Driftwood

[jaywings19]

I have 2 pieces of malaysian driftwood in my 72G tank that is still cycling (fishless). Within the last week, I've noticed white hair growing on the wood... almost looking like cotton swab fuzz.

There are no fish or real plants in the tank... and it has been set to 85F to help the bacteria growth.

I'm assuming that it's just white hair fungus or algae growing on the wood. I don't know what caused it to develop, if I should get rid of it, and/or will it impact the cycling process.

Any thoughts?

 

[tstenback]

I dont know how old the wood is or if you have just acquired it but usually you can try to scrub it off. It may coma back many times but enventually you will win the battle. I dont believe that it will harm the fish but i am sure that it does not fit the way you want your tank to look. So just give it a scrub, sometimes its quite hard to get off but it will come off. HTH

 

[heresmike]

jay... same thing happened to me with a piece of driftwood I plucked from the riverside. I had it in a cycling tank just like you. All I did was vacuum it off... problem solved, never came back.

 

[jaywings19]

Thanks. I'll try vacuuming it off during my next water change.

This was new driftwood. First, I soaked it in a bucket for about 10-14 days before introducing it to the tank... it has now been inside the tank for about 3 weeks.

Do you think it was caused by the high temperature? Cycling conditions? Or just normal growth?

I plan on having Discus in this tank, so the temperature will be around 82-86F.