Elodea and how to clean it

Hello,

I just bought elodea from my local fish store. It's the first time I bought them, and since I kept them in a small bowl of dirty tank water. I won't plant the elodea, but I will use them to feed my Goldfish and Crayfish. I did a bit of research on how to feed elodea to my pets, but I haven't found anything about washing them or putting them in bleach (one of my friends told me). I am not planting elodea in the tanks. Do I need to do anything to the elodea before feeding to my pets, anything like washing etc?

 

If it is going in your tank for any length of time, including feeding, you should at very least dip it in hydrogen peroxide, available at any phamacy or in the first aid section of the supermarket, to kill snails that may be tagging along. You can also use saltwater. In both cases rinse well in some dechlorinated water, and then add to your tank.

 

Elodea is rather sensitive to treatments, so I'd recommend testing anything (bleach, hydrogen peroxide, salt, etc) on a small piece before doing the whole plant.

 

I would also rec. a HPerox dip for 5sec to a half minute. (Test, test, test!)

If nothing else, atleast rinse in fresh dechlor water.

 

Thanks for the replies

I think I bought too much elodea, so it may last more than a month. Some leaves are dying off, I don't know why. Still, I wasn't told specifically how to treat the elodea.