Plecostamus

[fish-gambler]

I spoke to a friend that has Oscars and he collected some driftwood from the beach. He kept the wood in water for a week, changing daily, and now has had it in his tank for over a year. But I'm a little worried to try that - I'm tired of killing fish.

 

[LesGerber]

From personal experience and from what I remember form nutrition.......you want to use Romane lettuce as it has nutriants......Iceberg and other type leaf lettuces are mostly water

Les

 

[Jamnog]

thanks gambler i figured it would be kinda ok but kinda not if you know what i mean i think perhaps i will try a new tank or perhaps the garden pond for sorting out the wood after the week of rain or cycled water well to be quite honnest im not shure how im gonna play this till i decide if its worth it. luckily i havent got any of thease fish that need the wood... to the best of my knowledge...

 

[fish-gambler]

Well I'm going to try the wood in cycled water as well - after a week I'll place it in a tank with guppies and see what happens...sorry to all the guppy lovers.

I'll try the lettuce from the garden...not sure what it is, maybe some spinach.

I should just stick to growing plants but I've always enjoyed fish.

 

[Tanked]

jamnoq,

I would boil it for at least 30 minutes if it from the seaside and even then I would be nervous due to salt inside the wood. if you do, be sure to boil and then test water daily. if you notice changes happening remove it.

 

[Tanked]

les is right romaine, zuccini, some will eat carrots, peas, spinach, red or green leaf lettuce would be ok too as they are high in nutrients.

 

[Jamnog]

boiling i hadnt thaught of that i will probably include this in my now more rigerouse than ever plan ... im gonna be pretty tough on this wood prolly wont be any wood left... might not even try it .. more thinking

 

[fish-gambler]

Soak and boil the wood, then buy a really powerful filter, maybe that might help

 

[Jamnog]

let me guess then burn the wood

 

[fish-gambler]

I think that might be a good idea. But I'm still going to try, will let you know if I kill more fish.

 

[William]

Your Local Fish Store (LFS) really should have bogwood in stock ask them, it can't hurt

 

[fish-gambler]

My local fish store is 650 kms away...I meant it when i said i live in the sticks.

gnite l8 in South Africa

 

[Tanked]

not a bad idea if you are going to go that route, boil it also. hot scalding water does great thing to purify stuff. you may even boil it every day then move it from the boiling pot to a storage container with fresh water (changed daily) and back into the boiling pot(with fresh water the next night) to take waht your friend did a stp futher. do this for a week and there should be nothing left harmful in the wood unless it is a really hard wood (oak or something of that nature)

 

[Jamnog]

the major benifit of the drift wood i think is that its been in water for probably as much as a year ... the only problem and i ad mit it is a big one is that its salt water. there should be an equation for how long it takes to get rid of salt water

 

[fish-gambler]

Well, I'm going to try and boil the wood daily as you suggested etc. What about adding something to take the sodium out? What would I add to my water to do this?