How to, or do I need to, sterilize wood going from an unknown tank to my tank

[Emika_B]

Hi all,

A friend of mine is giving me his fish (guppies) and the hardscape from his tank.  The fish will go into quarantine with level 1 or 2 salt treatment for a while before they get added to my tank.  Do I need to do something for the wood, rocks and plants that will come with them?  I was thinking that if they fit in 5 gallon buckets I’d just do the med trio on the hardscape and plants as if they were fish.  However, is that even needed?  Will a good dose of boiling water do the trick?  Salt water soak?  Sit in the sun for a few days and let it all dry out?  The last options aren’t for plants, obviously.

Any thoughts?  I did a search in the forum but I may have asked the question poorly and couldn’t find any results.

Mahalo!

[T. Payne]

Boiled water and drying them out will be fine.

[daveb056]

Boil for 20+ minutes. Mix 1 part hydrogen peroxide to 5 parts water. Soak for no more than 2 minutes. Rinse thoroughly with dechlorinated water. I have used this method on fallen deadwood, as well as some heavily moss and algae covered wood recovered when the level in my lake fell. All are doing beautifully 2 weeks into my new tank build. The moss is growing nicely, the shrimp and snails are working on the algae. Only problem, or surprise bonus is one snail escaped the boiling and possibly the sterilizing. It is presently residing in a small quarantine tank I set up. 

[gardenman]

Boiling anything organic can get a bit smelly, so using a barbecue outside for the heat source is often a good choice.

[Guppysnail]

Along with the advice from others on your wood and hardscape Reverse Respiration will work for the plants without harming them. 

 

[Emika_B]

Mahalo nui loa for the info!  I’m thinking a few large pots of boiling water and let them sit for a while, then dry out in the sun for a few days.  The reverse respiration sounds interesting and doable, might have to give that a try.

[nabokovfan87]

For me I'll try to explain the steps I take.  I had the thoughts to try to find a video or something, but hopefully the following makes sense.
1.  Get your FISH ONLY pot filled with water and set it to warm up.
2.  Take the wood to the porch and hose it off really well, get all the junk off you can with a brush if you need to, chop any branches off you want to and then go ahead and remove anything you need to at this point.  Scrub it, use water pressure, try to get it cleaned a bit.  Use a bucket so you don't drip all over the house and then gently place it in the pot.
3.  If the wood doesn't really fit, you can flip it around. 20-30 minutes or so per side and try to get all of the wood covered.  I generally, minimally flip it once every 10 minutes just to check on things.
4.  Take that and put it in your bucket, dump the water outside (not down the pipes) so that any residues don't ruin the sink and plumbing. 
5.  Fill the bucket up with the wood so it is submerged. Add a lid and/or air if you have them handy. If not, oh whale.  Rinse the pot, clean it out, set aside.
6.  Every 24-48 hours swap out the water in the bucket.  Place it inside somewhere to avoid bugs.
7.  After 5-14 days you should be "fine" and enough of those initial tanins will be released.  Once the water is the color you like, use it.  You can always add it to the tank and then just use carbon or water changes to modify the color.

On 11/20/2022 at 3:31 PM, Emika_B said:

 The fish will go into quarantine with level 1 or 2 salt treatment for a while before they get added to my tank.

1/2 cup per 10G is the go-to for me 🙂

On 11/20/2022 at 3:31 PM, Emika_B said:

Do I need to do something for the wood, rocks and plants that will come with them?

Wood: Clean it, you probably don't need to, but just do it anyways.  It won't hurt anything.
Rocks:  Dry them out, scrub them, rinse them really good with high pressure water, then use them.
Plants:  Float them in a bucket with air for as long as you need to, then plant them.  If you're worried about snails or other contamination treat them with RR as long as you have the space and such to do so.  Second to that is the Alum dip.  (See Irene's video, Girl talks fish)

On 11/21/2022 at 5:29 AM, gardenman said:

Boiling anything organic can get a bit smelly, so using a barbecue outside for the heat source is often a good choice.

*sniffs his cup of tea* 😂

It definitely can! Good tip.