White fuzz fungus on driftwood

[rjs2115]

Hey guys,
I know this has been asked before, but I am hoping someone has a recent success story. My driftwood has been in my 90 gallon for about 3 months. It's really developing this slimy white stuff on it. It comes off and floats around in the water, really making the tank look crappy. Sticks to the plants and rocks and just makes the water look bad. From everything I have read, it's harmless and all part of the process with new driftwood.
Does anyone have experience with getting rid of this? It's a large piece, so I can't really boil it. I'd prefer not to take it out of the tank now, because all that crap will come off in the water. I read you can overdose Excel, but I already have some rams and cories in there, so I don't want to risk making anyone sick.
Will shrimp, plecos or any other algae eaters take care of. If so, will those some critters be fine, when i introduce my discus in a few weeks?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks all!
Ryan in Ohio

[CobaltBerry]

Ryan,

I had something similar happen with mine, and the clown pleco I have seems to keep it in check now. The only places I can still find any are the places he can't get b/c the wood it too close to the glass. Royal and Clown pleco are the only two I can think of that stick mostly to wood.

[rjs2115]

Thanks CobaltBerry! I have a clown pleco in my 29 gallon and he doesn't spend anytime on the driftwood in that tank. Not sure how he's so fat...I never see him out.
Maybe I'll look into the Royal some more.
Where in Ohio are you?

Thanks!
Ryan

[CobaltBerry]

Marysville area. It's funny, my clown never leaves the driftwood. I believe they're nocturnal, so you won't see them out and about that much. I've had the same little clown for almost 6 years now I think, one of the oldest fish in my tank. I thought he was dead on more than one occasion, as he found someone to hide that I couldn't see. I actually hadn't seen him in almost a month when I took the tank down to move and he popped out as I was draining the last 5-6 gallons out of my 29. Tough SOB.

[rjs2115]

Yeah, I see my guy hiding in one of the hollow rocks, all the time. Even in the middle of the night, I'll look in, and there he sits. No wonder he's fat...he never swims around. haha

[DonMD]

Hi, Ryan,

I don't have any help to offer. My experience with manzanita I use in my tanks is that it gets skanky after a while, no matter what. I've designed mine so that it's easily removed, rinsed off with a garden hose, and replaced. I'm not convinced that a couple loaches will do much for you, I suspect you're in for pulling it out, and then cleaning up the mess in your tank. But I hope I'm wrong!

[adapted]

I think this happpens on wood that isn't driftwwood per se. I've bought 4 pieces of Mopani wood. three of which were fine but the fourth -- which did not look to have spent much time underwater -- repeatedly grew a white filmy layer that woud break loose and spread throughtout the tank. I have read that that this will eventualy stop happening but it's being going on for about 6 weeks for me..

[dash]

This is a very common problem with wood here in South Africa. It will slowly pass. It can even take up to 6 months. The other option is to remove the wood clean it up and put it back. The only problem is that the stuff will just come back. Not as much but, depending on the organic meterial in the wood that needs to brake down.


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[trungnguyen]

I had the same issue with my new driftwood before, and my friend gave me some albino bushy-nose Plecos to stop that. Now I don't see any white stuffs on driftwood anymore, and my Plecos never leave the driftwood.


Trung.

[rjs2115]

Thanks for the replies everyone. Appreciate it.
Trung, so you recommend the bushy nose? Have you had to increase your WCs due to all their poop? Worth it?

[Mariowa]

As previously stated it will go away, in my experience I always soak them in boiling water with allot of cocking salt of corse after the water gets cold I rinse them we'll repeat it four five times.
This kill almost every living thing on it.
Good luck


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[trungnguyen]

I do WC everyday, and I don't see a lot of wastes in the tank. I see that the way has been working well for me...


Trung.

[dirtyplants]

I get my wood locally for the most part, from the lake which has been endowed with lots of fresh water and sun and bacteria. I never had the slime problem with them. They are large pieces which were difficult getting into the tank because of a center brace. They never got slime, but the pieces of wood I picked up from the woods or the small pieces of Iron wood I purchased did get the slime. I just placed them under a bright light so algae would grow on it and then got plecos. I like algae on wood and it competed with the fungus.

[zeulas1]

I've soaked mine in PP for about 3 hours and the fungus never returned.-RJ

[Quintin]

I also have this problem and cant soak mine in boiling water as im growing java moss on it.i just rinse it with water every time i do a water change, which is every day.

[aquadon2222]

Hey guys,
I know this has been asked before, but I am hoping someone has a recent success story. My driftwood has been in my 90 gallon for about 3 months. It's really developing this slimy white stuff on it. It comes off and floats around in the water, really making the tank look crappy. Sticks to the plants and rocks and just makes the water look bad. From everything I have read, it's harmless and all part of the process with new driftwood.
Does anyone have experience with getting rid of this? It's a large piece, so I can't really boil it. I'd prefer not to take it out of the tank now, because all that crap will come off in the water. I read you can overdose Excel, but I already have some rams and cories in there, so I don't want to risk making anyone sick.
Will shrimp, plecos or any other algae eaters take care of. If so, will those some critters be fine, when i introduce my discus in a few weeks?

Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks all!
Ryan in Ohio

This happened to me...it also stained my water, which didn't bother my fish at all but bugged me a little. I took it out, soaked it and scrubbed it with a brillo pad and salt, rinsed, and put it out in the sun to dry...I had to do it twice within 2 weeks but it worked - the wood blackened up nicely with no fuzz and no stained water...good luck!

[Susie]

I'm with Dirty Plants. I like algae on driftwood. BUT I just bought some river driftwood from Oregon. I hope I don't have the algae problem on it.

[krislewis3]

If what you have is fungus, I might have the solution!! I had a problem with fungus growing on my manzanita. You can see my earlier threads on the subject, as well as photos of the fungus. I tried boiling it, bleaching it...I tried EVERYTHING!!!!! I finally figured that I'd just have to live with it! Then, for other reasons not related to the fungus, I started aging my water, and haven't seen the fungus at all since. Kris