There are a whole host of “dips” and “soaks” for plants which supposedly “sterilize” the plants or kills all pathogens, algae, snails and worms on the plants. The YouTube channel “Girl Talks Fish” (superb channel, I highly recommend it!) tested a whole bunch of dips and soaks on snails (and ONLY snails). To make a long story short: only a “soak” of one tablespoon of alum per gallon for two days did kill all the snails and all the snail eggs without killing the plants.
Salt, bleach, potassium permanganate and copper did not kill all the snails and all the snail eggs despite multiple length of times and multiple concentrations. Very strong hydrogen peroxide dip (25% solution of 3% hydrogen peroxide) for a day seemed to kill snails and snail eggs but also seemed to affect the plants. Alum (potassium alum, KAl(SO4)2) turned out to be the best dip.
Go to “Girl Talks Fish” channel on YouTube
( https://www.youtube.com/c/GirlTalksFish ) for all the details of this well-run test.
Note the alum probably did not kill any bacteria or algae but probably killed all the planaria worms and the like in the plants. This is just based on the biochemistry of the two classes of living creatures. Alum is a coagulant which will stop the respiration process in animals. I.e. no oxygen can cross the gill membrane and the organisms suffocate. So any animal will be killed. Plants probably will not be killed as they do not “breathe”.
Note that algae are simply a type of plant. So thinking that one can kill algae without killing plants is just ,…. well… let’s just say not too well thought out. This alum dip does NOT kill algae. And anything which might preferentially kill algae will only reduce the algae “load”, not kill all the algae cells. One cannot “sterilize” out something like algae or bacteria completely as there will always be some algae or bacteria cells which survive.
And this alum is the same stuff used to make pickles that human eat. So it is very safe.
Carbonated Beverage Soak
One way to kill all the snails, planaria, worms and all animals is to use carbonated water (“tonic water”) for three 12 hour soaks. Simply place the plants in a bath of fresh carbonated water (or any carbonated drink) for 12 hours. Then repeat two times. It is important that the carbonated water be fresh and full of carbon dioxide.
Plants love carbon dioxide while most animals are killed by an excess of carbon dioxide. Note that snails have a breathing tube which allows them to breath air. So larger snails can survive this treatment. So combining the alum treatment with a carbonated water treatment would seem to be wise.
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day says
Yes, if left in long enough, alum will kill most varmints. You have to be careful which plants you put in the alum, though. It’ll harm the most delicate ones. I only use it to get rid of bladder snails & eggs on plants I’ve removed. As for the reverse respiration, I don’t see it here, but I’ve had planted tanks (dirted) that bladder snails got into – probably something small I stuck in without thinking from a tank with bladder snails. It only takes one. Of course, you can’t do it with any fish or other aquarium livestock that you don’t want to kill. But, I have emptied the water in a 30-gal, heavily planted tank & poured in enough seltzer water to cover the plants. Then I covered the tank on all sides & top to black it out & left it for 12 hours. It absolutely works the 1st time. I haven’t been able to find a place where anyone else has gone to those measures, but I’d do it again if needed. I have a bladder snail-specific tank to grow them for fish food. Otherwise, I do not want bladder or ramshorn snails in my “good” aquariums. Maybe I’m too picfky, but especially for a shrimp tank, you definitely don’t want planaria!
Dave says
In reply to Newbie Fish ….. It will work quite well.
NewbFish says
Would like to know your opinion about Reverse Respiration (https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&source=web&rct=j&opi=89978449&url=https://forum.aquariumcoop.com/topic/24465-reverse-respiration).
Dave says
In Reply to Ben Z …. I do not know and I’ve never run across any research on it. Sorry.
Ben z says
Would alum kill planaria and leech eggs? What I mean is, would it be guaranteed to kill them, as far as anything in the real world can be “guaranteed”?