clear slime on wood...

A

AthagaMor

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Dec 31, 2003
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LuvMyKribs tried to help me with this in the Cichlid forum (smaller point to earlier post), but it seems the stuff came back.

I'm doing my initial cycle of my new 38g planted tank (nearing end of time period). There are ~13 plants and 4 fish in it atm (1 spotted Raph/talking catfish and 3 bumblebee gobies). I vaguely remember something about that catfish in reference to mucus - not sure. There is also 1 bogwood chunk and 1 regular driftwood chunk (both emitting tannins profusely). I have been doing water changes every 2 days. I've also been adding a weekly fertilizer tablet and a small (~1/2 tsp) of liquid plant fertilizer. I've also been adding some tap water 'fixer' with the water changes. I have a crappy 20w flourescent light in the hood - which despite the poor lighting, my crypts are lovin' the tank).

Previously, Luv and I thought it was a stress coat I put in (when I put the fish in last Monday). But I have not added it since.

The film/slime reminds me vaguely of a sheet of bubble coral - but flatter, no really color, translucent/slightly cloudy. It seems attracted to the lighter areas on the wood (more so the regular driftwood) - not really the upper or lower side of the wood - and does not collect at all (from what I can see) on the darker areas.

I've seen one goby swim along the stuff - not sure if the fish mind it.

It is easy to get off. Last time I just waved my hand over it and it 'blew' off the wood in quarter-sized flakes, which I netted up.

I don't have any testing kits atm (soon - just letting the bacteria grow atm) so I can't toss water specs at you.

Does anyone know what this stuff is? how to make it permanently go away? what is causing it?

I'm going to syphon the stuff off the wood tonight - unless told to do otherwise.
 
Sounds a lot like fungus. It happens on wood quite a bit. Did you treat the wood before you used it? (Even if you did, it may have survived whatever treatment you used)

I know a moderator on another board has it on his wood and just leaves it there - with no ill effects. (Not sure if there are different kinds where one is harmless and the other can be bad, though.)

A piece of wood I used to use had it. It didn't seem to bother anyone.

Perhaps you could (re)boil it? Or (re)bleach it?
 
uh oh...

is boiling a prerequisite to introduction?????????? (****, I hate being new.)

The tank is barely going, so I'm not "AS" concerned if so.... imagines a tank full of fish...

I didn't boil it at all. I wasn't told to. I was just told to put it in if I didn't mind the tannins and to put it in a pale of water for a day if I hated the yellow tint.

fungus = bad in my mind and must go.... and now would be the time to do it.

what's the procedure for boiling wood? ... time length? anything else I need to know?

thanks!

EDIT: P.S. btw, I check out your site - nice tanks! Take some more pics though. *wink*
 
Well, some wood comes pretreated and some only says it does. Plus, even the truly "pretreated" ones can have contaminants in them.

You can either boil them, or bleach them. Boiling is best, imo, but if the piece doesn't fit in a pot, you could use the bleach thing.

You just take the wood out, stick it in the pot, and boil it for as long as you want, but not less than say a couple of hours. This will not only kill most everything in the wood naturally (including small mites/bugs/bacteria/fungus) but has an added benefit. With all the boiling you'll be doing, the pores of the wood will open up and spit out a lot of tannins. The water in the pot will look like coffee. That's all stuff that won't go in your tank as a result, possibly cutting down on the tannin leaching. Just remember to change the water in the pot often to encourage more tannins to come out, as well as to get rid of any gunk and to monitor how well its going. Some people can get the water to come out pretty clear..eliminating so much of the brown water in the tank.

This is usually done for each new piece of wood. I like that it accomplishes several things at once. Plus, it gives people an opportunity to laugh at you when they hear that you are boiling a piece of wood for your fish tank.
 
I assume you still have to wash/boil the heck out of it if you bleach them right? don't want bleach in the tank...

My pieces are large, but I'll boil, flip, boil them.

Thanks for the rundown! You can start laughing at me now. They're getting boiled tonight!
 
Originally posted by AthagaMor
I assume you still have to wash/boil the heck out of it if you bleach them right? don't want bleach in the tank..
Click to expand...

I believe that leaving the wood out to dry in the sun for a couple of days is enough for bleached wood, possibly followed by a good rinse/soak.

I'm no expert on fish but I know that chlorine evaporates, which is why the alternative to buying bottled water for your tank is to fill up a bucket of water and letting it sit out "grow stale" which dechlorinates it

-Nah-
 
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No, if you bleach it, you don't have to boil it. You have to let it sit in HEAVILY dechlorinated water (buy an extra bottle just for this purpose) until the chlorine/chloramines are gone. This can take awhile.

Chloramines need to be removed in addition to chlorine.

I'm not sure that the inside of the wood would be greatly affected by the sun. Plus, I believe that are other substances and heavy metal s in the bleach that would not be removed by the sun bath. I mean, it may work if you left it out for a lllooong while, but I'd say it needs to be soaked in dechlor.
 
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