Donna, I don't see any reason why you can't remove the Anacharis to a bucket for treatment. As the plant doesn't have as near an extent of roots as stem plants, and takes in much of its nutrients through its "leaves," rather than most of the food being taken up through the roots, your disturbing it will only temporarily disrupt its anchorage. You may probably even have a good deal of it floating right now, anyhow.
As this is a more delicate plant in terms of impurities in its environment, I would be cautious when treating it with anything. As some members may not have noticed the Subject Line, I should probably repeat that you're intending to use Hydrogen Peroxide (at 3% solution, I would determine). Normally, when dosing a tank with this (which I know is not your plan), one would use about 1 ounce (2 Tablespoons) of H2O2 per 10 gallons, which is often effective without redosing, and also safe for the fish.
You can use this same proportion in a 5 gallon bucket, overnight as a bath, at 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons; some hobbyists use 2 ounces (4 Tablespoons) per 10 gallons -- or 1 ounce (2 Tablespoons per 5 gallons) -- but without fish, presumedly with thougher leaved plants. When dosing Anacharis with anything, including H2O2, I'd suggest sampling the results first and don't be in a hurry to do the whole job at the moment. Try a bit of Anacharis first, to see how it reacts o the peroxide, and also to see how well the amount of peroxide affects the Black Brush Algae.
Other shorter duration dips, but at higher strength dosages may be used -- but again, I'd do so with Anacharis only after a trial. A 30 minute dip using 4 ounces (8 Tablespoons) of H2O2 can be used -- or a 30 second dip using a 5-to-1 ratio of water to H2O2 can also be used. This would be like using 20 ounces (2 1/2 cups) of water to 4 ounces (1/2 cup) of H2O2. Both of these latter methods should definitely be done only on a sampling of Anacharis first.
Quite often, Flourish Excel is used against Black Brush Algae very effectively, as a bath at double the normal dose (or at a 5-1 ratio for 30 seconds), BUT Excel will also melt some more tender plants -- INCLUDING Valisneria and Anacharis. As it is reported that Peroxide will kill Valisneria, you can see why you need to be cautious with H2O2, with Anacharis -- even though I'm not aware of any reports indicating Anacharis would be similarly adversly sffected by Peroxide..
You may instead want to use chlorine bleach as a quick dip to treat the Anacharis. In this case, you'd use a 19-to-1 ratio of water to bleach (regular strength bleach, not "Ultra"); that is, 19 (or 20) ounces of water to 1 ounce of bleach.. For delicate plants, you dip them in this solution for between 2 and 3 minutes. Tougher, wide leaved plants, for 4 to 5 minutes, AFTER WHICH, the plants should immediately be immersed in a bucket of water containing a dechlorinator. A Potassium Permangante dip, for 20 minutes, can also be used as an algaecide. With any method you use, more caution needs to be exercised with Anacharis. Ray
--- In tropicalfishclub@yahoogroups.com, Donna King <donnalynneking@...> wrote:
>
>
>
> Hi all,
> Glub's (goldfish) 75 is doing well but his anacharis while still doing well is
> getting lots of black brush algae. I really don't want to treat in the tank.
> Can I remove these plant to treat them in a bucket, give them a rinse and then
> place them back in his tank? How much would I use to 5 gallons of water? I
> realize its going to come back but I'd like to control whats on the plants
> anyway.
>
> Donna
>
>
>
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>
No comments:
Post a Comment