[APD] Re: Aquatic-Plants Digest, Vol 1, Issue 77

[Paul Krombholz <krombhol at teclink_net>]

    * From: "William E. Davies" <WEDavies at nni_com>
>   
> Please describe the plant bleaching process in detail.  I missed its
> discussion in this forum.
> Thank you.
> Bill

Before bleaching any plants you have to have a tank of some kind set 
up to receive the treated plants.  The idea is to have a nice happy 
home for them to recover from the bleach treatment.  This happy home 
should, of course, be free of hair algae.  Light, CO2, and nutrients 
should be optimum for the quickest recovery.

Treat the plants with 5% liquid bleach with gentle agitation.  This 
is 1 part liquid bleach plus 19 parts water, to make a 1/20 dilution. 
That means one part bleach in 20 parts total.  Treat according to how 
thick their stems are.  Most thin-stemmed, delicate plants can take 
two minutes.  Crown plants like swords and crypts can take 4 minutes. 
Some plants are much more resistant than others.  Anubias and 
Marcelia are hardly fazed at all by four minutes.  Crypts may lose 
their leaves, but their rhizomes are unharmed.  Perhaps the most 
sensitive plant is Eusteralis stellata.  It looks thick stemmed, but 
two minutes will cause all the leaves to die, and the white stems, 
with no chlorophyll, die in a few days.  Eusteralis is the only plant 
that I have not been able to free of hair algae using the bleach 
treatment.  I am in the process of getting it free by growing it 
emersed.  That is another way of getting hair algae-free plants that 
works with all stem plants that can be grown emersed.  Just cut off 
the new growth that has grown in air, and you have a hair-algae free 
plant.

Most hair algae species are killed by two minutes of treatment. 
Cladophora requires four minutes.  Fortunately, Cladophora is slow to 
attach to plants, and  is usually attached to crown plants that can 
take four minutes of the treatment easily.  For delicate stem plants, 
the newest growth is not likely to have any Cladophora attached.

Treated plants should be well rinsed and immediately floated in a 
well-lit hair algae-free tank.  When some new growth is seen---some 
new leaves and roots---they can be planted.

Once you have a hair algae free tank, the routes of entry for hair 
algae are (1) new plants that have not been bleached.  (2) water that 
has fragments of hair algae that comes in the bag with a new fish, 
and (3) New snails or other critters that bring in hair algae.  You 
do not have to worry about "hellish spores" floating in the air.

Gravel from a hair algae infested tank can be treated with a strong 
bleach mixture (at least 25% bleach) or boiled.  The tank, itself, 
should be filled to the brim and then  1 cup of bleach added for 
every 10 gallons.  Cover with a tight glass lid and let it sit for 
several days.
--
Paul Krombholz in cool, fall-like central Mississippi
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