Weird white film on driftwood

[Fishiesconfuseme]

What is this and will it be harmful to my fish?

 

[Slaphppy7]

Driftwood "snot", most times it's harmless

What kind of wood is it?

 

[robmcd]

It's called biofilm. It is completely harmless to fish and totally normal for newly introduced driftwood. Shrimp and certain plecos love it.

 

[Slaphppy7]

It's called biofilm. It is completely harmless to fish and totally normal for newly introduced driftwood. Shrimp and certain plecos love it.

Depending on the wood, it can sometimes be toxic

@Byron has written about it here on the forums

 

[robmcd]

Depending on the wood, it can sometimes be toxic

@Byron has written about it here on the forums

I guess that I always use the right type of wood then, because I have never had any issues with it. That being said I use manzanita and MDW exclusively.

 

[Byron]

This is not just a biofilm, it is a fungus from within the wood. All surfaces under water develop a biofilm, but most of the life is invisible for the most part--bacteria of various species, micro-organisms (this is what fish are looking for when they browse surfaces), and algae which can become visible. None of this is harmful, quite the opposite.

However, this whitish slime/scum/mold is a fungus from the wood. There are many species of fungus, some are safe but some are deadly toxic. I had one of these a few years ago, and fortunately realized it in time to save my fish. Others have not been so fortunate. The only way to tell the species is to have it examined by a microbiologist or marine biologist. That is not within the scope of many of us, so monitor the fish and be prepared to remove the wood if fish show signs of trouble--increased rapid respiration, lethargy, maybe gasping. Obviously these symptoms occur with many different health issues. I would also take the wood out and give it a very good scrub under the hot water tap. The fungus may reappear, or not.

 

[Colin_T]

Take the wood out and hose it off, then put it back in the tank.

Monitor the fish and if any act unusual then remove the wood and do a huge (75-90%) water change and gravel clean every day for a week. If the fish recover and act normally again without the wood, then put the wood back in the tank and monitor the fish. If they act unusual again, get rid of the wood and do big water changes for a week to dilute the poisons that leached out of the wood or fungus.

 

[Fishiesconfuseme]

This is not just a biofilm, it is a fungus from within the wood. All surfaces under water develop a biofilm, but most of the life is invisible for the most part--bacteria of various species, micro-organisms (this is what fish are looking for when they browse surfaces), and algae which can become visible. None of this is harmful, quite the opposite.

However, this whitish slime/scum/mold is a fungus from the wood. There are many species of fungus, some are safe but some are deadly toxic. I had one of these a few years ago, and fortunately realized it in time to save my fish. Others have not been so fortunate. The only way to tell the species is to have it examined by a microbiologist or marine biologist. That is not within the scope of many of us, so monitor the fish and be prepared to remove the wood if fish show signs of trouble--increased rapid respiration, lethargy, maybe gasping. Obviously these symptoms occur with many different health issues. I would also take the wood out and give it a very good scrub under the hot water tap. The fungus may reappear, or not.

I’m not sure what type of wood it is, it appeared a couple weeks ago and I took it out and boiled the wood for a couple hours. I haven’t put the fish in yet as it’s in a different tank.