sawickib said:
I think you might have the sinking aspect mixed...Malaysian sinks immediately due to its solid weight. Mopani that I have had took forever to become waterlogged sufficiently to remain down.
hmmm, it was the opposite for me, the Malaysian sank but it took about a day
I just checked on the Fosters&Smith site to see if we have the names correct. What they call Malaysian Driftwood is the heavy very dark brown (almost black sometimes) wood that I bought under that name, and it sinks immediately. Comments under the customer reviews mention this too, so I think that's it.
The Mopani however may not be what I had. There is a light, blond coloured wood, called grapewood, manzanita wood, maybe other names. I may have had these years ago, it certainly floated for weeks.
sawickib said:
Im sure alasse would have much better advice than me since i never do it, i just scrub my pieces, soak them in water for a week and then add them to my tank, i think this is a good article to advise you on other options.
http
/www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/driftwood.php
There are a couple of inaccurate/misleading things in that linked article. First, if you intend collecting wood yourself, you must know what it is (tree species). Some woods are highly poisonous submerged in an aquarium. You want only hard woods like oak, beech, and some others. Never soft woods such as conifers, cedar, etc, as they have saps that can kill aquatic life in an enclosed space.
Second, make sure the collected wood is completely dead and dry, meaning internally. If the wood is still green, it contains fluids that can leech out.
Third, they mention a white fuzz and say it is harmless...not necessarily so. The white is fungus, and some is harmless but some is highly toxic. I have killed fish with this once, and know of others similar. Without examination by a microbiologist to determine the fungus species, it is impossible to know. I believe the fungus that comes out of grapewood is toxic, there may well be others.
Byron.
