Mold on Driftwood I've Been Soaking :-/

[AndreaW]

I've had a piece of driftwood soaking for about 2 months in hopes it would sink -- which I don't think will happen. I'm sure I will have to weigh it down.

However, I forgot about it and just went to change the water and the top corner that was floating (in a container with a lid) has grown mold. I scrubbed it under running water with a toothbrush and poured hydrogen peroxide over it. I was expecting it to fizz, but it didn't. Should I treat or disinfect with anything else or should it be okay? I'll be setting up the aquarium in the next few days.

[Odd Duck]

Should be fine with what you’ve done.  Just monitor.

[Flumpweesel]

That looks like it could be lichen rather than mould.

[AndreaW]

On 3/11/2022 at 1:44 PM, Flumpweesel said:

That looks like it could be lichen rather than mould.

It was soft and dusty and brushed right off. Lichen would have been cool though!

[Torrey]

Sounds like dark and warm, perfect environment for mold. Especially stagnant water, and not fully submerged. The H2O2 should be sufficient.

I like to let the floating wood pieces keep floating. Of course, I am also not the typical fish keeper.

My fish will push floating logs around, snails love the semi-aquatic food option where fish can't bug them, and my plants (especially rhizome plants) seem to make the adjustment to fully submerged leaves with a lot less melt when they start out growing on a partially submerged log.

Here's an image of newly set up tank, in May last year:

Before it looked like the above picture, my wood went through multiple algae growths that then died back (or were eaten once I added snails and some shrimp) as seen below:

The plant trim and water top off I did in January of this year, all the wood had finally sank... and not all of it exactly sank where I would have personally put it, but the fish and snails and insects everyone snacks on are quite fond of the final arrangement:

As you can see in the above picture, the fish helped with a little furniture rearranging, so to speak. Below is how the tank looks today:

 

I share all of these iterations to let you know, under lights and programmed photoperiods, with proper filtration, I have not yet (in 4 decades) had anything grow on wood that harmed my livestock. It doesn't always look "pretty" as tanks go through awkward growth stages, too.

I just recommend a little patience, and thinking outside the box. 😉

[AndreaW]

@Torrey ~ Thank you, I love your tanks and how natural they are. I have heavy water flow in the tank it will be going in, so anything floating gets beat around the tank. I might try to direct water in a different way to help distribute the current. 

ps - I agree about architects including fish rooms! I draw homes and I have yet to draw a fish room in a house -- I did one that had a pond in it though! I would love a fish room, or at least a designated tank area, if I ever designed my own home. One with a drain and water source and on its own HVAC system would be lovely!

[BeeD]

I'm really into that background. 

[Brandon p]

I think I mold. I have a 100 year old piece of cypress soaking for 8 months not. . It had so small amount of a mold like substance. I heated it over the fire for about 3 hours. And it killed it. I started with 3 cypress knees and two are good now but the were smaller. On was 20” talk and the secon24-25” and this online is 34”

[Odd Duck]

On 3/11/2022 at 2:44 PM, Flumpweesel said:

That looks like it could be lichen rather than mould.

Naw, that’s Aspergillus.  Opportunistic fungus I’ve seen hundreds of times on culture media and bread.  It shouldn’t be an issue at all once the wood is fully submerged.

[Torrey]

On 3/11/2022 at 4:36 PM, AndreaW said:

@Torrey ~ Thank you, I love your tanks and how natural they are. I have heavy water flow in the tank it will be going in, so anything floating gets beat around the tank. I might try to direct water in a different way to help distribute the current. 

ps - I agree about architects including fish rooms! I draw homes and I have yet to draw a fish room in a house -- I did one that had a pond in it though! I would love a fish room, or at least a designated tank area, if I ever designed my own home. One with a drain and water source and on its own HVAC system would be lovely!

That tank has a waterfall on the far left, lol

The water fall pushed floating wood to the far right... Endlers pushed wood wherever they want it.😅

[AndreaW]

On 3/11/2022 at 8:27 PM, Odd Duck said:

Naw, that’s Aspergillus.  Opportunistic fungus I’ve seen hundreds of times on culture media and bread.  It shouldn’t be an issue at all once the wood is fully submerged.

Yes, it looked just like the mold on bread. Good to know it won't cause any harm to my tank inhabitants. Thank you.