feedin duckweeds to ranchu???

PP in crystal form can be bought over the counter from pharmancy... most of them sell it. in liquid form, chinese medical halls sell it, too... generally, known as "blue medicated water".

Originally posted by Ah Thiam
Potassium Permanganate = Ocean Free, solution J. But becareful, it stains. So dedicate a special container for this purpose. I hate to recommend Ocean Free products, as they are ....... "Ocean Free" and don't even specify that this product is actually PP and the %tage of concentration. But this is the only one readily availabe in LFS. In farms, they are using crystal form which is, I think again, a controlled item .

During the 99 Aquarama, I bought from a USA exhibitor, Kordon - Permoxyn. This one states 3.84% PP. Undortunately cannot find anywhere in LFS.

Originally posted by Xerovix
PP in crystal form can be bought over the counter from pharmancy... most of them sell it. in liquid form, chinese medical halls sell it, too... generally, known as "blue medicated water".

Really ? Thanks for the info. Only thing is that the % of concentration might be different as those at Medicated halls are meant for human. Dunno can use for fish or not.

those bros over at Freshwater forum bought and used those crystal PP from pharmancy.... did not heard them complaining. but as you said... the percentage of concentration is unknown.

for those at chinese medical halls... if i wanna conduct a PP bombardment... i will skip them.

Originally posted by Ah Thiam
Really ? Thanks for the info. Only thing is that the % of concentration might be different as those at Medicated halls are meant for human. Dunno can use for fish or not.

if you wanna get rid of pathogens, algae, and snails from plants... bleach it! but it can damage the plants badly, too.

use PP to kill any bacteria from the plants or use 1% salt concentration and soak your plants in it for 5 mins.

Originally posted by happybuddha
Aiyoh. Really ah. Reading back, the advise was to soak them in bleach. Bleach!? Erm... pardon me for thinking it was a joke!

But I just scanned the net and wow lau... no joke man. The common recommendation is to use household bleach. &^%$! 1 part to 19 parts of water. Soak for 2 minutes but avoid the roots and soaking plants with sterms. Also can use something called "Potassium Permanganate" which you can soak the entire plants including the roots. I prefer the later if I know where to buy it. Anyone knows?

Originally posted by Xerovix
if you wanna get rid of pathogens, algae, and snails from plants... bleach it! but it can damage the plants badly, too.

use PP to kill any bacteria from the plants or use 1% salt concentration and soak your plants in it for 5 mins.

I'm so confused now. Are you implying I need to use both bleach and PP to disinfect newly acquired plants?

And you know what? Although bleach and PP are cheap, applying the correct dosage is tricky.

Maybe bro laserguy can advise if there's any commercial products available at LFS for plant disinfection? Hmm... is he around?

Originally posted by happybuddha
I'm so confused now. Are you implying I need to use both bleach and PP to disinfect newly acquired plants?

And you know what? Although bleach and PP are cheap, applying the correct dosage is tricky.

Maybe bro laserguy can advise if there's any commercial products available at LFS for plant disinfection? Hmm... is he around?

Bro Happybuddha, I am here all along.
Frankly speaking, noboby will do bleaching for new plants, normally I don't even carried out any disinfection lah. Just rinse/soak with water, remove/trim unwanted leaves, remove visible algae/snail.
With proper water parameters, no or minimum algae will be found in a planted tank, we will also use some algae-eater such as otto, yamato/malayan shrimp to control algae. Snail ? We use puffer fish to clear them.

Originally posted by qikimhee
bro
OxyCure - overdose and soak for half an hour to kill all chapalang snails and pathogens.

Don't think salt or Oxycure can kill snails completely lah.

Just now I was confused.

Now I'm crying.

Bro Ah Thiam say must disinfect new plants but Bro Laserguy say nonit; just rinse will do.

How ah?

Let's see. The laser dude has a few planted tanks. OK, I listen to him.

Wheeeeee! Glad to know there's no need to go through the trouble of disinfecting plants. My first-aid box for fishes shall continue to contain absolutely nothing; not even aqaurium salt!

From now on, I shall rinse and soak all my newly acquired fish too.

Originally posted by happybuddha
Just now I was confused.

Now I'm crying.

Bro Ah Thiam say must disinfect new plants but Bro Laserguy say nonit; just rinse will do.

How ah?

Let's see. The laser dude has a few planted tanks. OK, I listen to him.

Wheeeeee! Glad to know there's no need to go through the trouble of disinfecting plants.

From now on, I shall rinse and soak all my newly acquired fish too.

Bro, you got it wrong already.
No need to disinfect new plants in planted tank because in a mature planted tank, the new plants will be 'clean' by some other
means within the tank like puffer, algae eater, proper water parameters etc.
For GFs tank, all these means are not available, thus, manual method will be needed lor.....