Loaches Online Forum

Hello all,

I have added a couple of really neat pieces of driftwood to my 55gal. tank and they have gotten so slimey! Is this ok...normal? Do I need to remove them and clean them or something. Maybe a silly question but oh well...thanks.

Kris

I had this happen to me when i made the mistake of using a log i found outside instead of driftwood. That sliminess doesn't go away. I would take them out. You could try boiling them, but it didn't help when i tried to make my own .

worldrallynut wrote:I had this happen to me when i made the mistake of using a log i found outside instead of driftwood. That sliminess doesn't go away. I would take them out. You could try boiling them, but it didn't help when i tried to make my own .

Thanks so much for your reply...this is just really a disapointment to me as I didn't pay a fortune for them but 20$ for the smaller one and 40$ for the larger. Bummer, I just read on the freshwater forum about someone getting a huge piece of driftwood, I am wondering if anyone else has this problem...why would anyone pay so much for something that is just going to collect slim?

Thanks,
Kris

LUVaLOACH wrote:

worldrallynut wrote:I had this happen to me when i made the mistake of using a log i found outside instead of driftwood. That sliminess doesn't go away. I would take them out. You could try boiling them, but it didn't help when i tried to make my own .

Thanks so much for your reply...this is just really a disapointment to me as I didn't pay a fortune for them but 20$ for the smaller one and 40$ for the larger. Bummer, I just read on the freshwater forum about someone getting a huge piece of driftwood, I am wondering if anyone else has this problem...why would anyone pay so much for something that is just going to collect slim?

Thanks,
Kris

haha, no coffee yet, that's me that wants to get slim, I meant slime, lol!!!

Kris, whats your slime like? i got several pieces of wood a while ago, and one of them quickly got covered in a white slime. its quite smelly. i soaked for maybe 3 wks before putting it in the tank, but had to take it out again after a day or too as i worried about the slime. its a bit big to boil too.

like you i paid good money for it, and im fed up about it

good luck!

The same happened to me. I had treid to boil it several times but it did the same each time i put it back in the tank, so i cut my losses and put it in the bin.

Isn't your pleco keeping it clean?

Oh! you don't have a Pleco in the tank.

I have a Pleco of some sort in all my tanks to help me out with the cleaning.

What kind of tree is it? Could be surface rot, which means the branch isn't completely dead yet. This happens a lot for wood that's extremely porous, lots of microbes still alive and kicking in there. You might need to do the three B's - Blast with water jet, Bake in high temp, and Bleach (1 to 7 parts water.)

luvaloach wrote:

Bummer, I just read on the freshwater forum about someone getting a huge piece of driftwood, I am wondering if anyone else has this problem...why would anyone pay so much for something that is just going to collect slim?

That was me. I'm hardly an expert, but I do have a question-was your wood waterlogged or dry? Because mine was in a tank already.

helen nightingale wrote:Kris, whats your slime like? i got several pieces of wood a while ago, and one of them quickly got covered in a white slime. its quite smelly. i soaked for maybe 3 wks before putting it in the tank, but had to take it out again after a day or too as i worried about the slime. its a bit big to boil too.

like you i paid good money for it, and im fed up about it

good luck!

Mine is a funky white slime also and like yours, it does not smell so good. Mine are both to big to boil so I had someone suggest that I bake them and then scrub them really well. I baked them yesterday, my husband thinks I'm nuts, gonna scrub them today and give it one more try. It if happens again I will either leave them out of have to take them out and bake and scrape every so often, hehe!

bevans wrote:luvaloach wrote:

Bummer, I just read on the freshwater forum about someone getting a huge piece of driftwood, I am wondering if anyone else has this problem...why would anyone pay so much for something that is just going to collect slim?

That was me. I'm hardly an expert, but I do have a question-was your wood waterlogged or dry? Because mine was in a tank already.

Brenda, congratulations on you find and that your fishies are so happy with it. I bought mine dry, does that make a difference? Mabye I just got some bad wood?

Kris

Your driftwood is a home for a host of little critters.
Try submerge it in a bucket of salted water for a week. And then rinse, and bake it again for safe measure. That'll work.

Brenda, congratulations on you find and that your fishies are so happy with it.

Thanks! Of course, I hardly see the kuhlis anymore...

I bought mine dry, does that make a difference? Mabye I just got some bad wood?

This lfs only sells the waterlogged stuff and I suspect it's because of the problems you and helen are having with dry wood. I know too that people have to weight it really good to get it to stay put until it soaks up the water. Good luck with yours-hopefully the saltwater/bake thing will set things to rights.

The fish really enjoy it, if that helps.

What kind of wood is it? Came from an LFS? Does it have a slate bottom? Did it sink by itself?
Frequently 'driftwood' will develop white/clear/stinky (but it shouldn't smell sulfuric) slime when initially placed in an aquarium. If you don't have snails or a pleco to clean it, it will hang in there for a while but usually goes away on it's own after time. Boiling doesn't seem to stop it. I've read it sometimes comes from wood that hasn't been cured enough and still retains some of the natural sap or live organics in it.

I have a piece of Ironwood that I boiled the heck out of and it got that whiteish slime too. Took it out, scraped it, scrubbed it and boiled it numerous times. Always got tons of black stuff in the water.
Tried baking it too. Every time I put it back in the tank it got a couple of patches of this white stuff. Almost threw it out, but read that it wasn't harmful and took the chance that it would be ok. Stuck some java fern to it and left it in the tank. This was a very old piece of wood that my Dad had gotten years ago and sat around in his garage for quite a while.

It took over a month before it went away. Don't know whether it was mold or fungus or something else, but it's gone now and has been in various tanks for 3 years. Still hard as iron, heavy and very dark black. But no more white stuff.

Got a garbage can big enough to hold them that's not full of too much nasty stuff? You could try the saltwater soak. I didn't do that myself, but it sounds logical. Unfortunately, if it is stuff inside the wood, and the wood is very dense, the salt may not get into the part that is leaching whatever it is that will grow the white stuff. And make sure you rinse it well or boil it again in freshwater.

Some people recommend soaking it in a bleach solution. Afterwards you have to soak it again in heavily dechlorinated water to make sure you get rid of the bleach. Don't think I'd like this method myself, but it's been done.

In case you're thinking of getting rid of it or are afraid to leave it in the tank, here's a link for driftwood that has good prices. They are in Alabama.
http://www.aquariumdriftwood.com/driftwoo.htm

I would have to agree that brine (salt water) soak would be the best. I have always collected driftwood from the beach. Only the densest pieces have been floating around out there for a long time. You are essentially mineralizing the wood at the same time leaving an unfavorable site for bacteria. I have had no problems with several pieces other than a bit of algae that my amanos love. Obviosly ocean water has several other minerals that just a brine bath, but you do get the salt benefit.

Also some wood is just junk. Avoid high nitrogen (for rot reasons) and high tannin for toxicity reasons. Older dense wood is best.