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not sure where this post should go, hope someone can help me. i recently moved my L-numbered cats to a custom tank (48Lx24Wx12H)i am using the rocks and filters off their old tank, a canister, fluidized bed, and power filter. the only thing i added was a piece of mopani wood which i sterilized twice in boiling water and rinsed numerous times, as well as left in a bucket of water for two weeks prior to introduction. But it keeps getting a coating of white slime on it, about 1/4" thick. i've cleaned it off twice with a wire brush but it keeps coming back. my parameters are pH of 6.2, low hardness and alkalinity, and no nitrate, nitrite or ammonia. what could this stuff be, and is it harmful to my fish?

I'm not sure what it is, but had the same question when it popped up each time I added driftwood.

I've been told it's harmless for the fish. I've never had a fish get sick while in a tank with the white fuzzy slime stuff...and, here's the good news. It has always gone away after a few weeks.

Even with pretreating the wood it seemed to pop up. You can scrub it away if it really bothers you but I just left it alone when I had it.


^_^

it often pops up when i add larger pieces of wood to my tanks, but like babel said it goes away. luckily I always have some bottom feeder type fish that love to much away on the random stuff so i am assuming that they eat the stuff away.

just wait it out, i think it might have something to do with the wood not being a fully water cured or whatever it is when it floats arround in lakes/rivers/oceans... many ommerical drift woods are not actually drift wood, but rather a dried or submerged and treated wood. my friend bought what looked like a piece of pine lumber with a a fed holes drilled in it attached to slate for my a while back... i like it no that its settled, sunken and the fish have nibbled at it, but it was hideous and had the worst white slime for a couple months

its just something that happens and goes away.

-Brandon

\\\\\\\"an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of the cure\\\\\\\"

I could be wrong.... But it sounds to me, that it is deep seated sap, that is finally migrating out of the wood. It may take a bit but I doubt it's harmful. Just like wood falling into a lake or pond, or just to the ground, it can take it's sweet time coming out of the wood.

TTFN --->Ta-Ta-For-Now
Kelly ;o}

I have seen it happen to DW when it does not get enough light or water movement. I have never had that type of DW it is just a comparison to other DWs. I would just keep taking it out and wiping it off. By boiling the DW y=you actually started the break down process and it could be that.

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Keith

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Hmmm, I've never had a white slime develop on my driftwood. I do not boil my wood, though, I simply rinse off the dust and plop it in. I got a mopani piece last week and it also does not have white slime on it.

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thanks for all the info. it seems as if some of the stuff is going away. i saw one of the ancistrus near it so maybe it ate some. i've heard from others that maybe the boiling started the breakdown process, so the next piece i get i'm just going to try rinsing instead.