I'm wondering why using fresh (non-dried) wood is such a big taboo... I'd figure bacteria/fungus/parasite-wise, the dead wood people typically use is a higher risk, because once it's dead it's basically a free-for-all, contaminant wise. Is sap so dangerous? Supposing I cut some branches off one of my [dormant, since it's winter here] oak trees, water blasted them and baked them in the oven for a day, wouldn't that be just as safe as something that'd been dead for a few years?
Using fresh wood in a tank
- Thread starter Kinbote
- Start date
everybody is saying something according to their experience or what they hear from others.
for myself the proof of the pudding is in eating it.
so i'm for doing it. experiment it but donot waste it on real fishes. just put it in a smaller extra aquarium u may have.
i just collect some hardwood roots of aprpriate shape and let them float in my pond after somedays it will sink to the bottom and will stop leeching tannins. this is important as tannic acid reduces the ph. thats why everybody is advicing to go for old bleached wood
for myself the proof of the pudding is in eating it.
so i'm for doing it. experiment it but donot waste it on real fishes. just put it in a smaller extra aquarium u may have.
i just collect some hardwood roots of aprpriate shape and let them float in my pond after somedays it will sink to the bottom and will stop leeching tannins. this is important as tannic acid reduces the ph. thats why everybody is advicing to go for old bleached wood
I've got a blackwater biotope but quite alkaline tapwater, so anything that lowers the pH and darkens the water is a good thing for me.
i guess it depends on the wood and what it has come into contact with. i got a piece of wood from my parents fast flowing creek. let it dry out, blasted it with water and cooked it 4 times to be sure.
within a couple of months of putting it in, had a massive fungus bloom in the tank and all my fish died.
at that point, i scrapped the whole tank and redid it completely from the ground up. that piece of wood i tossed into my back yard. so there is fair warning.
within a couple of months of putting it in, had a massive fungus bloom in the tank and all my fish died.
at that point, i scrapped the whole tank and redid it completely from the ground up. that piece of wood i tossed into my back yard. so there is fair warning.
You sure the wood caused it? Two months seems like a long delay, and I wouldn't see anything surviving 'four cookings' assuming they were done right.
oh, i don't mean they started after 2 months. by 2 months, it was game over. nothing left in the tank.
the problems started within a very short time of adding the wood. it was the only new thing in the tank. all of my clown loaches, my pleco, angelfish and tetras all were dead. untouched from the other fish, but grew this white cloudlike fungus on them as soon as they died.
the problems started within a very short time of adding the wood. it was the only new thing in the tank. all of my clown loaches, my pleco, angelfish and tetras all were dead. untouched from the other fish, but grew this white cloudlike fungus on them as soon as they died.
Sounds like columnaris; I had an outbreak of that which killed most of my fish without any ornamentation in the tank. Not saying it wasn't the wood, just not necessarily.
But if it was the wood, that'd sort of support my point that dead wood is as dangerous as freshly cut down wood.
But if it was the wood, that'd sort of support my point that dead wood is as dangerous as freshly cut down wood.
OR maybe the leachings from the wood lowered the immune system of the fish allowing the fungus to over take the weakened fish?
i'm thinking it was leaching something other than tannins, but i can't be certain. all i know is that everything started happening after it was added. before, all was well.
it could very well have lowered their immune system from something. i can't say yes or no.
it could very well have lowered their immune system from something. i can't say yes or no.