Bit Of Advice Please.

[linda1503]

Hi all, I bought a nice bit of sumartra wood yesterday and after a good wash put it in my tank. The water has gone brown, leaking tannins I presume which I expected. Anyway I got up this morning and all my fish were gasping at the top! I immediately turned on my airstone and after a while they seem to be fine. This has never happened before and I wondered if it could have anything to do with the wood or the tannins. My filter disturbs the water at the top and I usually only turn on my airstone when the weather is hot. I can't beleive a piece of wood could do this, should I take it out? any advice would be most welcome, thank you

 

[PoPoV]

Ahhh, this nut shell again I did the tannin dance for awile. Their is a number of things you can do. The firsh and IMO the easiest way (depending on if you have meds in the tank and what kind of fish you have) is just to add some carbon to your filter and do your regular water changes as normal and it will clear up. Or you can take your wood out of the tank and boil it in a nice size pot. My old ladie wouldnt let me boil a giant chunk of wood in a nice kitchen pot so i had to settle with puting it in a 5 gallon bucket outside for awile Iv also heared that presshure washing it will do the trick but iv never tried that. Try using the Search Tab on the top right of your screen and type in "Tannins" im shure their will be plenty of old threads their Hope this helped a little.

-popov

 

[linda1503]

Thanks PoPoV! Wondered whether to add my carbon filter. I'll do that now and a water change, guess my fish gasping has nothing to do with the wood, just one of those things fish do to to keep us keepers on our toes!

 

[iairj84]

The gasping shouldn't have anything to do with the wood. The tannins leached are more or less just an aesthetic thing that most people don't like... Unless it's really dark I don't mind it too much. I have my doubts the carbon will do too much for you but it's worth a shot.

 

[n3ont3tra]

I would still be worried about the wood. Did you wash it before putting it in the tank? Maybe it had some kind of chemical on it, like if something was spayed too close to it...

 

[kribensis12]

In my opinnion, tannins make the water look more natural, and the colors of the fish are better looking( just my op).