Driftwood Mold?

[KCK]

It actually looks fine haha, it's a very thin layer that just makes it look more natural.
But thank you everyone!
I'll just leave it.
And since I usually buy fish from petsmart, I have 14 days for the mold to kill him before it actually matters.

By the way I got my first knife! An ABK, he has little bichir whiskers.

 

[Laticauda]

It's harmless, guppies and endler's livebearers will eat it too.

 

[nickman]

boiling, bleaching, scrubbing and all of those things will kill/remove whatever is on the wood at the time but there is always fungus present in your tank...and in your house for that matter. just let it run its course and the bacteria, algae and fungus will reach an equilibrium.

 

[bigbadfish711]

If you want to get rid of that mold once and for then you might want to do what I did. I soaked my drift wood in hot bleach water. I used a medium sized rubbermade container. I then soaked it for about 2 weeks in fresh water. Changing the water very 3 days. I have had the wood in my tank for several weeks now with out any issues.

http://www.monsterfishkeepers.com/forums/showthread.php?p=4639043#post4639043

 

[half cab]

I have a piece of manzanita driftwood that was burnt....is that safe for my tank. My DW has been in the tank for 3-4 months already and my serra was introducted about a month ago.

Is it safe to assume that its okay/safe?

 

[Dark Jester]

I have a piece of manzanita driftwood that was burnt....is that safe for my tank. My DW has been in the tank for 3-4 months already and my serra was introducted about a month ago.

Is it safe to assume that its okay/safe?

Should be safe. If there was anything toxic you would have noticed by now.

Not sure what problems burnt wood supposedly causes. Only person that's mentioned the mold being bad also said it killed most of his fish and it was because the wood was burnt. Some elaboration there would be nice. I find it more likely that the type of wood he tried had a sap in it that was toxic. Burnt wood creates charcoal, which we all stick a form of that in our filters for Chemical filtration.

 

[half cab]

^ I agree with the charcoal point, but the DW isn't burnt like firewood, it's more like charred. Seems like parts of the bark is black. Whereas others are brown.

Hmm would it be safer if I took it out soaked and scrubbed in a weak bleach water mixture? Since i still haven't figured why I have a sudden bloom of brown algae and copepods.... Thanks for the help so far.

 

[kevinfleming21]

i got that on my manzanita. no harm to my fish. i had a pleco and a prochilodus that cleaned all the fuzz off the branches. boiling it should prevent the fuzz from growing.

+1, i vacuum it off!

 

[Dark Jester]

^ I agree with the charcoal point, but the DW isn't burnt like firewood, it's more like charred. Seems like parts of the bark is black. Whereas others are brown.

Hmm would it be safer if I took it out soaked and scrubbed in a weak bleach water mixture? Since i still haven't figured why I have a sudden bloom of brown algae and copepods.... Thanks for the help so far.

I think mopani is dried in ovens or kilns, so it might get some discoloration on it from that. Mine has the same coloration and hasn't caused any issues yet (12"x20" piece, going on 6 months in-tank now).

Not sure on the algae or copepods. Wood could be a source of the algae (I think the spores can even be airborne), but unless you found it in a river or left it exposed outside for a while I wouldn't think it could be harboring any critters. Any new plants introduced recently? I got cyclops, nematodes, and daphnia from a plant shipment on aquabid. No harm for me though, guppy fry love them. Actually haven't seen any since the fry showed up..

 

[half cab]

As far as plants I just have a few aponogetons (topfin brand, came as a seed), microswords, another plant I don't know the name of, some guppy grass and java moss. The guppy grass and java moss were one of the last plants added. Attached is a picture as well. I only noticed the algae when I was moving the sand and the root tabs were realased into the water column. Don't know if that's a probable cause or not I have now reduced lighting to about 4 hours a day and that has helped tremendously. I stop dosing liquid ferts since the alage appeared. But for the most part it seems like I've got the algae under control.