That sounds like a good plan.
I will describe another experience I had with bad wood, back in 1998. Your post above reminded me. That time, I had large, very large, chunks of wood in my 115g 5-foot tank. All were purchased as aquarium wood from quite a reliable fish outlet. After the tank had been running maybe two years (set it up in mid 1996), I began noticing how the cories in particular were becoming lethargic. They just sat on a surface, be it the substrate or one of the pieces of bogwood, respirating more rapidly than normal. I checked parameters and water conditions, nothing had changed. I happened to acquire some new fish, cories included, but these never survived more than a couple of days. It was obvious something in the tank water was involved, and the fish that had been in there from the beginning had developed something of a tolerance, but new fish were killed.
I discussed this with the owner of the store, who was a long-time hobbyist, and he agreed on the issue, and suggested I contact the Curator of Freshwater Fish at the Vancouver Aquarium, Lee Newman, who was also a hobbyist and had written articles on cichlids. Lee's first idea was copper from the pipes, but copper tests came out negative. Then he went after the wood. I removed all of it, and did a 75% water change. Immediately the fish responded, charging around like the old days. He suggested it was most likely something in one or more chunks of the wood, but to observe for a week. By the end of that week, some of the cories especially were again showing signs of lethargy, and Lee said that likely meant that whatever had been in the wood had managed to settle in the filter, substrate, on plant leaves, etc. I replaced all the filter media, did a thorough vacuuming of the substrate twice, and drained the water down to a couple of inches. Refilled, and never saw the issue after that.
There is no doubt that something toxic had leeched out from one or more chunks of the wood. Lee said, we don't know where this wood comes from, or what may have been absorbed into it. But we also discovered it was cedar, and that should never go into an aquarium, the sap is dangerous, so this may have been the issue. And while it may be perfectly safe in the natural habitat, when placed in an aquarium it leeches out whatever toxin it may have taken up or naturally have, and the effect is ten-fold. He recounted how he had once collected a dwarf cichlid species in South America, and collected some of the dried leaves the species used in spawning. All was fine for a few weeks, then the fish rapidly died within a day or two. Tests revealed a toxic substance in the leaves, which in the habitat posed no problem but again in the confines of an aquarium, became deadly.
I will describe another experience I had with bad wood, back in 1998. Your post above reminded me. That time, I had large, very large, chunks of wood in my 115g 5-foot tank. All were purchased as aquarium wood from quite a reliable fish outlet. After the tank had been running maybe two years (set it up in mid 1996), I began noticing how the cories in particular were becoming lethargic. They just sat on a surface, be it the substrate or one of the pieces of bogwood, respirating more rapidly than normal. I checked parameters and water conditions, nothing had changed. I happened to acquire some new fish, cories included, but these never survived more than a couple of days. It was obvious something in the tank water was involved, and the fish that had been in there from the beginning had developed something of a tolerance, but new fish were killed.
I discussed this with the owner of the store, who was a long-time hobbyist, and he agreed on the issue, and suggested I contact the Curator of Freshwater Fish at the Vancouver Aquarium, Lee Newman, who was also a hobbyist and had written articles on cichlids. Lee's first idea was copper from the pipes, but copper tests came out negative. Then he went after the wood. I removed all of it, and did a 75% water change. Immediately the fish responded, charging around like the old days. He suggested it was most likely something in one or more chunks of the wood, but to observe for a week. By the end of that week, some of the cories especially were again showing signs of lethargy, and Lee said that likely meant that whatever had been in the wood had managed to settle in the filter, substrate, on plant leaves, etc. I replaced all the filter media, did a thorough vacuuming of the substrate twice, and drained the water down to a couple of inches. Refilled, and never saw the issue after that.
There is no doubt that something toxic had leeched out from one or more chunks of the wood. Lee said, we don't know where this wood comes from, or what may have been absorbed into it. But we also discovered it was cedar, and that should never go into an aquarium, the sap is dangerous, so this may have been the issue. And while it may be perfectly safe in the natural habitat, when placed in an aquarium it leeches out whatever toxin it may have taken up or naturally have, and the effect is ten-fold. He recounted how he had once collected a dwarf cichlid species in South America, and collected some of the dried leaves the species used in spawning. All was fine for a few weeks, then the fish rapidly died within a day or two. Tests revealed a toxic substance in the leaves, which in the habitat posed no problem but again in the confines of an aquarium, became deadly.
