Furry Bogwood

[Kieren]

Setting up my first tropical tank, Juwel Rio 125. I dechlorinanated the water and latter added Safe Water and plant food for three planted plants. I soaked a medium piece of bogwood for four days in a bucket before introducing. After about five days a white stringy fur mould like growth has appeared, is this normal and will it disappear? I thought about getting a few Zebra Danios this weekend to get the tank cycling now i`m not sure

 

[triskele]

I've had that appear on some pieces of bogwood in the past (mostly mopani for some reason). If I remember correctly it's a type of fungus feeding on any remaining decaying material in the wood. When it first appeared I took out the wood and scrubbed it all off, then it came back. After doing some reading around the consensus whas that it is not harmful (even if not that aesthetically pleasing) and it will go away in time. I think mine took a couple of months to go. Since then when it's appeared on new bogwood I've not worried about it and it has always eventually gone.

Regarding cycling, there is most probably a nice pinned article on cycling without fish. Some people go with ammonia, though with my current Rio 400 I just put a small pinch of fish food in evey day and monitored, ammonia, nitrite and nitrate and the tank seemed to cycle just fine.


All the best,

Triskele.

 

[debiasir]

i have had this too and believe it to be fungus from decaying food on the wood. nothing a quick scrub wont sort out. Dont think it will harm the tank as i left mine in for 4 months before taking it out for the scrub.

 

[Bignose]

Yes, this is most likely fungus. If you wait long enough, the bacteria in the bio-film that coats everything will eventually outcompete it and there will be no more fungus. If you really don't want it in there, you can take it out with your next water change, but it does not cause any harm.

 

[Kieren]

Great thankyou everyone. I really like the idea of cycling without fish, the pinned article appeals to my chemical background. The Ecology bit will follow I am going to leave the bogwood and coninue planting the tank for a while as I give the ammonia cycling a go. Patience a few more weeks has got to be worth healthy environment.

 

[fish mad]

Great thankyou everyone. I really like the idea of cycling without fish, the pinned article appeals to my chemical background. The Ecology bit will follow I am going to leave the bogwood and coninue planting the tank for a while as I give the ammonia cycling a go. Patience a few more weeks has got to be worth healthy environment.

I like it so does my fish it looks quite natural .

 

[iain.betson]

I had the same problem about two months ago, on the advice fromt this forum I took out the wood soaked it in boiling salt water over night then rinsed it like mad before putting back in. No problems since