African Driftwood BLACK FUZZ

[SavnLife]

another question please.... I placed a spectacular piece of African Driftwood in my 46 gallon bowfront. It had been boiled and Kiln dried. After 18 days it now has a nasty BLACK fuzz all over it. LFS states she has "no idea" what it might be.... any ideas out there ?? It is a great piece and I hate to have to pull it out

6 - 2 inch Tiger Barbs

PH 7.2
ammonia 1.0 ppm
Nitrites 0.0
Nitrates 0.0
tank running 4 weeks, fish in 18 days, no added bacteria fake plants.

THANKS !!

 

[deli_conker]

It had been boiled and Kiln dried.

Did you do this yourself? If not then there's no telling what may have gotten on the wood since it was boiled. If that's the case, I would yank it and re-treat it. I soak mine for about a week in the hottest water my water heater will put out. In your case, you may want to take a plastic scrubby (no soap) and scrub that black fuzz off of it and re-boil it just to be safe...

 

[QTOFFER]

The black fuzzy stuff is fungus. Probably not a good thing to have growing in your aquarium.

*agrees with deli_conker*

Yea, I would boil it again that should kill the fungus and its spores.

 

[sjogren1]

QTOFFER,
Do you know where I can see a photo of this fungus? Without a picture of SavnLife's black fuzz, I at first thought that it might be some kind of algae. In the past, I had black "fur" looking stuff (about 1/2" long) on the top of a petrified wood column. Looked good, but made me nervous, so I gave it away. :?

 

[oscarbreeder]

Could it be black hair algae?

 

[QTOFFER]

Hmmmm, how fast does black hair algae grow? Savnlife noticed this in less that three weeks, so that's why I immediately thought fungus.

I just read that driftwood fungus is not harmful and that it will disappear on its own once it becomes colonized by beneficial bacteria.
http://www.floridadriftwood.com/aquarium_plants_and_driftwood.htm

And, sjogren1, I would guess that you had beard algae. I couldn't find any pics of the fungus, but here are some halfway decent pics of different types of algae.
http://www.aquaticscape.com/articles/algae.htm#hair

 

[sjogren1]

Thanks for the link. The stuff I had grew in about month or so after I got it from an LFS on 93rd and 3rd (Manhattan) called Crystal Aquariums. Shows how far back that goes.

 

[oscarbreeder]

Im not sure how fast it grows.
Need to check into that.
Just a thought anyway.