cedar driftwood.

[Austinchap]

yea ppl say it isnt safe for ur fish and then some have said they never had a problem with it and have had it in their tank for years.

i picked up a few 16in pieces from the lake here and put them on a piece of plexi and set them in a 20 gallon with alottt of guppies about a month ago i guess. not one has died yet. i was curious how long i should let it be in the 20 till i move them to a larger tank. all the fish seem to be doing great no signs of distress. and there is two dwarf rubbernose plecos in there that are always on the wood. they are doing fine aswell

 

[VerdantGreen]

softwoods have a lot of resinous sap in them. this is particularly the case with cedar. the key is soaking all of that stuff out. if it was in the lake it's probably fine. did you boil it first?

 

[Austinchap]

yea i boiled it and then set it out on the second story deck in the sun for a few weeks. it seems fine cause my plecos love it and they arnt dead. so i assume it will be fine to move it to the larger tank now. its been over a month with not one dead fish

 

[Noto]

If things are going fine so far, I say keep it.

One thing to keep in mind is that "cedar" refers to several different kinds of trees, with different types and amounts of fragrant oils and other chemicals in their sap. So, one person's experience with "cedar" may not be applicable to another person with a different cedar.

Seasoned wood will also be less toxic than fresh cut.

 

[Zander_The_RBP]

most driftwood has been submerged for decades or even centuries all the sap would/should have been leached out long ago and it's fine now