Cholla Wood Smells Bad

[Martin]

Good morning all,

I purchased a few small pieces of cholla wood for my RCS tank, and I had (fortunately) read reviews of folks who had a few pieces that would putrify the water when they put it in their tank.  I did my regular due diligence when buying new decorations:

1.  I soaked all 5 pieces in a bucket of water and saw that a heavy and smelly biofilm developed.  I dumped the water and refilled it.  It happened again.

2.  I cleaned each piece in-depth with a small bottle brush to the point that the hollow of each piece of wood was open and clear (i.e. I could see from one end to the other without any obstruction).

After doing that the smell had improved but I could still appreciate a faint odor.  Now I am boiling the wood and plan to place them in their own individual containers of water to see how each one fares.  Do you guys have any experience or thoughts regarding cholla wood?  Do I need to consider just throwing away any pieces if this step fails?  Thanks guys!

[ndfi78]

I've seen it used a lot, but no personal experience. I think boiling it is the correct way to go though. 

 

[Guppysnail]

Add an airstone. The stagnation of the water causes most of the smell in my experience.  

[Torrey]

On 4/8/2022 at 9:08 AM, Martin said:

Good morning all,

I purchased a few small pieces of cholla wood for my RCS tank, and I had (fortunately) read reviews of folks who had a few pieces that would putrify the water when they put it in their tank.  I did my regular due diligence when buying new decorations:

1.  I soaked all 5 pieces in a bucket of water and saw that a heavy and smelly biofilm developed.  I dumped the water and refilled it.  It happened again.

2.  I cleaned each piece in-depth with a small bottle brush to the point that the hollow of each piece of wood was open and clear (i.e. I could see from one end to the other without any obstruction).

After doing that the smell had improved but I could still appreciate a faint odor.  Now I am boiling the wood and plan to place them in their own individual containers of water to see how each one fares.  Do you guys have any experience or thoughts regarding cholla wood?  Do I need to consider just throwing away any pieces if this step fails?  Thanks guys!

I collect cholla, and prefer my wild harvested cholla to store bought cholla.

1. Most stroe bought gets treated with something, that negatively impacts the cycle. Glad you are properly cleaning it.

2. Cholla is a desert plant.

What we are getting for the aquarium is the dried out skeleton, and ideally all of the cholla (choy-ya) flesh has been baked away by the sun.

3. Many collectors don't limit their collection to the sun-dried skeleton pieces, and don't ask the land or the cholla for permission to collect. According to many I work with, this means the cholla won't be happy with being relocated, and is more likely to go rancid.

4. Sounds weird, but ask the cholla if it's willing to go in your tank. Apologize to it for not being harvested with respect. Then clean it again.

5. I put iodine free salt on my cholla to ensure the cholla is properly dried, and then I boil it, rinse it, and put it in a new tank with extra aeration. Once it stops flaking, it's ready for a tank with livestock, or to be dried in the sun and sold.

 

 

 

 

[Martin]

Wow!  Thanks for the great information!  Never knew plants could be "poached" in a sense.  I'm waiting to see how the wood fares in their new bath.  Fingers crossed!

Edited April 9, 2022 by Martin

[Jawjagrrl]

I have a few small pieces that were already hollow for my shrimp setup that I never had any issues with at all, have been in there for about 6 months now and are enjoyed by the shrimp, but especially the scuds - if I bump a piece doing maintenance they all scatter in every direction. Hopefully that means it was okay with becoming part of a lovely little ecosystem. 

Sorry to hear yours has been a little more of a process. I suspect you'll be good after a boil.

[Widgets]

I haven't seen any Cholla where the core channel was not hollow. It sounds like the collector/seller did not do a thorough enough job cleaning it, leaving it for you to deal with. I think you will be fine now that you cleaned it out. 

[Martin]

Thanks for the input everyone.  I finished the boil yesterday and have had each of them sitting in separate buckets since then.  So far, so good!  Slight tannin coloring, but that's it.  No sign of any cloudiness in any bucket.  Hopefully it keeps up!

[Wrencher_Scott]

On 4/8/2022 at 8:08 AM, Martin said:

Good morning all,

I purchased a few small pieces of cholla wood for my RCS tank, and I had (fortunately) read reviews of folks who had a few pieces that would putrify the water when they put it in their tank.  I did my regular due diligence when buying new decorations:

1.  I soaked all 5 pieces in a bucket of water and saw that a heavy and smelly biofilm developed.  I dumped the water and refilled it.  It happened again.

2.  I cleaned each piece in-depth with a small bottle brush to the point that the hollow of each piece of wood was open and clear (i.e. I could see from one end to the other without any obstruction).

After doing that the smell had improved but I could still appreciate a faint odor.  Now I am boiling the wood and plan to place them in their own individual containers of water to see how each one fares.  Do you guys have any experience or thoughts regarding cholla wood?  Do I need to consider just throwing away any pieces if this step fails?  Thanks guys!

The problem with boiling is you are breaking up the fibers and just making the wood that much closer to decaying. I don't know if this is some fancy wood that won't decay but I kind of doubt it. I would never put anything in my tank that stinks but that's me. I think if I wanted wood I would get fake stuff to be honest. I like to error on the side of nothing rotting in the tank to add bad bacteria that harm fish. 

Anything I add that is questionable I soak in chlorinated water, then soak in dechlored water before I put it in. Bleach has a way of destroying any bacteria and other stuff. I have no idea what it does to wood though. It probably eats it up like boiling will.