driftwood.... mold?

The friendliest place on the web for anyone with an interest in aquariums or fish keeping!
If you have answers, please help by responding to the unanswered posts.

GodFan

Aquarium Advice Addict
Joined
Sep 10, 2011
Messages
4,245
So I got a piece of driftwood out of my local lake and it looks great in my tank except for some... substances lol one part looks almost moldy like flake food after 3 days in the tank. The other part looks like a layer of dust.
My fish seem fine so I doubt it is harmful but what ai need to know is will it go away? And if I rub it off will it come back?
Thanks and God bless!
 
Without seeing or knowing what mold it is its hard to gauge. Some mold occurs naturally even in lfs bought wood and then disappears.

You obviously soaked the wood in boiling water?
 
The wood should be treated before it goes into your tank to avoid molds or tannins leaking into your water.
 
The wood was treated as follows: rinsed, scrubbed, rinsed and scrubbed a few more times, boiling water poured over it twice. My bucket sprang a leak after that.....
 
I have been dealing with some mold on my driftwood. It will eventually go away on its own. I just get as much off as possible with my water changes and it has come back less and less. Is just say make sure you don't over feed and clean it off when possible and it should go away
 
Almost all driftwood will develop this mold shortly after being introduced to a tank. It is harmless and will go away on its own soon. Some fish may even eat it
 
Thanks guys! I will knock off what I can on my next pwc!
 
I have the same at the moment with a new piece. I reverse my syphon, so the narrow end is in the tank, get the syphon going again and suck the stuff off. Less disruptive than taking the whole piece out to clean.
 
Almost all driftwood will develop this mold shortly after being introduced to a tank. It is harmless and will go away on its own soon. Some fish may even eat it

This mold, What mold? You have no idea what it is, all you know is that drift wood can produce a type of mold that disappears by itself. You do realise he got this wood from a local creek? What you ment to say is IF its the mold i think it is, its harmless and should disappear by itself.

Genuinely no offence intended here but i dojust think it needs mentioning.
 
My apologies. I assumed since the OP did a thorough cleaning job that it would be the harmless kind that many others ask about as well.
 
This mold, What mold? You have no idea what it is, all you know is that drift wood can produce a type of mold that disappears by itself. You do realise he got this wood from a local creek? What you ment to say is IF its the mold i think it is, its harmless and should disappear by itself.

Genuinely no offence intended here but i dojust think it needs mentioning.

Suppose he has a valid point. Molds can cause sickness and some used to make penicillin. I guess same could hold true for in our tanks as some are harmless and im sure some are harmful. Ive always had treated drift wood so my experiences with this are the harmless types.
 
Nothing seems hurt thus far so I think it is harmless just unsightly.
 
I've had mold appear on manzanita branches that were boiled a few times. It was unsightly and enveloped the moss tied to the branches. I ended up removing the moss and boiling the DW again. The mold never came back.
 
Back
Top Bottom