Mopani Wood

InsaneIchthyology

I heard that mopani wood gets a nasty fungus when put in water. Is this true? What is the chance that it will happen? I've got this really nice piece that I want to put in my mudminnow tank, but I wanted to know more about this fungus first.

Romad

Mopani wood has been known to harbor fungus. Quite a few members here - myself included, have had bad results with it.

You're better off using a nice piece of Malaysian driftwood.

You can always try it but if you notice it starting to fuzz after it's been in the tank for a while, get rid of it. It's almost impossible to remove and I think it's an internal fungus so it would just come back anyway.

Chris7

I have a nice piece of mopani wood in my tank and never had the fungus problem. But I must have boiled the wood for about 5-6 hrs then soaked it for another 2 weeks before adding it to my tank. I did that mostly to get rid of some of the tans that leak out of the wood, It stained my water pretty good for a while and I liked it. It gave the tank a more natural look, But now the water is going back to clear(had the wood in for about 4 months).

Boredomb

I have had several pieces of mopani wood some have had the white fungus some not. Have boiled all my pieces with the exception of one piece its too big to boil. Most of my pieces of wood have shown signs of this fungus at one time or another regardless if I boil it or not. When it shows signs I take the piece out and take a wire brush to the whole piece rinse it off and stick it back into the tank.

Sanguinefox

I have two pieces of Mopani in my tank and it's never shown any traces of fungus. I did boil the wood though, but not all the tannin boiled out. I only now am beginning to see the last of the tannin in my 75 gallon but over all I've had no problems.

But...if you'd rather not take chances I agree with what someone else said...Malaysian wood is a better choice. Stay away from Grapevine.

Ashcan Bill

I have pieces in a couple of different tanks. They develop algae, and what is probably a mild whitish fungus from time to time, but nothing extreme. I leave them alone. I think they give the tank character.

rhymon78

I had 2 pieces in my tank, one developed the ectoplasm fungus, and I removed it and washed it off and it come back, did it a few times and then it dried up so to speak, but left this white powdery fungus in patches. The two pieces just leached so many tannins that in the end I took them out. I boiled and boiled and soaked the wood before hand. I won't use it now.... But others seem to have no probs with it so who knows. See how you get on.

Inga

I had a bit of fungus on one of my pieces of Mopani even after boiling it originally. I took it out, scrubbed it, boiled it some more and put it back in. Never had an issue since then. Also, it didn't seem to have an effect on the fish but I wouldn't risk it, if you see any, take it out and boil it again.