I just got another 90 gal. tank up and running. I was letting it cycle. I had it going for aprox. 10 days. I used a wet/dry of one of my other tanks that has been going for 2 years. Everything looked ok so I started to add fish. I put an oscar and a jack dempsey in it. They have been in it for a few days with no problems. My problem is my yunger brother thought he was helping me out and put a few pieces of driftwood and a few rocks that he found outside in the tank, without boiling them in water. What should I do?????????? The fish seem to be ok. I have a 1400gph pump circulating the water through the wet/dry. Should I remove the fish and start over, or should I just keep an eye on them. I dont know what to do...... The tank looks crytal clear. He said he washed them off first, but he didnt know he should of boiled them in water. PLEASE HELP Should I add carbon in a media bag and put it into the wet/dry??????
adding driftwood and rocks to an aquarium PLEASE HELP
- Thread starter daveolejnik
- Start date
I trust you removed the material as soon as you found out?
Unless he got them from somewhere that is sprayed with poisons you'll hopefully be ok.
Running carbon certainly can't hurt and it will ease your mind too.
Keep us posted.
Dr Joe
.
Unless he got them from somewhere that is sprayed with poisons you'll hopefully be ok.
Running carbon certainly can't hurt and it will ease your mind too.
Keep us posted.
Dr Joe
.
I removed everything right away. I did a 40 % water change, and added 2 bags of carbon intothe wet/dry. The fish look ok. Tommarrow I am going to boil the rocks and driftwood for 1 hr. before putting them back in. Is there anything else I should do before putting them back in besides boling them in water????? In the past thats all I have done bfore adding thing to my aquirium. Thanks for the help..................
it was wood found outside. do you know what kind of wood it is? has it been stripped down? does it float? i'm not sure if rocks boiling for an hour is a good idea. even for the wood an hour seems a long time.
You certainly should be careful when putting the rocks in boiling water. I'd simply pour hot water and salt as a means to sterilize them. Be concern with your own safety. Boiling water can cause rocks to explode.
I would guess there is about a 99% chance that absolutely nothing would happen even if the rocks were just picked up off the ground and dropped in dirt and all.
A fish tank is not a sterile environment like an operating theatre. Its full of bacteria, algae and fish poo, even if it looks pretty clean. There are all sorts of micro-organsims living quite happily in there already. So unless the rocks have been soaked in weed killer or covered in old lead paint, chances are nothing bad is going to happen.
Sure there will be all sorts of spores and bacteria on them, just like your hands, the dust that falls in the tank etc. Unless your tank parameters are badly wrong they wont multiply or attack your fish.
No harm in taking them out and giving them a good scrub, just in case, but I wouldn't panic about it.
Give them a good clean up, they will be OK.
Cheers
Ian
A fish tank is not a sterile environment like an operating theatre. Its full of bacteria, algae and fish poo, even if it looks pretty clean. There are all sorts of micro-organsims living quite happily in there already. So unless the rocks have been soaked in weed killer or covered in old lead paint, chances are nothing bad is going to happen.
Sure there will be all sorts of spores and bacteria on them, just like your hands, the dust that falls in the tank etc. Unless your tank parameters are badly wrong they wont multiply or attack your fish.
No harm in taking them out and giving them a good scrub, just in case, but I wouldn't panic about it.
Give them a good clean up, they will be OK.
Cheers
Ian
The driftwood came from a guy who does taxadermy. I guess he has a hole bunch of it. I boiled it for 1/2 hr, and I just droped the rocks in for a few miniutes. The rocks are just fieldstones in diferant colors. I had to secure 2 square plastic pieces to the bottom of each end of the driftwod, so I can put gravel over them to hold the driftwood down. The dritftwood is awsome. Its better then anything ive seen at any petstore. The water turned a little greenish, but Ive heard thats a common acurance when adding driftwood. I will just keep doing water changes every other day until it clears up.
Yep it should all be ok don't worry. All wood floats. I bought a big piece from my LFS that has been wedged in my tank for 2 weeks and it still floats.