Fungus-y wood

[aspiringangel]

Okay, I swear this is my last question of the day. You people are probably getting sick of me.

I have a piece of driftwood in an as of yet unoccupied tank. It's been filled and up and running for a week or so now, and for some reason some weird fluffy white fungus is growing on part of the wood. What to do, and why did it happen?

Thanks!

 

[aquatic-store]

Its harmless it will die off or you canscrape it off either way

 

[Lou]

I had the same thing recently on a tank I redid. I've had cloudy water problems for over a week...probably some kind of bloom. Tank going through a mini cycle so I just put in a box filter from another tank to help the fishies out...So I guess it might be harmless, but I've had a big trouble getting this tank to settle down. I took out the driftwood and will figure out how to treat it after I figure out how to get this tank to be clear and stable.

Any other opinions are welcome from my perspective...

 

[Scrumpy]

You should always boil wood before you put it in the tank...to help remove tannins and also to kill all the nasties. It would probably have prevented the fungus growing in the first place.
My advice would be to take the wood out, scrub the fungus off and give the wood a good boil before putting it back.

 

[Lou]

I don't have a pot that big to boil it in. Any other ideas. Also this cloudy water is not going away...think a whopping big water change is in order???

Thanks

 

[Lotus]

Sometimes when an enthusiast brings driftwood home, the temptation to boil it before adding it to their aquarium becomes too great to ignore. When they do this, they sterilize the wood and leave it vulnerable to fungal colonization. If this happens, do not panic! Two things to note:

1. This fungus is harmless to both fish and plants. In fact, many fish will seek it out to eat it. Yes, it looks unplesant but boiling the driftwood again and again to get rid of it is futile. This just restarts the cycle of colonization.

2. This fungus is temporary. Once the natural bacteria in your aquarium have a chance to get a foothold, they will colonize the driftwood and out compete the fungus. The fungus will then seem to disappear; almost overnight.

I was browsing around on this site http://www.floridadriftwood.com/aquarium_plants_and_driftwood.htm and found the above information.

There is quite a lot of interesting stuff about driftwood on the site (and about plants, too)

 

[Scrumpy]

Hmmm. I'll have a look at the site.
The whole point to me is to sterilize the wood rather than add diseases/ living organisms to the tank....and IMO it kills fungals spores too. Never had any fungus growing on my wood.
Also with bog wood it's crucial to remove some of the tannins unless you want your water golden brown (which some people do).
My current piece of bog wood it huge.....I had to boil half at a time in a preserving pan...and keep turning the thing over to submerge different bits.
You could try putting it in a big plastic box in the bath and blanch it by pouring a few kettles of boiling water over it, then soak it in the hottest tap water you can.

 

[TaffyFish]

In my experience boiling is futile as far as the white fungus is concerned. I had a large piece which I boiled 3 times for 3 hours at a time and it still developed fungus and it still leached tannins.

It's now sitting in a box in my garage along with 3 other pieces of bogwood and mopani wood......rocks are much better for Tanganyikans anyway!

 

[Lou]

Well thanks everyone. Very interesting info Lotus. I think this tank is going through a cycling thing, so getting the bacteria established and then adding the wood might be the best idea. It really did seem to mess up the tank. I just did a 80% water change and there was lots of goopy stuff off the bottom. Man that fungus can grow fast! New tank no nutrients and bam it doesn't matter.

Well it isn't a great situation, but I think the most sensitive fish are out of the tank and I'll watch the levels to keep those remaining safe.

Thanks again for the resources...

 

[aspiringangel]

Well I don't have any fish in it yet - I'm still waiting till I can change my lighting so I can put plants in... so perhaps it will go through a small cycle of it's own despite me not having thrown any ammonia and the fungus will disappear.

Thanks Lotus!

 

[Lou]

Originally posted by aspiringangel
Well I don't have any fish in it yet - I'm still waiting till I can change my lighting so I can put plants in... so perhaps it will go through a small cycle of it's own despite me not having thrown any ammonia and the fungus will disappear.

Thanks Lotus!

So you are fishless cycling? Adding ammonia, etc? I didn't get that from the first post. If you are loading it with ammonia that might be feeding fungus or algae, so I'd hold off on adding the driftwood til after that is all done and you do a 100% water change.

But then you say you haven't "thrown any ammonia". Hmmm I'm confused again.

 

[Lotus]

I am thinking that fungus spores can live through boiling. I guess you would have to autoclave the wood to be sure of getting rid of them all. However, if it's harmless, I guess it's not an issue.

 

[aspiringangel]

Lou - I'm not cycling it at all, I just filled it with water and am pretty much leaving it alone until I can get the stuff to change the lighting in my hood (hopefully this weekend!). When that's done, I'm putting plants in. No point cycling in this case, BUT since the water has been in the tank so long, it's probably going to go through its own cycle anyway. There's a little less than .5ppm ammonia in there as of last night. Hopefully all that bacteria will build up and get rid of the ugly cloudy fungus ASAP!

Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[Lou]

So this is just going to be a planted tank? No fish? Ever?

How's the fungus situation? Still growing or are you treating with something?

I did a big water change and the water has been fine for several days. N levels are 0 too, so maybe we are out of the woods on this one...or off the reef or whatever the metaphor that's in order here...

 

[aspiringangel]

Yes I am putting fish in at one point or another, but all the reading I've done indicates that there is no point cycling a tank if you're going to have plants, since a lot of the bacteria that will grow will die when plants are introduced, as plants become the primary 'waste' users. You've just got to give the plants a little time to start growing and using the waste before you throw the fish in.

Actually, the fungus situation is great! I'm not treating with anything but as other people mentioned, it's started to die down by itself. It certainly isn't growing anymore. I could only be happier if it hadn't started to grow in the first place!

Glad to hear your tank has settled.

 

[rev.chuck]

i sell driftwood and im sure to clean it at a hot water car wash and boil all my pieces i have a 55 gallon drum just for the large pieces. i too am having the fungus problem in my 55 i have rbp's so im less concerned but yes the fungus is harmless this is the first piece ive seen do this but none the less. wood also tends to tan the water which the fish love and is healthy for them. and that goopy stuff on the bottom could be part of that process.