# Glad I disinfected my plants!



## Fantastica (May 5, 2013)

Took a good 2 hours last night to disinfect the 14 bromeliads I bought from Blue Pumilio. 15 minute soak in water, 3 minutes in 10% bleach, then a rinse for 2 minutes. I was a total pain and my hands reek of bleach still, but I'm really glad I did. 
I found a few planaria, some maggot-looking worm, a bunch of thin red worms my camera didn't pick up, and a spider. That's only what I could see, and only the bleach bowl. 









What stuff have you seen from disinfecting your plants, especially bromeliads? Feel free to post pictures!

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## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

Fantastica said:


> What stuff have you seen from disinfecting your plants, especially bromeliads? Feel free to post pictures!
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk


I'm mostly concerned about the stuff I CAN'T see, but discovering that much in your bleach water is a nice visual reminder of the benefits of sanitizing.


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## ecichlid (Dec 26, 2012)

I never have. Seems the beneficial creatures have done my vivs well. I don't disinefect my ABG either.


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## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

Nitrile gloves sir! You can get them on the cheep at harbor freight. I stock up on them when they're on sale and usually have a 25% off coupon.

Light duty for quick jobs, disinfecting plants, washing cups etc., medium duty for working with silicone/great stuff. Heavy duty for pressing background materials into the silicone.

This is of couse exactly why you do this.

I've found spiders, pill bugs, snail, leaches, millipedes, centipedes, ants, aphids, and scale. I just set the scale plant on fire and got a refund.

Best was a small house gecko though. Very surprised when that little sucker jumped out.


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## Fantastica (May 5, 2013)

Does anyone disinfect their ABG with bleach? I feel like that would leach it back later. Thoughts?

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## Armson (Sep 8, 2008)

Fantastica said:


> Does anyone disinfect their ABG with bleach? I feel like that would leach it back later. Thoughts?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk



I microwave it for 5 minutes. If it can live through that... It has more than earned the right to live.


-B


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## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

Fantastica said:


> Does anyone disinfect their ABG with bleach? I feel like that would leach it back later. Thoughts?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk


Oh hell no. Just microwave it on high for 5 minutes.

MAKE SURE ITS DAMP!


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## whitethumb (Feb 5, 2011)

it will catch on fire if it's not damp. trust me 



ZookeeperDoug said:


> Oh hell no. Just microwave it on high for 5 minutes.
> 
> MAKE SURE ITS DAMP!


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## 357MAGNOLE (Jan 23, 2014)

whitethumb said:


> it will catch on fire if it's not damp. trust me


Awesome! Please do tell!


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## Armson (Sep 8, 2008)

whitethumb said:


> it will catch on fire if it's not damp. trust me


I thought that was a given! 

but I would love to hear what happens if I forget!


-B


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## Dane (Aug 19, 2004)

Fantastica said:


> Does anyone disinfect their ABG with bleach? I feel like that would leach it back later. Thoughts?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk


I use my own mix, but I boil substrates.


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## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

Armson said:


> I thought that was a given!
> 
> but I would love to hear what happens if I forget!
> 
> ...


Hahaha, that's what I thought! Then I got the phone call...


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## whitethumb (Feb 5, 2011)

the 1st time i put my agb in my microwave it caught fire. stunk up my whole house. i don't think my microwave ever smelled normal after that.


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## Fantastica (May 5, 2013)

ZookeeperDoug said:


> Nitrile gloves sir! You can get them on the cheep at harbor freight. I stock up on them when they're on sale and usually have a 25% off coupon.
> 
> Best was a small house gecko though. Very surprised when that little sucker jumped out.


Thanks for the tip on where to get gloves! If I had them, I probably wouldn't use them for the bleaching. I like to feel all the parts of the plant and make sure there's no slimy residue left. That house gecko thing is AWESOME though! In a bromeliad?


I'd make sure that if you microwave your substrates to do it in something glass, you wouldn't want the estrogenic chemicals from something plastic getting into the microfauna. I've been baking my substrate.


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## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

Fantastica said:


> Thanks for the tip on where to get gloves! If I had them, I probably wouldn't use them for the bleaching. I like to feel all the parts of the plant and make sure there's no slimy residue left. That house gecko thing is AWESOME though! In a bromeliad?
> 
> 
> I'd make sure that if you microwave your substrates to do it in something glass, you wouldn't want the estrogenic chemicals from something plastic getting into the microfauna. I've been baking my substrate.


Yep, in a bromeliad from a big name brom nursery.

I get what you're saying about the residue, I find with the light duty gloves, I have enough tactile feel. PLus after my plants are rinsed really well, they sit in a bucket of water with some prime for an hour, then are dipped in RO for a final rinse, and allowed to "air out" if they're broms or hardy stuff that can take a little drying out.

And a VERY GOOD point on using glass to microwave anything. I use a large 1 gallon glass bowl. The other nice thing is glass doesn't get too too hot.

Same thing too, if you're like me and disinfect media for springs/ISOs in the microwave, don't pour hot media into the plastic container. Let it cool first.


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## Fantastica (May 5, 2013)

ZookeeperDoug said:


> Yep, in a bromeliad from a big name brom nursery.
> 
> I get what you're saying about the residue, I find with the light duty gloves, I have enough tactile feel. PLus after my plants are rinsed really well, they sit in a bucket of water with some prime for an hour, then are dipped in RO for a final rinse, and allowed to "air out" if they're broms or hardy stuff that can take a little drying out.


Did he become a new pet or was he native enough to release?

What's the "prime" you add to your water? What does it do?


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## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

Fantastica said:


> Did he become a new pet or was he native enough to release?
> 
> What's the "prime" you add to your water? What does it do?


Just a Mediterranean house Gecko, they're everywhere. Still in my frog room someplace I'm sure.

Seachem. Prime


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## oddlot (Jun 28, 2010)

Prime is a dechlorinator for the bleach.Added precaution.


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## ZookeeperDoug (Jun 5, 2011)

I like it because it is super concentrated and doesn't have a lot of other nonsense in it. Zip drops or even powdered sodium thiosulfate would be perfect too.


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## JayMillz (Jun 27, 2012)

I used some thicker dishwashing gloves when I was having to wash half a dozen QT sweater boxes every other day. Those held up pretty nice but otherwise I use the nitril gloves for quick cleanings.

When I was building my first viv, I found a really nice looking root structure on the edge of the river (it came from a 'plant' that was alive at one point so it counts for this thread lol) and because of it's size, it was easier to just hold above my head while I was walking. It was about a half mile walk home and I put it in the viv I was going to use and my first step in sanitizing it was to soak it in saturated salt water (it's called the dead sea for a reason was my logic) for 24 hours. Anyways, as soon as I put it in the water, all kinds of little water bugs came out of it and withered up and died, but also an adult crayfish came sprinting out of it too so I caught it and let it go.


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## CJW (Nov 14, 2011)

Disgusting.. but nice reminder. Don't want any surprise geckos appearing in tanks.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Fantastica said:


> Does anyone disinfect their ABG with bleach? I feel like that would leach it back later. Thoughts?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk


Might as well perform the Mexican Hat Dance around it... it'll give you the same level of benefit.... Using bleach for something like a porous organic substrate isn't of any value as the massively available organics in the substrate are going to make any disinfection useless.... 

The use with live plants is of some value as you can attack some pathogens directly, but it's not the cure-all. With respect to the mites etc above, you could have gotten the same results using a gentle dishsoap and warm water... The dish soap prevents any of the organisms from holding an airbubble around their body as well as helping to remove soils and substrates that are going to protect unwanted things from the subsequent bleach dip. If you withhold the plants from frog contents for 2-3 weeks, and keep them humid, microbes will digest the soap preventing skin irritation from residual materials. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## Fantastica (May 5, 2013)

Ed said:


> Might as well perform the Mexican Hat Dance around it... it'll give you the same level of benefit.... Using bleach for something like a porous organic substrate isn't of any value as the massively available organics in the substrate are going to make any disinfection useless....
> 
> The use with live plants is of some value as you can attack some pathogens directly, but it's not the cure-all. With respect to the mites etc above, you could have gotten the same results using a gentle dishsoap and warm water... The dish soap prevents any of the organisms from holding an airbubble around their body as well as helping to remove soils and substrates that are going to protect unwanted things from the subsequent bleach dip. If you withhold the plants from frog contents for 2-3 weeks, and keep them humid, microbes will digest the soap preventing skin irritation from residual materials.
> 
> ...


So, would you use bleach solution or dish soap? Doesn't the bleach solution dissipate in a few days?

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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

Fantastica said:


> So, would you use bleach solution or dish soap? Doesn't the bleach solution dissipate in a few days?
> 
> Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk


Neither for a substrate. 

The bleach does dissipate over time but it doesn't mean that it has penetrated tight spots where the surface tension prevents the penetration of the solution nor does it affect things that are protected by something organic like soil particles or even a piece of dead leaf stuck to the stem..... For a bleach solution to be effective requires that the shielding materials be removed. In addition, there isn't much you can do about things that are shielded by an air bubble when using a bleach solution. Many soaps contain material that will react with bleach so mixing them tends to be useless as well... (organics).

It all depends on what you want to do with the treatment. 

Some comments 

Ed


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## FroggyKnight (Mar 14, 2013)

CJW said:


> Disgusting.. but nice reminder. Don't want any surprise geckos appearing in tanks.


You DON'T want a surprise gecko? What is wrong with you?!? Everyone needs geckos in their life

Doug, was the little guy ok after being soaked? I would freak out! In a good way

I also second the use of Prime. It is a great product and I use it to treat all water the goes into my reef tank. It will smell terrible when you open the bottle though!

John


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## NM Crawler (Jan 23, 2012)

Get your self a 64qt pressure cooker on amazon. I sterilize abg, leafs and peat moss in it for spring culture. Best money I ever spent. Also makes killer red pork chili in....haha


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## repking26 (Mar 12, 2012)

Hey Ed,

What type of dish soap would you recommend? I ask because I recently had to tear down a tank because I had snails out the wazoo even after doing a dip in a diluted bleach solution. Lucky the tank had only plants in them. 

-Mo-


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

repking26 said:


> Hey Ed,
> 
> What type of dish soap would you recommend? I ask because I recently had to tear down a tank because I had snails out the wazoo even after doing a dip in a diluted bleach solution. Lucky the tank had only plants in them.
> 
> -Mo-


I don't think soap would have helped you... If you take a snail and look at it closely, most can either withdraw far enough into the shell to avoid any irritation (since unless you leave it for weeks, it's not going to be strong enough to kill them), have opercula that can close and protect the snail from any exposure, and/or can form a mucous plug that enables them to aestivate or otherwise avoid conditions that are problematic. 

In any case, use a gentle dishwashing liquid, something like Dawn and rinse it very well, and let it acclimate in place so the microbes can break down the soap. 

Some comments 

Ed


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