Fuzzy driftwood

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Dropped some new wood into temporary tank to start it waterlogging the other day, and today, found a couple of the pieces like this I'm sure I've seen other people post about this happening on new wood in their tanks as well, and that's a harmless bacterial growth that will either go away on its own or can be rinsed off, but just wanted to double check before messing with it, given the amount of misinformation I've heard on the web. It looks sorta cool as well

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Or maybe it was fungal rather than bacterial, I'm not sure.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Looks cool, like an aura energy field or something (ive no idea whats goin on with it tho sorry)

 

[Wills]

Yep it’s just biofilm fish eat it and eventually the wood will stop producing it - you can take it out and rinse it too.

Wills

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Looks cool, like an aura energy field or something (ive no idea whats goin on with it tho sorry)

That's it, It's like an aura! I'm pretty sure it's just a fungal and/or bacterial thing that goes away after a while, but wanted to double check since it hasn't happened on any of the wood I've used before. Trying to remember whether I forgot to boil it like I usually do, and if that's why it's happening now.

Yep it’s just biofilm fish eat it and eventually the wood will stop producing it - you can take it out and rinse it too.

Wills

Brilliant, thank you kindly! Do you have any idea why it happens on some wood and not on others? Or perhaps it has happened on wood I've put in tanks before, but the fish ate it before I saw it I'll take it out and rinse it before boiling it, since I can't remember whether I boiled these ones or not, but will leave it for free fish food if it reappears after that.

 

[mbsqw1d]

Really nice piece of wood too, really happy for you

 

[Wills]

I think it’s a type of sap being released from the wood. As water fills the wood up it gets pushed out - on some wood it comes out in long strings. I have it in my tank at the moment which is weird as this piece has already been through the sink and soaked before - could have been releasing it before too and my fish at the time ate it or disturbed it enough to get in the water column.
Wills

 

[AdoraBelle Dearheart]

Really nice piece of wood too, really happy for you

Haha, thank you, and don't be jealous! Your tank and fish are already beautiful, the rest of us have to try to keep up Plus I bought these ones rather than collected them. My LFS was selling some boxes of small wood pieces he'd got as a bargain lot for £3-4 each. I couldn't resist picking up the odd one here and there when I went to buy fish food. It's also a pretty small piece which is hard to tell from the photo. If it was scaled up a bit so it could be the statement driftwood in a 10 or 15 gallon, I'd be over the moon, but it's too small for that really and will need to figure out how to make it work with other smaller pieces.

I think it’s a type of sap being released from the wood. As water fills the wood up it gets pushed out - on some wood it comes out in long strings. I have it in my tank at the moment which is weird as this piece has already been through the sink and soaked before - could have been releasing it before too and my fish at the time ate it or disturbed it enough to get in the water column.
Wills

That makes a lot of sense, cheers! I don't have any fish in here yet, it's just a temporary tank to put my guppies in while I tear down their current tank to move it, before moving them back and putting this one where I want it. I'll re-boil it to be on the safe side (in case of other nasties, not worried about this biofilm), and it makes sense that it could be sap, and that's why it happens with some woods more than others.