Parasites in plants?

[D12DetroitD12]

I got some more plants from the stream behind my apartment the other day and i have them in a separate tank with some tadpoles. I wanted the plants to be safe before i put them in my planted 75gal but it looks like a bunch of small worms are all over the roots and in the tank with the plants.... I'm not sure if there just some type of harmless water worm or if there parasites but i cant really treat the plant without killing it. Everywhere i read it says don't use the salt treatment or chemical treatments like parasite killers with plants in the tank because it can kill the plants. So any suggestions on how i can get these worms or parasites off the plants?

Also some of the worms are bigger and red, and the others and very very small and tan? Cant really tell there just barley visible.

 

[D12DetroitD12]

Ive read that a bleach solution would work. Will 5% bleach 95 water be good enough to kill the worms and not the plant?

 

[stewnew]

well commercially available bleach = 6%

so 5% is def too strong lol

im pretty sure you mean take 5% of 6% bleach and mix it with 95% water to give a final concentration of .3%


im sorry, im a scientist lol


bleach isnt too good for plants eaither unfortunatley... a weak dilution may work, but you may see a loss of plants.... maybe rinse with hot water..

 

[stewnew]

also, plant parasites generally are not worms but instead viruses/bacteria

you probably snagged a bunch of eggs or something

 

[D12DetroitD12]

well commercially available bleach = 6%

so 5% is def too strong lol

im pretty sure you mean take 5% of 6% bleach and mix it with 95% water to give a final concentration of .3%


im sorry, im a scientist lol


bleach isnt too good for plants eaither unfortunatley... a weak dilution may work, but you may see a loss of plants.... maybe rinse with hot water..

Yeah im really bad at science so i guess i didn't know what i was talking about, just stuff i read other places.

 

[D12DetroitD12]

Ill wash it and continue to soak it in a separate tank maybe ill have some luck there.

 

[dr_sudz]

chances are if you put some fish in the tank with the worms they will eat them. what do you think the fish in the stream are eating? eggs and such will grow on the stems of plants, fish and snails use these often.

 

[D12DetroitD12]

chances are if you put some fish in the tank with the worms they will eat them. what do you think the fish in the stream are eating? eggs and such will grow on the stems of plants, fish and snails use these often.

Yeah from all the pond sites it says the fish will eat any of them, i just want to be sure they are worms and nothing harmful. Ill wash the plants off and if theres anything left i'm sure my bullhead would love to eat them.

 

[schaadrak]

Most aquatic parasites do not have a free-swimming part of their life cylce that would be visible to the naked eye. These were probably just aquatic worms and nothing to be worried about. They might even have been good for the tank as a clean-up-crew.