# Question about old driftwood



## PaperclipGirl (Feb 7, 2010)

In my old 55g tank it came with a beautiful piece of driftwood - but I've been having some problems with either fungus or bacteria lately (lost two precious fish) and I was wondering if it might be related...

This piece of driftwood is old - very dark brown and spongy - it falls apart when I try to move it to clean and I've been finding a lot of wood chips around the tank. (its a barebottom fancy goldfish tank so there are no plecos in there) 

Is there a time that driftwood should be taken out and discarded? or should I just try to sand off the spongy parts? any opinions?


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## zof (Apr 23, 2010)

Not worth the risk, when a piece of drift wood becomes spongy then throw it out, drift wood should be hard and heavy. Don't know if thats whats causing your issue but its always best to error on the side of caution.


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## DKRST (Jan 11, 2011)

+1 sounds like it's just rotting in your tank. Time to replace it. 
Not necessarily recommending this as the best source, but Petco is currently having a sale on their mopani wood in the store and on-line. I got a miss-marked large piece (10-12 pounds) today at my local store for only $7.89 including tax! The mopani wood has lots of tannins, so you'll probably need to soak and boil it a bit.

Some driftwood is soft, but the "spongy" doesn't sound good.


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

Agree. Wood that is soft and falling apart when it is lightly touched is past its prime and as it "rots" it may cause trouble.

One caution on mopani wood, it is known to carry various fungi, some of which are very toxic. I've had personal experience with this, and know others who lost fish. 

I have never (yet) had problems with the very dark, almost black heavy wood. I have seen it called ironwood, jeti wood, mangrove root, malaysian driftwood. It is heavy, sinks immediately (no waterlogging at all), is light on tannins after the initial bit, and remains hard for years. You can see it in my aquarium photos. I won't buy any other now.

Byron.


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## DKRST (Jan 11, 2011)

Byron, thanks for the cautionary note. I have access to an autoclave (high-pressure steam sterilizer) at work, and the wood is going through multiple sterilization cycles before it goes in my tank! The process kills spore-forming bacteria and fungi, so I have an advantage most folks don't. The high heat, moisture, and pressure also seems to quickly move tannins out of other pieces I've sterilized.

My guess is the standard boiling routine does not penetrate into the mopani wood deeply enough to kill the fungus. Our autoclave runs at 121C, so it's actually above boiling and holds that temp for an hour at 20psi


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## Byron (Mar 7, 2009)

DKRST said:


> Byron, thanks for the cautionary note. I have access to an autoclave (high-pressure steam sterilizer) at work, and the wood is going through multiple sterilization cycles before it goes in my tank! The process kills spore-forming bacteria and fungi, so I have an advantage most folks don't. The high heat, moisture, and pressure also seems to quickly move tannins out of other pieces I've sterilized.
> 
> My guess is the standard boiling routine does not penetrate into the mopani wood deeply enough to kill the fungus. Our autoclave runs at 121C, so it's actually above boiling and holds that temp for an hour at 20psi


That may well do it. Just keep an eye on it once it's in the tank. Some of these fungi can be deep inside and only surface some time later.


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## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

just out of curiosity for wood sterilization, cant you just microwave it?


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## DKRST (Jan 11, 2011)

Byron said:


> That may well do it. Just keep an eye on it once it's in the tank. Some of these fungi can be deep inside and only surface some time later.


Will do, thanks again!




SinCrisis said:


> just out of curiosity for wood sterilization, cant you just microwave it?


Hmmmm, good question! I don't know the answer to that one. Microwaves work by making water molecules vibrate, generating heat (so I have read, I'm no physicist!). That's why moist items heat better in a microwave than very dry ones. Assuming the wood was saturated, it should work, but you'd heat from the outside in with a possibility of burning the outside wood (fire hazard? :-?). You'd have to hold the temp high enough for a long enough time to kill any spores (again, that's my opinion - not based on any personal knowledge!).


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## DKRST (Jan 11, 2011)

Follow-up. My wife, who is a microbiologist, said microwaving should work EXCEPT for the potential of *e-x-p-l-o-d-i-n-g* wood and the potential fire risk I mentioned. Same reason you would not want to microwave or boil a rock. Microwaving converts the internal water to steam and...boom.


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## SinCrisis (Aug 7, 2008)

well what if you microwave it by keeping the wood dry? Would radiation alone kill the bad stuff?


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## DKRST (Jan 11, 2011)

I don't think it's the microwave radiation specifically that kills the bacteria/fungi, I believe it's the heat. Microwaves are different from the gamma (?) radiation they use to sterilize food. I still wonder if there would be a fire risk in the microwave?


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