Dragon Stone disintegration... what the??

[Nells250]

HI folks

Recently I tried a fish shop that was selling dragon stone pieces. I found two that were small enough for me to experiment with. One was a brownish color, the other a nifty pinky-orange shade.

Yesterday, I placed both in my experiment/learning tank of simple water (they made the silliest sounds, too!). This afternoon, I took them out to dry off so I can try attaching plants to them.

Well, as I tried drying off the pinky one, it totally disintegrated! What started out as a roughly 4 inch long "stone", full of the perfect plant-attachment-holes, became a few tiny chunks solid enough to MAYBE use for SOMETHING. My hands also ended up MUDDY!

Is this normal? Did the color have something to do with the failure? Maybe more/less of certain minerals?

Seeing as I am on a TINY budget, I am NOT happy... it's bad enough when plants melt!

 

[PygmyPepperJulli]

By the sound of it, you just got scammed... However, I don't know anything, so don't take any of this like fact.

I would say the brown one was a real dragon stone and the pinkish was some sort of clay or mudstone, that when wet would start falling apart (hence why your hands were muddy). It may have been baked before hand, which would stop it being squishy in store, or maybe put into a mold to get the shape. Where did you buy it? And was it specifically labelled 'dragon stone' and in the fish section? Maybe it was intended to attach air plants to rather than aquatic...

 

[Nells250]

1 - A nice fish shop in New Hampshire
2 - YUP, in a box full of dragon stones, sold by the pound

Maybe I should let the shop know what happened?

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

Dragon stone is basically made of clay it's not a scam, I promise. You should make sure next time to give it a really good rinse and scrub

 

[Rocky998]

It took me a long time to clean off all the clay from mine. If you didn't take the time you clean it, it was probably just the excess clay that fell off

 

[PygmyPepperJulli]

My bad... it seems Dragonstone is actually MADE of clay anyway. Have you had some before? Apparently it needs to be scrubbed a bunch before you start.

ED- you all just posted while I was typing...

 

[Nells250]

If you didn't take the time you clean it, it was probably just the excess clay that fell off

No, I'm saying it TOTALLY DISINTIGRATED. I'm looking to see if I took photos the other day... stay tuned...

 

[Rocky998]

No, I'm saying it TOTALLY DISINTIGRATED. I'm looking to see if I took photos the other day... what tuned...

Hm... That is really weird. There is usually rock underneath the clay

 

[CaptainBarnicles]

I've had chunks fall off some of my big pieces too...just one of those things unfortunately when we're dealing with organic materials

 

[Rocky998]

Some of the "rocks" I got in my bag were literally just clay... They get it from clay river banks/beds in Japan and I'm sure there are a few clay chunks that get through

 

[Nells250]

Ooooook, I found one pic with the rock in question in the background... not the best, but compare it to what I am left with now!

 

[Alice B]

I'm not surprised. I looked at some dragon stone when it became the aquascaping thing and opted not, it looked pretty soft

 

[Nells250]

So what I am reading here is that YES it is a sedimentary rock, therefore chunks can have more clay content than others. Hardly instills confidence! Thankfully the shop sells it by the pound. But still... money wasted...

 

[Whiskyfish]

Sad to hear about your hassles.

I have a small endler tank and I want to redo the substrate but I'm afraid to go near the dragon stone now...

 

[StevenF]

dragon stone is just a name someone gave a rock with a specific look. Some rock sold as dragon stone doesn't break down and will last indefinitely. Others are sedimentary rock and will eventually turn into sand or clay. Sone sedimentary rocks will turn to sand or mud in weeks. While other will last years The only rocks that'll lastforevers are metemorfic, granite, or basaltic. Carbonate rocks such as limestone coral will very slowly react with acids in the water causing them to very slowly dissolve a away.