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wooz29 · Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 12:06 am Post subject: driftwood

I have some driftwood soaking in on of my tanks and it has finally taken on enough water to sink. My question is I see something growing on it, looks kind of like mold. Has this been your experience with driftwood?

clunkster · Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 1:51 am Post subject:

yes sometimes you can get a piece of wood with what looks like mold, the best way to stop this is to scrub the wood and then put it in a pan and boil it for about half an hour, this should also remove any nasties that are on the wood

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i dont keep fish i keep water that fish can live in what do you do ?

mpp · Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:11 am Post subject:

Did you find the wood yourself? It's been my experience that with softer woods (even Silver Maple which is technically a hardwood) that one often gets moldy spots on it when immersed in one's tanks. Not everyone will agree but when curing driftwood I've found myself, I use a bleach soak for about a week, turning the wood everyday. After that, I rinse it off and let it dry completely. Lastly, when Mary's not home... heh heh, it's time for boiling and I boil the dickens out of it and usually make a right mess! FWIW
regards
mike

wooz29 · Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:20 am Post subject:

We bought the wood at a LFS initially for our scorpions but the pieces were too large so I got the leftovers after breaking them.

mpp · Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 3:21 am Post subject:

Aha, well, I'd advocate curing them by boiling. I'm not sure what kind of wood is used for scorpion perches, hiding places, so can't offer any other advice.
regards and good luck
mike

mbovinet · Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 5:36 am Post subject:

When I did use it I boiled mine. That seemed to work out just fine

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wooz29 · Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 5:17 pm Post subject:

Do you think the mold will hurt my pleco (mustard spot)?

clunkster · Posted: Wed Jul 26, 2006 5:35 pm Post subject:

wooz29 wrote:

Do you think the mold will hurt my pleco (mustard spot)?

personaly i would not risk it, as i have never tried feeding any of my plecs on mould nor do i know anybody else who has tried it, all plec keepers that i know always boil any wood the introduce in to a tank containing plecs, so as they dont introduce any nasties as a lot of plecs actualy eat the wood Cool

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i dont keep fish i keep water that fish can live in what do you do ?

mpp · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 12:58 am Post subject:

clunkster wrote:

wooz29 wrote:

Do you think the mold will hurt my pleco (mustard spot)?

personaly i would not risk it, as i have never tried feeding any of my plecs on mould nor do i know anybody else who has tried it, all plec keepers that i know always boil any wood the introduce in to a tank containing plecs, so as they dont introduce any nasties as a lot of plecs actualy eat the wood Cool

I absolutely agree. Particularly if your mustard spot is an LDA-31, Panaque Albomaculatus

This following is from planetcatfish:

"Although it sports a common colouration, the wide spaces spots of this fish when young and its distinctive body shape help as pointers to ID. This species belongs to the group of small sized typically wood eating plecos that has been proposed to belong to a new genus, Panaqolus. This new genus was erected in a special Loricariid only spring 2003 issue of the German aquarist magazine DATZ (well known in catfish circles as the birthplace of the l-numbers). For an aquarist, having a mini-Panaque genus to classify many new imports as is most useful in a variety of ways; not least in the quick understanding of diet requirements and facilitation of captive breeding attempts. So, we were understandably quick to adopt this new placement. That said and done, it does not appear that it will gain acceptance among the majority of the scientific community. Late in 2003, we reverted to calling this species Panaque. "

regards
mike

wooz29 · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:22 am Post subject:

I'm not sure what all that means but I'll take the wood out, boil & cool it and see if that helps. Thanks all!

mpp · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 1:26 am Post subject:

sorry, it's the species notes for the mustard spot (if your mustard spot is a panaque albomaculatus). I put it in there since it described the wood eating behavior of the fish in order to support the argument for boiling the wood.
sorry for the overboard, was just trying to help
mike

wooz29 · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:29 am Post subject:

No worries. Thanks for the explanation. He/she does eat the wood because there are little piles of wood pieces all over. I am boiling now...

clunkster · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:42 am Post subject:

sorry but this was what i was trying to explain, when you asked about L numbers, yes i know the L numbers can be daunting and conffusing but with out them, then we realy dont know which loricade you are describing or talking about, so it is hard to work out if they are one of the species that require wood in there diet, as some species need wood in there every day diet, because it has been known to kill a plec species with the wrong diet, so this is why we advocate that you boil any wood you add to any of your tanks, it also can remove some of the tannins Cool

by the way i am glad you are boiling the wood now Very Happy

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i dont keep fish i keep water that fish can live in what do you do ?

wooz29 · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:46 am Post subject:

You guys are great! I am always learning something Very Happy

clunkster · Posted: Thu Jul 27, 2006 3:59 am Post subject:

woo that is why we are here, to share our knowledge, experiances as well as our views and theroys Cool

as we all have them mate, so dont be shy, if you have a differing view point or theroy, share it with us, or if you have a question, dont be shy ask, as on another forum i frequent my sig. says " the only stupid question, is the one you dont ask "
hey we all know differant things, so lets share our knowledge Cool

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i dont keep fish i keep water that fish can live in what do you do ?