Disintegrating driftwood??

[newfound77951]

I have a large piece of driftwood in my 55 gallon that I have had for a looong time. It's one of the LFS ones with the slate on the bottom. This is the third tank I've had it in. In the last couple of weeks I've noticed that it is disappearing....ie getting thinner and thinner....like it's dissolving. I put my hand in yesterday and the wood seems very fragile. I do have two BN plecos who keep it clean, could they be eating it? Or did it finally decide to rot? The pH of the 55 is the same as the 30 gallon it was in for 1.5 years before.

 

[justrelax]

i would imagine that, just like a rock in the ocean, the water moving against the wood would cause it to "shrink" over time.

 

[JustOneMore20]

I had a small piece in my 55g for about 6 months. I got it from the LFS and it was the kind with the slate on the bottom too. When I finally took it out it was falling apart and smelled horribly. The pieces would just fall off. I don't think those last too long.

 

[tropicfishman]

anything will dissolve in water given long enough, look at the grand canyon for example, it was carved by a small stream over a period of a couple million years