Collecting drift wood

[Guyb93]

Going away on the weekend for a “lads weekend “ me being a dad and have a bed time of around 10pm my weekend is going to be somewhat of a pirate drinking rum on a beach but while there I’m going to collect some driftwood , any tips for gathering I’m assuming low tide os the best time but I’m not sure also any tips on what to stay away from? I don’t want to be bring wood 5 hours back home if its rotting or leaching into my tank

 

[Byron]

Generally speaking, wood put into an aquarium must be "hard" wood, such as oak, maple, beech. Never use coniferous (cedar, spruce, pine, etc) or similar soft woods.

Specifically, collecting wood from water always carries the risk of introducing pathogens. Fish that have evolved in a tropical habitat can usually deal with local pathogens, but fish in temperate habitats cannot, and vice versa. Also, a "safe" collecting site must be well removed from industry, roads, pesticides, fertilizers, etc.

"Boiling" is often suggested, but this breaks the wood fibres and allows faster rotting.

 

[Guyb93]

Generally speaking, wood put into an aquarium must be "hard" wood, such as oak, maple, beech. Never use coniferous (cedar, spruce, pine, etc) or similar soft woods.

Specifically, collecting wood from water always carries the risk of introducing pathogens. Fish that have evolved in a tropical habitat can usually deal with local pathogens, but fish in temperate habitats cannot, and vice versa. Also, a "safe" collecting site must be well removed from industry, roads, pesticides, fertilizers, etc.

"Boiling" is often suggested, but this breaks the wood fibres and allows faster rotting.

I was under the impression that anything that lived in salt water can’t live in fresh water and that any parasites etc would die in a fresh water set up , is that bad information?

 

[Byron]

I was under the impression that anything that lived in salt water can’t live in fresh water and that any parasites etc would die in a fresh water set up , is that bad information?

I would not accept that carte blanche. Salt does not kill many life forms, and I've no idea if protozoan and other pathogens can live in fresh or salt exclusively. Better safe than sorry.

 

[Colin_T]

I was under the impression that anything that lived in salt water can’t live in fresh water and that any parasites etc would die in a fresh water set up , is that bad information?

It is fine and correct. Virtually any diseases in freshwater cannot survive being put into freshwater and vice versa. The exception to this is fish TB that can tolerate drying and going from fresh to salt water and back. However, driftwood tends to float in the ocean and not any wild marine fish have TB. It is more of a captive fish disease. So the odds of introducing something into a freshwater aquarium from something found at the beach, is extremely low. You have more chance of catching covid or winning lotto than transferring a disease from an item found at the beach.

I used to collect rocks and shells from the beach all the time and simply rinse them under tap water and put them in freshwater tanks. I never introduced any diseases from those items.

If you are concerned about transmitting diseases, rinse the item off and leave it in the sunlight to dry for a week. Then use it. The only fish disease that can tolerate being dry is again Fish TB.

If you are concerned about fish TB, put the wood in the oven for 30-60 minutes and set the oven on 100C. That will kill anything including TB.