Driftwood melting?

[batang_mcdo]

Do driftwoods melt or turn soft when left in the tank ?
I just transferred a piece of driftwood from one of my tanks and when i removed it it was soft and slimy feeling? I had to brush it and rinse it in water, and i was able to remove the soft wood covering?
then i boiled it just to disinfect it.

 

[knifegill]

Wood rots. It's not harmful. Get a small panaque to keep it tidy for you if your stock allows. Panaque actually don't need to eat anything but wood. They will steal bits of food if they find it, but the bulk of their diet really should be wood. So the only thing you'd have to worry about if you want a panaque on your team is adding new wood every now and then once he's eaten the stuff you had. Just remember they can't live on hardwoods like mopani. Palm wood is the preferred species, alder works well and many fruit trees are great, too. Apple branches, for one.

 

[twilight zone]

Based on my experience, the Malaysian Drift wood will not rot like the Mangrove. Other woods, I don't know about. It is good to have plecos in the tank to keep the drift wood clean otherwise a slime film will form on it.

 

[batang_mcdo]

thanks Problem is I have bichirs in my tank. not sure if a pleco will work,
for Panaques, I've read that they priduce too much waste?
will an L200 work in keeping the wood clean?
my worry with ordinary pleco is they might suck on my bichirs, or if small enough, the bichir might choke on the pleco.

not sure what type of driftwood this is,

I also have Malaysian driftwood and they do not melt.

 

[aclockworkorange]

Just realize how large a royal plec will get before run out and get one... They turn into beastly pooping machines.

 

[Brian_Indiana]

I use nothing but Bristlenose Plecos. Stay small, great cleaners, and not near as much waste as common plecos.

 

[batang_mcdo]

thanks Bristlenose are good cleaners unfortunaltely they'll become food for my bichirs.

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

Just leave it as it is. Im sure the wood would last long enough. Plus the slime form around it isn't really harmful to the fishes. If you hate it, just take it out and scrub it whenever it grows.

 

[Oddball]

FYI, boiling driftwood reduces the longevity of driftwood. It'll decompose more quickly after boiling.

 

[ziggy2]

You just need to find some harder wood.