How do you clean these? Got some from the beach, been soaking for 3 weeks, gave it 2 water blast, and still have some white stuff floating off it. Now what?

:roll:

drink beer

seriously though, dont worry about it too much.

What sort of white stuff? What sort of wood is it? I just scrub mine then drop them in the tank but never had white stuff come off any. :-?

Is it kinda cottoney greyish white stuff? My driftwood had that but it went away by itself.

Is it more of a soft guey stuff that is coming of it in little cotton like streams??

If so I brought some and it was like that too but my BN's cleaned it all up within a day or so(I don't know what it was but it didn't effect my fishies)

I also have wood from the beach in my other tanks and I just gave it a wash with water and then left it to dry it out in the sun and then put it in the tank and it was fine (the wood i got from the beach didn't have the white stuff on it though :-? )

Yeah my driftwood grew little white hairs, about 5mm long? Pleco cleaned them up and they never grew back.

If its pouring out kind of like a cottony lava, its probably sap, I had that too, didn't hurt anything but sure did make me nervous :-? But then that makes it more 'broken tree' than driftwood I guess.

Boil it ?

Boil it ?

Spot on.

All driftwood and rocks that we collect get boiled for 10 minutes or so and then rinsed. That way you make sure you don't introduce any nasties (including snails) to your tank.

Also, we've just been told the other day by a fellow fish-keeper (Thanks Marty !) that one should only use dark wood and not light wood like pine etc. Dark wood doesn't rot... We have one piece of lighter wood in one tank but it has only been in there for a couple of weeks - it could well start rotting eventually.

HTH, Dan

i thought all woods rotted eventually but it depends on the type as to how quick?

i thought all woods rotted eventually but it depends on the type as to how quick?

I guess so... not sure...

Thanks, Yep it is that cottoney greyish white stuff, I have done a couple of boil water stuff, gave it a scrub etc. Most of it is gone, so all ready for the turtles when they come tomorrow. Thanks everyone.

Kim&Dan & Sharn...I was wondering the same thing about the wood rotting. Does anybody know?????

Also, I know its good for plecos, ah other algae eaters too? And do they actually eat the wood?

Hard woods rot very slowly over many many years so not a problem in aquariums.

Thanks Caryl, but now other question, do the plecos and other catfish actually eat the wood?

They nibble algae on it but I don't think it is a required part of their diet as much as it is for the Ancistrus sp.

Ancistrus sp

Just did a google...I didn't read just a browse through so Ancistrus is bristlenose catfish...right?

you Googled well

the panaque species are also very avid wood eaters and can chow through soft woods very easily