mats808

Hi All,
Just wondering what you guys use or can recommend for disinfecting Cryptocorynes. Do you guys think a 2.5% bleach solution would be ok? I was thinking of leaving them in solution for 10 minutes. For example if you had fish that was very valuable to you and didn't want to take the chance of possibly infecting the tank with any type of disease but still wanted to grow a few Crypts.
thanks,
Aaron

bigstick120

Why do you think they need disinfected?

cfreeman

You may wish to try Potassium Permanganate as a dip. It is much gentler on your plants than the bleach. The bleach dip might be ok on thick leaved plants, but the fine leaved plants could suffer.

Potassium Permanganate will work on snails and bacteria I believe.

mats808

I just like to play it safe. You never know what kind of bacteria, virus, protozoans, etc. that may be on a new plant. As an example, for some fish such as wild Bettas or licorice gouramis velvet can be a problem. It would really suck to introduce that into the tank once you finally got it taken care of.

fastang80

Dip in a 1 part bleach to 19 part water mix for about a minute or two.

SKSuser

I would also suggest trying the potassium permanganate over the chloro. Unfortunately, its a little hard to get around here. It seems you can mix it with another substance and get a nice fire going, so people look at you funny when you ask around for it.

If you live in an area where people's well water has high iron content in it. I hear its a common additive, and its cheap when bought that way.

I've done the chloro on my crypts, but mine were a common variety. I don't think I'd risk it for anything valuable or rare at all. I've also heard of people doing a K permanganate bath treatment for their betta, so its obviously safer for the fish too.

Yoong

Potassium permaganate are also used for treatment of skin disease. You might be able to get it from your pharmacist or dermatologist. They usually come in diluted liquid solution and it is safer to handle. The one that is dangerous is the solid form.

I have used diluted KMNO4 for my other plants but not crypt. Thought crypt might be a bit sensitive and hence didn't want to take the risk. Any one here tried before? care to share the regime?

Yoong

HeyPK

To get rid of hair algae, I routinely use the 5% bleach treatment on any crypts I receive. The rhizomes are extremely resistant to the bleach treatment and the leaves are probably going to melt without any treatment, so it is no loss if the treatment damages the leaves. I find that four to five minutes in the bleach does not harm the rhizomes, and that a minimum of four minutes is necessary to get rid of Cladophora, probably the most resistant of all the hair algae.