Some greyish thing found on driftwood

**fookie** · 16th May 2012, 11:20

Hi Bro,

I noticed some greying thing on drift wood. It was not there before, does anyone know what is it?

Thank you
wood.jpg

wood2.jpg

**Peanut8787** · 18th May 2012, 22:48

Just begining? I don't think there's anything cause for alarm, some fish will eat them up soon. Etc SAE, otto

**fookie** · 19th May 2012, 18:21

The tank is about 3 months old. I just saw it recently.

**SirBest** · 21st May 2012, 12:23

I am equally curious as to what is that as well? How do we prevent such occurrence in our tank? Boil the driftwood, perhaps?

**stormhawk** · 22nd May 2012, 04:50

Those are probably fungi stalks. They come as spores on the driftwood, deposited from the time when the driftwood was left exposed to the elements at the LFS. Boiling works but if these appear while the piece of wood is in the tank, the only way to remove them is to use a penknife or a razor blade to scrape them off then siphon out the bits. Not all fish will eat these and neither will snails.

**SirBest** · 22nd May 2012, 07:50

Originally Posted by stormhawk

Those are probably fungi stalks. They come as spores on the driftwood, deposited from the time when the driftwood was left exposed to the elements at the LFS. Boiling works but if these appear while the piece of wood is in the tank, the only way to remove them is to use a penknife or a razor blade to scrape them off then siphon out the bits. Not all fish will eat these and neither will snails.

When such fungi is spotted in the tank, will it spread to the rest of the flora within the tank?

**fookie** · 22nd May 2012, 12:04

Originally Posted by stormhawk

Those are probably fungi stalks. They come as spores on the driftwood, deposited from the time when the driftwood was left exposed to the elements at the LFS. Boiling works but if these appear while the piece of wood is in the tank, the only way to remove them is to use a penknife or a razor blade to scrape them off then siphon out the bits. Not all fish will eat these and neither will snails.

Can I still take it out and boil or soak in hot water?

**stormhawk** · 24th May 2012, 06:58

@SirBest, there is a chance for the spores to spread to other pieces of wood in the tank but I doubt this would happen unless it was an aquatic fungi.

@fookie, if you have no plants on the wood you can remove it for boiling. Before boiling just scrape the affected areas and remove all the growths. After letting it cool down and dousing it with cold tap water, you can place it back in the tank or keep it in a quarantine tank to see if the growths will return. After a week or so I think you can place it back in the tank if you choose to quarantine it.

**SirBest** · 24th May 2012, 08:16

@Jian Yang: You reckon will the spores be eaten by the shrimps like birds feeding on seeds? What impact would fungi of any sort have on the fauna itself?

**stormhawk** · 24th May 2012, 20:45

Little impact on the fauna unless it is the type that infests fish when they have open wounds. Shrimps, I'm not sure that they will eat such spores but there is a possibility. In any event, I prefer not to take chances.

**SirBest** · 25th May 2012, 09:49

@Jian Yang: So you would recommend that we should at least soak our driftwood in hot water before we use them? What about soaking them in salt or potassium permanganate solution and then rinse it with water?