Driftwood covered in fungus ...

[Musicman666]

My community tank is doing fine ..discus are ok but I have a pesrsistent issue of fluffy brown growth on my lfs purchased tweedy wood in the phillipines.

Interestingly I have dumped some of the same wood in another unused tank and it's fine so I guess the fish food is producing the right conditions for this to happen...

Interestingly the angel fish love to munch on it ...

I googled this problem and it seems like it's connected with the sap or tanins leaching ..apparently it should go away on its own but it's been a couple of months and it's as strong as ever.

I was just wondering if any of you guys have some suggestions as boiling and scrubbing make no difference...

Thinking I might just dump the wood in a tank with an anti fungus medication...am I being too simplistic to imagine this would work?

[jmf3460]

The translucent/gray/white fungus that grows on newly added driftwood is completely natural and harmless. You will do more harm by adding unnecessary chemicals (medication) to your tank than you would by adding the fungus covered driftwood. Plecos, nerite snails and amano shrimp devour that stuff. As a matter of fact I personally float new driftwood to my amano shrimp tank in order for them to have a feast every now and then. IF you absolutely hate it, take it out, scrub it off and put it back, you may have to do this several times for it to all come out. Otherwise leave it, its not harming anything.

[Musicman666]

Ok thanks good to hear ..I just wish I saw even a slight falling off of the intensity but if anything it's getting stronger ...I guess I will grit my teeth and see this one through but seeing clumps of fungus rolling through the tank like tumbleweed is a little depressing...but if everyone says it will in time go away then great...

[jmf3460]

one thing you can do is take the end off your siphon tube (if you use one) and suck some of it up with your siphon tube, you can even run your tube down the wood and kind of scrape while siphoning type of deal.

[Jenene]

I also had the nasty, slimy stuff for awhile on my Mopani wood. I think it took about a month with a few scrubbings in between. I also did what Jacklyn recommended using the syphon to suck off the big chinks of it. I refused to get a pleco. I just didn't want any other fish in there. Eventually it stopped but I ended up ditching the wood anyway because it smelled like it was rotting in my tank. I have since replaced it with some other kind of driftwood and it is fine. It never had those issues I had with the other wood.

I know it looks awful but at least you know it won't hurt anything other than your vision of the perfect tank for a short time.

[Kirbs]

I have Manzanita in my 75, 38 and 50. I hate that stuff (the fuzzy stuff.). I take the wood out 1 a week and scrub it to remove it. I have a Galaxy Pleco in 2 of the tanks and they don't touch it. I was going to try the Amano Shrimp to see if they will handle it.

I have a real nice stump piece to put in my 90 and it won't be easy to take it out to scrub it so I'm hoping the Amano Shrimp will be the answer!

[Musicman666]

I was looking at the fungus just now...I could be wrong but it seems to have slightly eased off ...maybe the fungus heard my complaint...lol.....thanks for the replies guys!

[xxalanxx]

Second the idea of having Amano Shrimp. They are great at keeping the wood clean.

[Ryan925]

Second the idea of having Amano Shrimp. They are great at keeping the wood clean.

The discus don't snack on them?

[jmf3460]

The discus don't snack on them?

they would possibly eat them as youngins'. my amano fish are like 2"+ they are really old, so I don't think the discus would go for them. But I did once put some juvenile amano in my discus tank for a trial, and they did not last long, it was a really expensive snack for my wilds basically.

[Ryan925]

they would possibly eat them as youngins'. my amano fish are like 2"+ they are really old, so I don't think the discus would go for them. But I did once put some juvenile amano in my discus tank for a trial, and they did not last long, it was a really expensive snack for my wilds basically.

Thanks Jacklyn I would love some amanos but were always afraid the discus would just eat them

[Musicman666]

Just an update ...yes the fungus has stopped ..it's still there but it's stopped growing ...hopefully when I remove my driftwood and hose it down that could be the end of the problem...thankfully the way I constructed my setup on a modular system I can remove all the driftwood within a few minutes to leave an empty tank with only sand on the bottom. The only reason I don't want to do this too often is the stress on the fish ...having their whole world whipped away even for half an hour must be pretty disturbing.

[Kirbs]

And mine continues to grow and grow and grow! It's the gift that keeps on giving and giving!

[Randall G]

I had the same issue, I bought a couple of bristle nose plecos (they stay small) and they keep my driftwood immaculate. No scrubbing or replacing.

[Adam S]

I'd try taking the wood out and blasting it with some peroxide. To make it easier, the threads on 1 quart peroxide bottles will accept a standard spray bottle top (trigger part).

[MilkPudding]

It's not really fungus. The white fuzzy stuff is bacteria bloom--basically there are tons of tiny loose, decompose-able particles on the surface of the wood, and when you submerge it in warm water, the bacteria naturally present in the water and on the wood itself go to town and the bacteria population explodes. Eventually they'll finish these easily-consumable particles on the wood and die off once the food source is gone. But it is totally harmless...just ugly.