All Wood is Not Created Equal!

[DiscusPunk]

Ok, So I've been on this kick to totally remake my 125g. Bought my substrate, sitting in it's bags right next to the tank staring at me every time I go in to feed my discus. Bought all my decor to completely aqua-scape this thing, also staring at me from beside the tank. Placed a large plant order from azgardens.com about 3 weeks ago that I'm still waiting on which is the biggest reason I can't do me re-scape but that's another post I guess. Finally, I bought what I thought was THE PERFECT piece of driftwood off a seller on eBay from Ohio. Was labeled as aquarium safe, I thought, "it's freshwater driftwood, it's all the same, no?" NO was right. I've been soaking it in a 44 gallon rubbermaid trash can(yes I even bought a large trash can JUST to soak this thing) for at least the last 2 weeks. Everyday this thing reeks of bog water and even after weighing it down and multiple soakings in steaming water, it's not a centimeter closer to sinking than it was the day it came in the mail. It looked just like the malaysian driftwood so I though what's the big deal? Maybe I just got a bad piece but I finally decided, there's no way I'm going to chance putting something that turns it's water into putrid smelling pond water, in my tank with my discus. I finally conceded to the fact that this piece just wasn't going to work, went down to my local mom and pop fish store since the other lfs carries squat, and bought a large log piece...Malaysian this time. So it's soaking as we speak, sunk like a brink and when I place my nose next to the water to give it a whiff...NO BOGWATER SMELL!!! :D So take it from me as well as the other threads that have been posted on here. Stick with malaysian, manzanita or that mopani stuff.

Once this log stops hemorrhaging tannins and once, if ever, my plant order gets here, I'll definitely post up some pics.