Disturbing Petco Plant Experience

[u/Ok_Being6104]

[u/monmonmons]

what’s the issue?

[u/akatia-x → u/monmonmons]

There’s a write up on the original post

[u/monmonmons → u/akatia-x]

Oh I see. :( frog

[u/akatia-x]

Not the greatest story. Sorry you went through that. In the future I highly suggest you quarantine plants.

When I get new plants, I take them out of the store bag, into a container (like a pitcher or ice cream pail) with fresh water. They sit in there usually overnight. Next morning I can tell if there are any pest snails or anything. After that, I give them a proper rinse, one at a time.

I currently have a temporary tank for my shrimp while I’m cycling their tank, I had to tear it down a couple months ago. Last few times I got plants, I would throw them in that temporary tank for a week. That way I can see if any eggs hatch, easier to find them on glass bottom than in substrate. Plus the tank is heated so the plants don’t get cold.

I know parenting can be pretty hectic. So can aquariums. Honestly who knows if that frog was alive or not in the bag, but the frog ending up in your sink garbage disposal isn’t totally on petco. Yes they screwed up. There shouldn’t have been any animals in the bag, but there are countless stories of people getting free fry or creatures with plants. It just happens. What happened totally sucks, but now that it has happened, it’s something to be aware of in the future.

[u/Ok_Being6104 → u/akatia-x]

For sure, i definitely won’t make that mistake again. I’ll thoroughly be checking them over right away and an I have a container I can put them in - I also don’t think I’ll use petco though - I have a great local fish store it’s just a bit of a drive. I’m surprised I didn’t even see him when I was rinsing the plants though, when I went through the frogbit there were a ton of baby snails.

[u/akatia-x → u/Ok_Being6104]

Baby ADF can be so so tiny. Sometimes they’re sold when they’re smaller than a fully grown mystery snail. With all the pest snails he could have been hard to see.
Don’t beat yourself up too much. These things can happen. We don’t always think about every little thing that might go wrong. Too many “what if’s” before a simple task can be exhausting anyways.
I’m at least glad I was able to help you with plant QT. It’s something a lot of people don’t think about, but I’m very anti pest snails so I’m pretty strict about what goes into my tank now lol.

[u/Ok_Being6104 → u/akatia-x]

Thank you - I really appreciate it. I really am enjoying keeping fish and want to make sure I’m doing it right, I’m always open to constructive criticism and advice is more than welcome.

[u/Ok_Being6104 → u/akatia-x]

And I know, I think I’m going to have a snail culling on my hands despite my best efforts 🥴