Makes you wonder, what sort of organisms can burrow deep in rock or driftwood that boiling for a couple hours wouldn't necessarily kill? A lot of stuff can go into a sort of suspended animation, need to brush up on my zoology next fall.
driftwood
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Makes you wonder, what sort of organisms can burrow deep in rock or driftwood that boiling for a couple hours wouldn't necessarily kill? A lot of stuff can go into a sort of suspended animation, need to brush up on my zoology next fall.
yeah with rocks you have to be careful about what type they are because different types of rocks will affect your water parameters, so thats probably what happened with those. i would boil it then soak it in a tub with a water/vinegar solution and then rinse it super well and let it dry out completely in the sun
No problem!
Be careful boiling large rocks (or even small ones)... it's not like it's super common (I've had them expand and crack before)... but they can explode.
I'm sure it's not uncommon for that to happen. Obviously would depend on the rock but how many of us actually have any sort of knowledge in geology to be able to guess?
That's another good point. Some rocks can definitely alter ph/kh and I believe some can even leach minerals and heavy metals (Iron? Not sure). I recall a thread where Oddball was talking about it a while back.
I actually use some to modify the ph/kh in my 2ft aquarium. So yes there is also that to consider...
yeah i doubt that was an organism then that most likely was them being the wrong type of rock and they leached crap into your water. that sucks you lost your fish though but sometimes things like that have to happen for us to learn from, i know i have my fair share of those hard learned lessons...as for the wood though i have done the process that i stated in my previous post with no ill effects, when cleaning pieces for a reptile tank i have even baked logs in the oven for a few hours and that worked really well too but i think the boiling (doesnt have to be for hours just enough to make sure the boiling water gets all around the little crevices) and then soak in white vinegar solution for several hours, usually what i do is soak them overnight in the solution and then rinse super well and let sit out to dry through out the day in the sunniest spot you have on your porch or wherever (just dont set it on the ground lol)
Something else to consider with other driftwood pieces are that sometimes if your on a bushwalk or what have you... you can come across some nice waterlogged pieces growing some very pretty algae/moss... I have used these before in a triops tank (native crustacean) that also was a growout tank for a pleco.
The way I treated these to preserve the growth on the wood was to put it in a 2x1ft aquarium I had for goldfish, set it up with a heater and water, dose the water with ager and fermeldahyde & malachite green based solution (your general cure mixes) and set the temp nice and high for a good week to kill anything off. It didn't introduce anything unwated into the tank I had them in....
The way I treated these to preserve the growth on the wood was to put it in a 2x1ft aquarium I had for goldfish, set it up with a heater and water, dose the water with ager and fermeldahyde & malachite green based solution (your general cure mixes) and set the temp nice and high for a good week to kill anything off. It didn't introduce anything unwated into the tank I had them in....
