Spider wood in aquarium looks funny

[Vineheart01]

Hello, I have a live aquarium in the initial month stability phase.
There is a large spider wood piece in it and I've noticed it looks kinda funny. Should I be concerned? I've never had driftwood in my tanks before

It looks like it's molding to me.

 

[Andy Sager]

Not to worry. That is just excess bark or " skin" that is "fermenting" and can easily be either siphoned or rubbed off the wood. This is quite common for woods that were either not fully cleaned before being offered for sale or had leftover bark that may not have been able to be removed when prepared. Usually boiling the wood before placing in the tank takes care of those spots but not always.

You mention being in the " initial stability phase". If there are no fish in the tank, turn off the filter and siphon the spots to remove the " mold". So you don't need to change a lot of water, you can place a piece of filter pad or floss inside a net sitting on a bucket. Siphon the water into the pad to filter out the gunk while leaving the water clean. You can then replace the water from the bucket back into the tank as it will be clean. When you are finished, remember to turn on the filter again.

Hope this helps.

 

[Vineheart01]

Awesome to hear, thanks. Yeah nothing in there yet but plants

 

[Andy Sager]

Awesome to hear, thanks. Yeah nothing in there yet but plants

You may find it easier to target the particular areas if you put a piece of rigid plastic tubing onto the end of your siphon hose. That way you can really target those particular areas without sucking up everything around them.

 

[Vineheart01]

I'm just gonna remove it and scrub it down. I can easily take it out the main question was should I put it back lol.

 

[Andy Sager]

I'm just gonna remove it and scrub it down. I can easily take it out the main question was should I put it back lol.

Before you remove it. Wood like that is a good place for nitrifying microbes to call home so why kill them off when you can achieve the same end result without removing the wood at all?

 

[Aiken Drum]

I had this recently with a new piece of spiderwood. Everytime i did a water change i removed the wood and treated with boiling water to kill off as many mould spores as i could. After 2 or 3 months the mould didnt return any more.

 

[Andy Sager]

I had this recently with a new piece of spiderwood. Everytime i did a water change i removed the wood and treated with boiling water to kill off as many mould spores as i could. After 2 or 3 months the mould didnt return any more.

50/50. I'd do that in an established tank but with a new one, I just siphon the spots off. That " mold" is not really harmful to anything, it just looks weird. Once the area has finished rotting, that mold would usually go away on it's own from lack of food, if you had the patience. ( The same thing happened on live rock when it would first come in. There was die off, decomposition then after a quick rinse off, a saleable piece. )