Wood covered in mold/slimy film

[Blue Ram]

I soaked my manzanita wood/branches for approx. 2 wks prior to putting them in a new tank. I did change the water in the tub a couple of times while it was soaking. Ever since putting it in the aquarium, over several days, it develops a cloudy looking mold or slimy film on it. On some pieces, the film is 1 mm thick and covers the whole piece and has a bad smell to it. It does not seem to affect the dither fish I currently have in the tank. I have removed the branches several times and scrubbed them clean with dechlorinated water and it is improving. Anyone experience this or what causes it. Is there any way to completely eliminate this or do I just have to wait it out??

[Alight]

I had a similar problem with similar wood. I boiled the wood a couple of times to get out more of the organics. I had to clean it a couple of more times after that, but it eventually became innert.

[Graham]

I've had a simmilar problem with a peice of Mopani developing thei white mold. It got rinsed and then went into a bucket of 20ppm PP for 24 hours...that'll kill whatever is on it :angel: and then I tossed into the 2500 gallon holding tank with the koi...they'll eat whatever is left on it:D

That was week ago...I'll dig it out this weekend and see what's left

[Troy McClure]

Did your fuzz look like this?



http://www.swoape.org/ejbock/aqua/50gal/discus/woodmold01_041907.jpg
http://www.swoape.org/ejbock/aqua/50gal/discus/woodmold02_041907.jpg

I've had the tank filled and cycling for almost two weeks now and the driftwood seems to have developed some sort of white fuzzy funk on it, I think it's probably the same stuff Blue Ram is describing. It's only on the wood, nothing else. Any idea what this is, what caused it, and how to get rid of it? The tank hasn't had any light over it since my T5HO parts haven't come in yet, but occasionally I'll throw a 1x55 on it when I want to light up the room a little more.

[svdfinally]

I had this on some driftwood a few years ago. I added an antifungal and it wiped it out.

[wolfbane]

I had this 2 years ago when I set up my tank, it went away by itself after a short while.

[Paula B]

That is very common. It happens all the time.
It will go away by itself if you don't mind waiting, but I wouldn't put any valuable fish in until it did becasue I am not really sure exactly what it is.

[Blue Ram]

Yes my wood looks like this. It has been in the tank for at least a month - some improvement, I'd say 50-60%. I'm planning on putting my new discus in this tank on Monday. I don't think it affects the water quality as I have had 8 dwarf rainbows in this tank for a month. I'm wondering if UV sterilization would kill it?? Can anyone confirm this? If so, what would you suggest for a 54 gal lightly planted, low light??

[wolfbane]

this is just a natural part of the wood being in water, the fungus will use up the surface nutrients from the wood, then it will die off.