# Wild plants and quarantine



## My2butterflies (Jul 31, 2016)

So I've read in a few places about people gathering plants from lakes/ponds and bringing them home for their tanks.

How long would you quarantine them for to be sure you aren't introducing parasites? Is there a recommended washing method? I swear I heard someone say they did a bleach soak, but wouldn't that kill them?

I'm very curious to hear what outdoor materials people are putting in their tanks as well. Rock, wood, plants, etc.

So far the only thing I have in my tanks from outside is rock from the field. I believe granite? Soaked for a week and scrubbed well before use. 
I plan to add more once it warms up enough for me to go rock hunting.

If anyone here uses lake driftwood or local plants I'd love to hear how you prep it.


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## lizardboy (Jun 10, 2015)

I've used driftwood before. I just boiled it.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

The wild plants in Minneapolis may not be able to tolerate the heat in our tropical cichlid tanks. If you keep native cold water cichlids (with a chiller on the tank maybe) this might be an option. Florida people collect wild plants, but the ground water there is warm.

There are various soaks and dips...most are fairly toxic to both plants and people. Safer just to let time elapse I would think. You want to out-wait the hatching time for the critters native to the body of water the plants are taken from.

I've done bleach dips for algae...it does take a layer of cells off the plant as well as the algae. It's also hard to orchestrate...you have to dip for exactly x number of seconds and I had a lot of plants. I tried tying them to a rod...like dipping candles in wax...it was fairly comical.

I would not do it again. The snails are less trouble than the dipping/quarantine.


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## My2butterflies (Jul 31, 2016)

I hadn't really thought about the temp. I kinda figured that it would be more like never ending summer for them. Lol

It's not just my tanks I was wanting the plants for. I have a small ornamental pond too. I ordered plants the first year and bought lilys and brought everything in before winter. I lost all the plants because the tank wasn't heated at the time. And I just realized I killed my lilys So I'll need all new plants this year now.

I'll have to look up what critters are in the waters out here.

Ahh, it must have been the algae I read about people using bleach for.


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## RayMontana (Oct 5, 2016)

All my gravel and larger rocks come from local streams or side of the road up in the wilderness. I just let the wet stuff dry after thoroughly rinsing and wash the dirt off the dry stuff. 
seems to be working. Water here is too cold to introduce native plants. I thought about a native fish tank...probably illegal.


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## Fogelhund (Dec 3, 2002)

I do pretty well with plants in my aquariums... I live in Ontario, similar ecosystem to Minnesota... I've brought home a number of wild plants over time, and they've never survived in the aquarium.... except for duck weed. :lol:


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## My2butterflies (Jul 31, 2016)

I'd love to get my hands on some duckweed for my koi. Lol 
I find it interesting that native plants would do so poorly in an aquarium. It is disappointing to hear. I'm still curious if it would work in my small outdoor pond and I may give it a try. The plants I order are not for my zone and don't take cold spells well.

I will likely just have to order my plants like I have in the past. Now that I heat my tanks I'd imagine I'll have even better success with them. My tanks are in my sun room and get direct sunlight when the shades are open. I don't use aquarium lights, but this has works well before. (Durning warm months)

The idea of going out and hunting for drift wood and rocks has me really excited for spring. I want to do an overhaul on my 75. I'm getting less and less fond of plastic plants and river rock/pebbles.


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