Fungus on wood

[AlexT]

Hi All,

From my reading up, doesn't seem like anything to worry about, but thought I'd ask and check. There's no way I will be able to get a decent picture, so this attachment is the closest thing to what I am talking about (Internet photo, not my wood). My wood doesn't have as much fungus as this one in the picture. It's in a small quarantine tank if you need to know that. I've got corydoras in there purchased from the LFS a few days back.

The wood is about a week old and I rinsed it with tap water with a powerful shower head and then left it in water for a few days to get it sink. I know I could easily whip the wood out and boil it, but I don't really want to disrupt the tank if I don't have to.

Thanks.

 

[Byron]

There are many species of fungus that occurs on wood. Most are fortunately non-toxic, but some are very toxic. I nearly lost fish to the latter some years ago, and I know of others who did. There is no way to tell without an exam of the fungus by a microbiologist. Though if it is toxic, you will soon see the results if there are fish or shrimp in the tank. In my case, the fish had rapid respiration, lethargy, and the tank water was slightly cloudy. I soaked it for 3 months in a tank of water, no fish, and saw nothing, so I decided to use it again. Two weeks later, several fish died and on checking the wood I found one small patch of this fungus on the back side where I couldn't see it. The wood was chucked into the garden. Branchy wood sometimes called grape root or grape wood seems most susceptible.

The fungus comes from inside the wood, and according to others when I had this, there is no way to remove it permanently.