beach driftwood safe?

[uberunce]

just returned home from a trip to the beach (wasaga if anyone cares to know) and on my walk back to dry off i tripped on a nice piece of wood that was fully water logged so i took it home with me. the beach is safe to swim in and so i would think the piece is safe as well?

should i take any precautions with this before butting it in my aquarium?

 

[LBathory]

yes. pour boiing water on it, soak it for about 2 weeks and i like to scrub mine as well. there are plenty of threads on this website that go into more detail about how to make it safe, but that is the basic idea.

 

[uberunce]

pouring the boiling water is to kill parasites right? however whats the soaking for 2 weeks for? its already fully submersible.

 

[r3d]

the soaking would get all the salt water out of the wood is what im guessing

 

[Caoboy]

Yeah, boil it for a while if it's small enough to fit in a pot. If not, boil it a few times in different positions to try to kill the parasites and other organisms in there. Once that's down, soak it for a couple weeks, so leech out any tannins (if there are any, since it's been soaking in an ocean for a while anyways) an also anything else that might be inside the wood. Then when you think it's been long enough, toss that sucker in your tank.

 

[WyldFya]

One other step is to knock on the wood. If it sounds hollow, it has been in the water too long, and will rot quickly in your tank.