Weird milky "aura" around driftwood?

[DBridges]

Hi all,

Been soaking a couple of new pieces of manzanita wood in a tub for about a month now, getting them ready for the new aquarium. Generally, I dump the water out of the tub every two or three days, scrub/hose down the wood, and them fill the tub with new water and continue soaking.

I've noticed that after a couple of days, some sort of weird thin, milky substance surrounds the wood, all around it and about a quarter inch away from the surface of the wood. If disturbed, it easily dissipates into strands and floats away.

Has anyone else every encountered this before? I don't remember seeing this on previous driftwood that I've used. Should I be concerned? As far as I know, the wood has never been treated with chemicals in any way.

David

[AaronMB]

"Milky aura" is a good way to describe it.

It happens every time I soak wood and leave the water a few days. No worries.


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[stewardwildcat]

probably just fungal or bacterial growth, Its ok. My driftwood became fuzzy when i put it in my tanks but the fish at all of it off.

[PlantedRich]

Not at all unusual. There are just thousands of these little unseen things that come alive when just exactly the right conditions come around. The nice thing is that those conditions will not exist long in most cases. If you are bothered by it, a half cup of bleach will likely remove/kill it but also it will likely be gone before you get your tank fully cycled and ready for fish. If you do the bleach soak, be certain to let the wood dry before adding it to any tank with fish. That will let the chlorine gas off.

[Complexity]

But don't worry if it's still there when you do add fish. It's completely harmless. Looks horrid (I think it looks like snot), but it goes away on its own and doesn't hurt anything while it's there. I have some on my wood right now.

[DBridges]

Snot - yes, that's pretty much what it looks like! Thanks for the input everyone. I won't sweat it now that I know it's harmless and eventually goes away.

David

[demonr6]

Yes, dangly, flowy, billowing snot..

[PlantedRich]

Guess I've been lucky. Mine has looked more like cotton candy. Not planning to eat it either way, though!

[AzFishKid]

Soaking it in very hot/boiling water for a while seems to get rid of most of it.
Bristlenose plecos LOVE to eat this stuff too.

[djdan724]

My Otos and Amanos love eating it too.

[Complexity]

I think otos eat it, too. Or maybe amanos. My wood was covered in it while I was getting my tank ready for fish. Once I put the fish in, it suddenly disappeared! I've never seen the amanos on it so I figured it must have been the otos. Or maybe it was just coincidence.

[Complexity]

Originally Posted by djdan724

My Otos and Amanos love eating it too.

Now that's funny. We were posting the same thing at the same time!