# What to do with plants in sick Betta's tank?



## micheemak (Aug 8, 2015)

One of my bettas in a small 3.6g tank is sick - dropsy for sure, but I'm thinking caused by an internal parasite of some sort. He's too sick to move out of his tank, so I treated the entire tank with Betta Revive (M. Blue in it) and epsom salts.

There are plants in this tank: several vallis, an amazon sword, an ocelot sword and a marimoo, planted in Fluval Volcanic substrate. 

Two questions: 
1) if he survives *best case scenario* do I need to do anything with his plants? They've been dosed as well (or will they die because of the dosing).

2) if he dies, what do I need to do to prepare the tank for a potential future new fish? Can I keep the plants (assuming they're still alive) and the substrate, or will they potentially pass on any disease to a new occupant?

I normally treat any sick fishies in an empty QT tank, so this has never come up before.

Thanks in advance for any advice.


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## lilnaugrim (Mar 27, 2013)

It's up to you in the long run. Dropsy usually isn't caused by internal parasites but a bacterial infection or 99% of the time it's merely a failure in the kidney's (sometimes the liver if there is pineconing but no bloat), humans and all other animals get the same thing depending on their genetics.

Anyway, you can do bleach dips. 5% solution and you turn the plant upside down, keep the roots out and just submerge the leaves and stems for 30 seconds. Rinse in tap and place in QT tank. For some more sensitive plants, you may only be able to do 5 seconds. Or you can do Potassium Permanganade (Jungle's Clear Water from walmart is liquid PP) dip for them as well. Same deal except you double dose it (9 drops per gallon) and you can submerge the whole plant for 30 seconds to a minute. These are only disinfectants though and not sterilizers. The only way you can sterilize is by boiling or using a UV light. You can get a UV filter if you really want to, AquaTop makes some, SunSun has some as well. It's up to you.


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## micheemak (Aug 8, 2015)

Thanks Lil. I talked to a vet about him yesterday and took pictures when I took my dog in, and he suspected organ failure/genetics - basically said the same thing as you. There was no bloating, so I suspect his liver stopped functioning - his entire stomach was green, like a bruise, this morning when I went to check on him. He died sometime in the night.

I think to be safe I am going to get rid of his plants and substrate, and totally disenfect his tank before I put anyone new in there. I am confident it wasn't bacterial, based on vet, research and the advice I was given on here, but why take chances?

Good to know about how to dip/disenfect plants though, just in case I need it for future.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

I've used pure potassium permanganate(bought dry and added to water) to dip plants before, aside from the staining potential to skin (goes away in a few days) and cloths (I think this is permanent) I've found it very useful for killing off little critters like snails as well as algae. Potassium permanganate crystals are also used to treat unsafe water to make it drinkable (kills bacteria, parasites, etc in the water) for humans. SO I think its a good option to go with. 
You'd need to look up ratios for dipping, and I'd recommend wearing "i don't care if I ruin them" cloths when doing the dip just in case.. also do the dip in a garage or utility room if you have one, not in a nice sink.

While its a different, I lost one betta to columnaris-this stuff I've read can live in a tank without a host for up to a month. So I left the tanks planted and running, dosing pure ammonia to keep the filth cycled for over a month before getting new fish. Had no losses with the new ones, its been well over a year since that happened.

I'm not sure how the plants will do with epsom salt, I know: marimo, anubias, sword, and a few others can tolerate very mild salinity increase of aquarium salt, can't recall is vals were on that list or not.. if not the vals will melt real fast so it should be obvious.

edit: just noticed you're ditching plants and substrate so never mind my post.


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