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Our tank water are acidic which will corrode and thin down the wood, there are micro organism which will residents on the wood feeds on the wood and even shrimps will pick on the woods.
Hi guys,
I bought this lovely wood centre piece for my 4 ft planted tank. The tank is now about 9 months old.I bought this at a LFS ( whom I don't want to name) and he assured me that it was high quality wood.
I had tied X-mas moss on the branches and it created a nice forest look tp the tank. However BBA took over the moss for the past 3 months due to Co2 problem. Yesterday while I was doing water change, I decided to remove all the moss as it was mostly dying and messing the water.
To my surprise, I noticed that the circled parts in the photo below came off very easily. I was even able to cut some pieces with a small scissors with little effort.
I had also noticed small pieces from the wood on the substrate without me even touching it.
Now my question is the wood piece rotting and releasing organic matter into the tank? Is it normal for wood pieces to turn soft after about 9 months?
I had bought a small piece also from the same LFS and that too turned soft and breaks easily when tying moss to it.
Would appreciate members experience and comments.
Cheers.
Our tank water are acidic which will corrode and thin down the wood, there are micro organism which will residents on the wood feeds on the wood and even shrimps will pick on the woods.
HiOriginally Posted by seudzar
i had a bought a med sized wood from Fishy Business at the same time. But it shows no softening nor any colour change. It's quite hard.
But the big showpiece is becoming flexible at the branches.
I have not observed and abnormal "residents" in the wood either. As for shrimps due to my double dosing of Excel to fight BBA, all shrimps are no more for the past 3 months.
I'm wondering if fellow members have experienced such similar conditions in their wood.
For this kind of wood, yes, I have experience before.
actually it is normal for the wood on your picture. Actually all wood will rot, getting thinner. Some wood take longer depending on the density. Those branchy wood which normally float when first introduce, it is rot the fastest. There is wood that look very chunky, normally called black malayan wood, also rot but slower than branchy wood. Another wood that look like stick, some shop brand it as ADA wood. It is very dense and sink when first introduce. It is rot the slowest.
How about those thick branches that can be easily find out there (on foot way, on grass patch)? Has anyone tried picking these branches and use it inside your tank?
Its possible, but you'll have to make sure the wood is 100% dead and dried out, if its still alive there could be sap being leaked out that may be toxic to certain livestock.
In addition, it would be good to scrape away all the rotting bark and loose/soft parts and also boil the wood to kill off any critters and insect eggs that may be hiding inside it.
There are many different types of wood, so ultimately the only way to know if its safe is to just put it into the tank and see what happens.
Great boss!
When you mention that woods rot, do they release anything ( eg. organic matter etc...) into the water column and is thereby related to a possible algae growth of some kind?
Cheers
I would guess it could be ammonia but your beneficial bacteria should have taking care of it.
Yeah, wood is organic matter and they rot the same as dead creatures or uneaten food, just that the rotting process is slower and occurs over a much longer period of time. As the wood rots, they release both tannins and nutrients into the water column, its one of the reasons why some wood tend to make aquarium water brownish and thats why fungus, mold, algae etc feed and grow on it too.
The surfaces of wood in aquariums are usually covered in microscopic algae and tiny creatures, most we cannot even see. There is an entire community of micro-fauna living on and feeding off the wood and algae... in turn our fishes, algae eaters and shrimps feed on those algae and micro fauna too, so its like a natural eco-system.
Thanks for your input. It kind of reassuring to know this.
Wow! 1st class info.
BTW where do you get to know all this info?
I've done my fair share of reading in forums and on-line articles but I never knew abut this.
Best Regards
Just from perusing various articles and discussions over time... alot of the information are also found in non-aquarium sites and forums, like sites dealing in pond biology/management, plant culture, gardening sites etc, they all pretty much discuss variations of the same topics.Wow! 1st class info.
BTW where do you get to know all this info?
I've done my fair share of reading in forums and on-line articles but I never knew abut this.
Best Regards
Part of it also comes from my experience when raising fish fry, especially when looking for ways to feed tiny algae-eater fry (ie. otocinclus). I quickly noticed that whenever i transfer a piece of "well-seasoned" wood with slimy surface from another aquarium into the fry grow-out tank, the fry will automatically graze on all the microscopic flora and fauna that live naturally on the slimy surface, don't even need to feed them, and those fishes grow fast with the highest survival rates.
I've also had the opportunity to see samples of aquarium water, plant and wood surfaces under high powered microscopes too (had a chance to visit friends in research labs), and could observe an amazing variety of micro-creatures living in just a tiny space, its a whole new world that we can't see. Quite interesting stuff.
Last edited by Urban Aquaria; 9th Apr 2015 at 19:31.
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