I have a piece of driftwood soaking in my tub in hot water. It is heavy as hell and I know spent at least a year in the lake before I hauled it out. Anyway, I go in there tonight and there are these things hanging off of it that I at first thought were just pieces of bark, but I had scrubbed all the bark off already, so I look at it closer. They are freaking worms... Does this mean the wood is ruined, or can I still use it. It isn't soft or rotten anywhere, and is very heavy. But there are worms in it.....
Worms in driftwood...
- Thread starter Yoemen
- Start date
Wouldn't the big question be what kind of worms are they? If the wood was out of water for any period of time wood-boring beetles could have laid eggs...maybe since the wood is becoming saturated they are fleeing. However, if they are some kind of aquatic worm??? I personally wouldn't want them in my tank.
I'd boil the driftwood. It should kill anything that is still living in the wood. Can't say I'd use it even after that though.
Well, they were pretty definite aquatic worms. They weren't crawling, it looked like they were just hanging out trying to eat or something. I had them in a hot water and clorox bath over night, but I went ahead and chunked the wood this morning. Shame too, it was a beautiful root piece too.
Personally, I'd do 2 things; #1 let the wood dry-out, should kill any aquatic life that survived the bleaching on it. #2 Boil the wood to kill anything else. I can't possibly see anything surviving the bleaching, drying-out and the boiling. Should be fine after that, no reason to waste such a great piece!
btw, store bought wood had to come from somewhere too...
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btw, store bought wood had to come from somewhere too...
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I would think if you dried the wood first, then do your best to cover the driftwood with boiling water it would do the trick. I can't imagine a marine organism surviving drying out, and anything surviving boiling water.Yoemen said:
hmm
when I got back today I noticed some signs of rot that were present after letting it sit in the sun all day on my patio, as such I chunked it back in the lake and am now boiling some rocks from said lake to fill up the middle of my tank.
when I got back today I noticed some signs of rot that were present after letting it sit in the sun all day on my patio, as such I chunked it back in the lake and am now boiling some rocks from said lake to fill up the middle of my tank.
How about using bleach since its too big to boil, bleach SHOULD kill any organism that might live in your wood I remember doing that when I had mites on a piece of wood in an Iguana tank. The other thing that might work is putting it in the oven for a short while and toast any little creature in there, I was told I can do that to kill the mites aswell. I dont know what effect it will have on worms though.