soaking driftwood

[JPKeenan]

OK had a piece of driftwood I was soaking that grew some white fluffy mold on it.

I read somewhere that you can soak it in salt water for a day or two. I have some Kosher Salt (with no iodine).

I was wondering if soaking it for a day in the salt would kill the mold, and then soaking it in de-chol water would leech out most of the salt.

I'm just a fishie, I figure there has to be some sort of expert around to know for sure.

Some of the driftwood I will use for the tanks some of the other stuff I want to try my hand at carving.

 

[joy13]

It is a white fungus and will burn itself out. You can use hydrogen peroxide on it but I wouldn't use salt since once it is soaked into the wood it might slowly leach back into the tank. It doesn't hurt the fish and some fish will eat it.

 

[mfdrookie516]

hey, glad you posted this jp, i stuck a piece in my 10 awaiting the arrival of some shrimp, has this white stuff that looks like snot waving all over it... is that about the same stuff youre talking about? id love to know how to get it gone

 

[mgamer20o0]

you can also use a brush to wipe it off. its common for this to happen. joy13 ideas also would work.

 

[JPKeenan]

I just had it soaking in a bucket to try to get it water logged and it had the white mold on it.... Light and fluffy almost like the loose strands of cotton candy.

I was sort of figuring that it wouldn't harm the fish but not wanting to take the chance.

 

[DragonFish71]

JP,

It's really a normal thing for that white stuff to grow on most woods.

I use a tooth brush and brush it off, and depending on what fish you have, some will nibble it off as joy13 stated.

It just looks ugly is all. It does go away on its own. I have found that wood that I wash in the dishwasher doesn't tend to get as much of it.

 

[JPKeenan]

being a renter and having an inept landlord my dishwasher used to not drain water, now it seems like it is not washing things

Last batch I put in the dish washer hardly even came out wet.