Disinfecting Plants

[Tropicalfishkeeping201]

Hello fishkeepers, 👋🙂

I'm going to purchase some plants and I typically go for tissue culture plants to avoid bringing snails, algae, diseases into my tank but this time I want to buy some regular plants since there are plants that I like but are not sold as tissue culture.

 

How do you guys successfully and safely disinfect your plants because the few times I've disinfected them, the plants end up not surviving.

 

I've using Alum and bleach and they end up dying.

 

Please share your methods of disinfecting

Thank you in advance 

 

 

Edited October 25, 2023 by Tropicalfishkeeping201

[JoeQ]

I never once disinfected a plant, never brought  in a disease and I have bought from countless sources. I have snails but this is from my own over feeding habits. IMO, disinfecting plants is counter productive (part of our disinfect everything culture IMO) New plants bring in more (and often new) beneficial micros. Which are good for your eco system, disinfecting also kills these micros. Like the old saying goes 'god made dirt, and dirt don't hurt!'

Edited October 26, 2023 by JoeQ

[Odd Duck]

On 10/25/2023 at 6:55 PM, JoeQ said:

I never once disinfected a plant, never brought  in a disease and I have bought from countless sources. I have snails but this is from my own over feeding habits. IMO, disinfecting plants is counter productive (and part of the germ-a-phobe culture) New plants bring in more (and hopefully new) beneficial micros. Like the old saying goes 'god made dirt and dirt don't hurt!'

It’s not really about disinfecting for me but I don’t want to get planaria in a tank again, nor hydra that could get unintentionally transferred to my live food culture tanks, or get scuds in shrimp only tanks, or MTS in any tanks, really.  I’m rarely treating for algae in new plants but I also discovered that even if RR doesn’t kill Wolffia or duckweed, it will float it pretty reliably so it can be more easily found and removed.  Pest free is all I’m looking for and RR does that very well.  I’m not looking for bacteria free tanks, I add beneficial bacteria semi regularly to tanks and make sure to add them frequently to tanks that are sitting fishless waiting to be quarantine tanks.