[AnthonyW8822]

Last night I boiled and put in a good looking hunk of grapevine. This afternoon I came home and all the water is milky white - even though the fish appear fine.

Any ideas?

EIT: the fish that I can see are fine. Its that bad.

 

[Raymond S.]

New one on me so not necessarilly qualified as an experienced answer bt it came out of the wood into the water so get rid of the water. But if the fish(so far) look fine I
wouldn't do more than a 50% WC. And then give it about three more days till another
50%. I'm guessing that if you had access to a different place to keep the fish they
would already be there.

 

[Aqguy]

Never heard of anyone using grapevine before

 

[AnthonyW8822]

Never heard of anyone using grapevine before

Neither had the guys at the LFS - but it has some fantastic coloration and I figured that if I could boil the hell out of it and waterlog it, why not?

I did a huge water change an hour or so ago. It might be going white again. If it does, I'm going to soak it in my bathtub for a few days until it stops. Or buy new wood.

 

[peachii]

Reading online the grapevine intially will mirk/milk the water, that's apparently the tannins coming out of it.

I found this quote on another forum, can't link it but i will quote it, it's specially in regards to if grapevine is safe to use in an aquarium from 9/19/05 so take it with a grain of salt-

Yes.
Some speciality places sell awesome looking huge pieces sandblasted.
Soak good, they may need a little help keeoping them down initially, but after a few weeks/months, they get water logged.

Regards,
Tom Barr

There have been reports of "grapevine" deteriorating underwater faster than other driftwood and reports that it lasts just as long as any other driftwood out there.

Do water changes or take it out to soak seperately until it stops leaching and it should be fine. No indications the leaching/milkiness is bad for the fish though.

 

[AnthonyW8822]

Reading online the grapevine intially will mirk/milk the water, that's apparently the tannins coming out of it.

I found this quote on another forum, can't link it but i will quote it, it's specially in regards to if grapevine is safe to use in an aquarium from 9/19/05 so take it with a grain of salt-


There have been reports of "grapevine" deteriorating underwater faster than other driftwood and reports that it lasts just as long as any other driftwood out there.

Do water changes or take it out to soak seperately until it stops leaching and it should be fine. No indications the leaching/milkiness is bad for the fish though.

Glad it won't hurt the fish. My grapevine waterlogged in only minutes, though

 

[AnthonyW8822]

I took the wood out and it was coated in a thick, snot like mucus. I'm boiling the hell out of it in salt water (aquarium salt) now.

 

[jmf3460]

the snotlike bacteria are nothing to worry about and is perfectly normal. its actually a good snack for many fish, all driftwood does it. its the bacterial elements coming out of the wood.

 

[AnthonyW8822]

the snotlike bacteria are nothing to worry about and is perfectly normal. its actually a good snack for many fish, all driftwood does it. its the bacterial elements coming out of the wood.

Yes but when its producing so much that I literally cannot see my fish, its a problem haha

Its been boiling for a while now - and there's a lot of foam coming off of it now

 

[Zapins]

Grapevine is fine to use in the tank, its actually a pretty good wood long term. It is extremely sappy though and unless drained and dried for a long while it will cloud your water like that as all the sugars leach out into the water where bacteria eats them up and blooms.

Should clear up relatively soon, though watch out for green water. It usually follows a large white bacterial bloom.

 

[AnthonyW8822]

the snotlike bacteria are nothing to worry about and is perfectly normal. its actually a good snack for many fish, all driftwood does it. its the bacterial elements coming out of the wood.

Can you name a fish that expressly eats it?

 

[peachii]

Can you name a fish that expressly eats it?

All snails and shrimp eat it, not the cloudiness of the water but the snotlike film that will cover new driftwood, looks like a snot coating on it in the water.