Sanitizing stuff for fish

[Chiclid addict]

I was wondering if like reptiles you have to sanitize things that you find outdoors and want to put in your tank is this true with fish and if so how to you do it

[Brandy]

Typically I don't, depending on where I find it. If I pick a rock up beside the road, I scrub with hot water, and let dry, because of pollution residue (I live in a city). If I pick up driftwood on a beach I wash the sand and dirt off and call it good--salt water things will generally die in freshwater anyway.

If I picked up a goopy stick from a pond or stagnant body of water this is when I might actually consider boiling or setting in the sun to bake. Generally I would just avoid this, but that is because my ponds don't have the kind of cool stuff in them that I want anyway. 

If I pick up leaves or alder cones I try to choose clean ones and they just get chucked in when I want them. Their purpose in my tanks is to grow bacteria and biofilm for my shrimp to eat, so I don't really think sterilizing them makes sense.

It is hilarious to me that my 17 year old will BUY rocks and wood and NEVER put found items in the tank. I keep trying to point out that those things were outside before he bought them...And we very much have the technology and the know how to choose safe items. 

[Koi]

Most people just boil or pour boiling water whatever they find. I wouldn't bleach if that was what you are considering.

I'm usually never in a rush when adding rocks or wood to a tank. What I do with both rock and wood Is I soak em in a trashcan full of my pond water outside for weeks. maybe every week I'll flip around the wood if I can't fully submerge it. Then I let dry it out the sun for weeks and repeat this process 3-4 more times or even longer till I have a use for them. 

Often I just collect certain pieces I find and let the elements go to work on them. When I find little critters living in that water  then I break off some and test it in a tank with a few fish. But as far as knowing what kinds of wood or rock are safe, I can't really help you with that.

55 minutes ago, Brandy said:

It is hilarious to me that my 17 year old will BUY rocks and wood and NEVER put found items in the tank

I always thought it was crazy the price stores charge for sticks and stones but maybe I'm just really cheap haha

Edited February 4, 2021 by Koi

[Daniel]

I have a creek in my yard that I use as source of rocks and substrate. I don't ever sanitize wood or rocks before I put that sort of hardscape in my aquariums. Unlike @Brandy 17 year old, I cannot imagine buying hardscape. I not sure what I would be trying to kill if I were to sanitize the hardscape materials anyway.

Here is my wife sifting gravel for the 1930s aquarium:

I rinsed the resulting gravel in cold water to remove silt and here is what it looked like:

[ChefConfit]

Unless I was worried about pollution or some known issue in the area I collected it from I wouldn't worry. I rinse and scrub lightly with just water to remove debris/sediment stuck to it and sometimes do a vinegar test to check if a rock will impact my water parameters. Oh and I either soak or boil wood but that's just to make it sink not because I'm worried about contamination. 

As @Daniel and @Brandy said I would never buy hardscape for most of my tanks. I'm considering setting up a tank to do aquascaping for competitions and that's the only thing I would consider buying hardscape for, because I'd want specific types of rock or wood I couldn't find out in the woods here. 

 

[Tanked]

9 hours ago, Koi said:

I always thought it was crazy the price stores charge for sticks and stones but maybe I'm just really cheap haha

I can almost understand why @Brandy's 17 yr. old buys hardscape: Marketing.  It's hard to find what I consider safe interesting stuff near me, but it isn't impossible.

The crazy part for me is why someone: pays big money for the perfect rock or branch, calculates the perfect placement in the tank, and covers them with so many plants that you can barely see them!

[Brandy]

To be fair I have a very rich envoironment to choose items from. Seattle is right between the mountians and the sea, so I have pretty amazing choices, and in the city people sometimes landscape parking strips with tumbled rock of a particular color. I am not above scavenging a few pebbles from those places if they are the perfect shape or color. 

I also would point out that in my area most naturally occuring rocks are igneous and inert (but not ALL by any means) so they are generally safe. I have a lot of conifers here though, and some of those woods are not aquarium safe--knowing what you picked up and how to test for safety might be intimidating for some--Like my kiddo. However, I feel as a local native and biologist, I am pretty capable of identifing things.

Mostly why I laugh at the kid a little is that I am RIGHT HERE. But asking old mom is not an option when the internet says it isn't safe...

EVEN the bird cage "natural perches" had to be purchased!!! They are sticks!!

Edited February 4, 2021 by Brandy

[Kirsten]

I mean, I buy mopani wood and spider wood because they look cool and are very dense and not prone to rotting. Being out in the woods in New England means being surrounded by decaying wood with all sorts of gnarly fungus, moss, and critters throughout, and like with rocks, it can be hard to identify what kind of wood it is, whether it will leech anything toxic or seriously acidify the water (hello pine trees!)

Pet store wood is stupid expensive, but at least I know what it is and that it's been kiln-dried and living on store and warehouse shelving for awhile.

[Brandy]

8 hours ago, Kirsten said:

I mean, I buy mopani wood and spider wood because they look cool and are very dense and not prone to rotting. Being out in the woods in New England means being surrounded by decaying wood with all sorts of gnarly fungus, moss, and critters throughout, and like with rocks, it can be hard to identify what kind of wood it is, whether it will leech anything toxic or seriously acidify the water (hello pine trees!)

Pet store wood is stupid expensive, but at least I know what it is and that it's been kiln-dried and living on store and warehouse shelving for awhile.

Sure, I love dragon stone and black sand too, not trying to bash anyone.  It does take a little extra effort, but I don't believe it is inherently safer to only buy hardscape. Like anything, you have to do what you are comfortable with.

I'm just more comfortable with using my knowledge to choose free sticks and rocks, than using my knowledge to earn money to buy sticks and rocks. I do think heat is better than bleach if you are concerned, but mostly I think the danger is all about marketing.

[Hobbit]

*watches conversation sheepishly while thinking of spending $35 plus shipping on pretty rocks*

If you don’t mind me asking in this thread, how do you determine if a rock is aquarium safe? I’ve heard put some vinegar on it and see if it fizzles, and then (after rinsing) soak it in water for a while and see if it changes the pH of the water compared to water sitting out with nothing in it. (The first time I tried to test rocks i forgot the control. Then I found this forum and realized that water changes pH when it sits out even with no rocks! 😆)

Any other tests that could help? I’m on the east coast and most of what I could scavenge is sedimentary.

[Koi]

33 minutes ago, Hobbit said:

*watches conversation sheepishly while thinking of spending $35 plus shipping on pretty rocks*

There are certain stones that I would really love to buy but I feel like I would atleast 100-200 pounds worth so I can pick and choose the right stones that match each other. I spent $100 in rocks before and I still felt it wasn't adequate for my 10 gallon. If I I try to scale that for my bigger tanks it just becomes a hard pill to swallow.

But everyone finds value in different things, there are probably a lot of things I overspend on that you would consider crazy too haha.

[Odd Alan]

All the hardscape I own I bought over the years from LFS... for me it's an issue of "art" and laziness... if it looks good I buy it, out in the wild I'm too lazy to carry it home.

Besides, I "think" there are ordinances against taking objects from parks, beaches, etc.

The few backyard rocks I collect I spray with 10% bleach(baylisascaris and samonella)and scrub with dish soap, lots of rinsing in between. Put in the aquarium(new bare) and test the pH, then decide what ecosystem I want to setup.