immediately as possible. With any potted plants I remove the pot and the stone wool, give the plant a rinse under running water and divide up the root bundle into as many plants as desired, and they join the rest in the basin waiting to be planted asap. If they are crypts, other than Cryptocoryne parva, I cut off their leaves half an inch above the rhizome to skip the melt back phase. My plant holding tank is exactly that, a tank where I hold plants trimmings, or baby plants until I'm giving them away to friends, or where I keep certain plants until I have room in the tank for them, not a quarantine tank. Do I get snail hitchhikers? Yes but they don't stress me. Have I had other hitchhikers? Not to my knowledge, a good rinse off with running water has always done the job for me.

[Guppysnail]

I do not. I remove the wool and pot check it over and drop it in. I always stick rockwool in a container though hoping I got free pets but I have only ever gotten 1 snail. My cracker jacks boxes as a kid often were missing prizes too 🙃

[Guppysnail]

On 8/25/2021 at 6:40 PM, Nooby said:

Hi but what is quarantine? I am such a noob

All good we all started as newbies. Welcome along for the swim!  Quarantine is separating all new fish or plants from any established tanks/inhabitants for a time period. Plants 2 weeks anything harmful will die off without a host or hatch and become visible before you put it in your tank. Coop has great videos as well as many others (everyone has their own way) on proper fish quarantine.  May I please please recommend you never put a fish in your tank without quarantine no matter the source. Moving fish stresses them and lowers their immune system. If they are not bringing bad stuff they will be susceptible to things already in our tanks. Gives them a chance to adjust to your water feeding etc and show disease /bacteria. Kind of like jet lag knocks our immune system down. Ask lots of questions everyone here is super helpful good luck 😁

[Guppysnail]

On 8/25/2021 at 7:33 PM, Nooby said:

Thanks @Guppysnail I mixed quarantine up with acclimating 🤣

Then may I recommend plop and drop…float bag until temp is equal. Drop fish in. 😁

[Guppysnail]

On 8/25/2021 at 7:36 PM, Nooby said:

@Guppysnail sorry for hyjacking this question about ,how do you know if the temperature is equal?

I use a cheap etekcity temp gun from Amazon but usually 15-20 minutes your fine. It doesn’t need to be exact just close. 

[Streetwise]

Just to piggyback on @Guppysnail's post:

I like the term 'utility tanks', for standby tanks which can be used for multiple functions, including quarantine, staging plants and wood, keeping sponge filters ready, or offering hydration for a cat who prefers moving water.