[Captain Jim Dandy]

Bought some driftwood pieces last week, now I have mold or fungus growing on it, and I don't want to introduce it before I can get it stopped. How much heat is neccessary to nullify growth? If I were to spray with bleach, could bleach be inert after short time? I've heard peroxide can be used with submerged wood against algae..is that any good?

 

[Myrox]

this happened to me, with some wood i bought at my lfs. but i put them in my tank and found out that aquarium safe dose not always mean exactly what it says. anyway the wood leaked tanic acid(this also turns the water brown) and molded for about a week then died off after awhile and i pulled it out during a water change and use my tank water and a soft bristle brush to remove the mold and put it back in the tank and was pretty much gone after that all it takes it time and it will eventually go away. if you have not put it in your tank yet dont just leave it in a bucket of water till its done molding and such then add it this is the best way imo. i say that because i have tried boiling and bleaching and has not worked for me yet.

hope this help good luck

 

[ravinderrainger]

I have a piece of maponi wood which was soaked in a bucket for 5 weeks to take the tanins out.when placed in the tank, it then had a coating of white fungus for about 6 weeks which is still there albeit on a much smaller scale. it will eventually go away ( i hope ). this growth is harmless so i'm told

 

[Myrox]

i have a piece too that did the same and it went away never did anything to my fish all alive and well

 

[Boredomb]

Here's the thing about fungus some are highly toxic to fish and some are harmless and you can't tell by just looking at it. In my experience Mopani wood is really bad about producing fungus when submerged. Never owned a piece that didn't produce it. There are some H2o2 dips you can use but as it has been mentioned not always aquarium safe. You can do a search on them and decided for yourself on that. What I always did in the past was boil the piece and then used a wire brush on the wood to scrub it off. Then would add it back to the aquarium. Repeating the process every time I saw the fungus come back. Eventually it did go away. I also just used a wire brush on bigger pieces that I couldnt boil.

 

[ravinderrainger]

I still take the wood out at every water change and give it a good scrub and hose down