Plants from Singapore

[wolfiewill]

I ordered some plants from Aquatic Magic, which I believed was based in Utah. I got the plants 28 days later, post marked 'Singapore'. Needlees to say I wasn't happy, and I emailed the company about my problem. As some of you know, plants from Singapore are treated with insecticides before they are allowed to be shipped to out-of-country destinations. See the following web site. I posted here early this year about this thread in response to a member describing exactly what the PFK article described.

http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/content.php?sid=4831&utm_source=PFK_newsletter&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=February_24_2012&utm_term=PFK_investigates:_Shrimps_killed_by_mail_order_plants .

Therefore, what do I do? Well I have quarantined the plants in a 10 gal tank I had moth balled. I got out a light, a heater, and an AC filter I wasn't using, and set them up for a month. I have set the temperature high (80 d F) to increase their metabolism, am doing regular water changes and charcoal filtering. The pH 7.3, tap water, Prime with some Equilibrium, Exel and Flourish comprehensive to get the plant systems to work and hopefully metabolize or expel the Buprofezin and the Imidacloprid. At present I am raising the pH to 8.5 for 2 hours to degrade the Trichlorofon. What a hassle!

You guys think I should do anything else? I'm going to plant the B. longifolia bulbs at the 16 day mark 'cause they are starting to root, and I don't want to mess with that process (I've failed with an earlier batch of longifolia). And I'm going to rinse everything off well before planting in the spots I want them. I also have the luxury of a livestock free 90 gallon tank (an overhaul in process coincidentally) for the longifolia, so I'll have a higher dilution, and, I'll introduce one shrimp for 24 hours as a test. Geez, I'm winded just writing this. Must me getting old, eh.

[exv152]

Greg, I would definitely go with the idea of planting them in the livestock free 90g, and take it from there. I'm no chemist, but quarantining them for that long and using carbon filtration should've done the trick by now. Besides, these companies only temporarily soak the plants in these solutions, for like an hour or so, any reminents should be long gone by now.

Still waiting on those 90g pictures though.

[wolfiewill]

Greg, I would definitely go with the idea of planting them in the livestock free 90g, and take it from there. I'm no chemist, but quarantining them for that long and using carbon filtration should've done the trick by now. Besides, these companies only temporarily soak the plants in these solutions, for like an hour or so, any reminents should be long gone by now.

Still waiting on those 90g pictures though.

I'm preparing a narrative for the fresh water build area. Pictures will be included there. And thanks for the suggestion. I really feel I'm going over board here and this confirms it. Your input is very helpful, considering your experience.

[wolfiewill]

So I quarantined them in a spare 10 gallon with a little carbon filtration, a little light and a few ferts at 80 degrees F for a month. At one point I raised the GH to 8.3 (wouldn't go higher?). I changed the water weekly and rinsed them before putting them in a tank. So far so good. There are no shrimp in that tank so I'm not sure how they would have done but everything looks good so far. Now I call suppliers to find out where they are shipping their stock. What a hassle!!!

[greenthumbs]

I know this thread is old but i too purchased plants from aqua magic. And i was very disappointed. My shipment came in two packages the first time. I only received one package with the moss balls. After complaining they re-sent me the order. The moss balls ended up dead, moss 10% was alive, java ferns are crap and others well they didnt grow either. Lets just say i wasted about 50$ thanks to them.   Lesson learned...   As for having pesticide issues, i had none, i just rinsed in warm tap water un-treated then let sit in water treated with Prime for a few hours. I have shrimp and neon tetras in the tank and they  showed no signs of stress. The shrimp actually enjoy the xmas moss more than i initially thought.

[angelcraze]

I too bought some java fern form aquamagic.  They sent me a plant with approx. 8 leaves and promised 20.  After complaining, they sent me another smallish plant of about 12 leaves.  So I said 'whatever, I guess I got what I paid for in the long run."  The java fern are doing okay, with some die off, but I had no idea they used parasites to ship.  Yikes!!!  It's a good thing I rinsed the crap out of these prior to introducing them to the aquarium. 

I also bought some anubias, from Taiwan, and these started to rot at the rhizome after a while.  They looked awesome at first.  I cut the rot off and separated the rhizome, and it seems (so far) that the half plants have started to throw out a bunch of new leaves.

They were all a good price, but I wonder if it's really worth it.  I don't like to risk pesticides in there, even though I'm am also sure carbon and quarantine would cure this.

I will take stricter precautions next time, if there is one.  Thanks for the info