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Where do you find wild water hyacinth? I have a few lakes around me do you think it might have some?

Ranger The Red Ear Slider wrote:Where do you find wild water hyacinth? I have a few lakes around me do you think it might have some?

I've been told that here in Thailand, water hyacinth was introduced to the rivers by Ship voyagers from Europe before the 20th century. I'm lucky that they infest rivers around here.

Don't worry if you can't find water hyacinth, there are so many different types of water plants that grow in different places. If there are not many floating aquatic plants in your local water bodies then you might have to search for submerged plants in shallow waters with an empty water bottle or something. I think that if you live in a temperate zone like North America, you can find Anacharis (also called Elodea) which I personally would love to have for my turtles.

This goes without saying, both for plants that you buy from a store or gardening center as well as any that you take from any natural bodies of water. I have in the past found leaches on plants that I bought.

leaches in store bought plants?! EEEEEEEEWWWWWWWW what store? I guess their supply was wild caught. . . .

In the summer, I buy my water hyacinth at gardening centers. One summer a few years ago, when I went to do a partial water change, the some of the buckets of water I took out had little leaches/flukes swimming in them...

Snails can often be found on plants like anacharis, which you can buy in stores that sell fish (if it's legal). It's always good to clean and rinse off any plant you're thinking of putting in the tank.

marisa wrote:This goes without saying, both for plants that you buy from a store or gardening center as well as any that you take from any natural bodies of water. I have in the past found leaches on plants that I bought.

Yup......
Anything you add to an established tank must be checked for any parasites or even sterilized if possible.

marisa wrote:This goes without saying, both for plants that you buy from a store or gardening center as well as any that you take from any natural bodies of water. I have in the past found leaches on plants that I bought.

wow, that is frightening

Are leaches bad for turtles? Also should I clean the plants I buy from the pet store?

Ranger The Red Ear Slider wrote:Are leaches bad for turtles? Also should I clean the plants I buy from the pet store?

Yeah.....You'll find them attached to your turtles shell sucking their blood.
A good old rinse wouldn't do any harm.