Is It Wise To Use Wood Found In The Wild?

[ScubaMolley]

I found a few nice pieces of driftwood the other day and wanted to use them in my aquarium. I have a 125 gallon aquarium with mostly africans. Elephant Nose, Silver Dollars, Firemouth Cichlid, Large Pleco, Crayfish, Jewel Cichlids, Blue Johanni, Gouramis, 2 Ideesa Barbs. I have the wood soaking in a 55 gallon plastic barrel right now just to get all the loose stuff off of the wood. I was going to let it soak for a few days until the water stayed clear. 
 
Is this going to be okay or should I use the pieces for firewood? If it is okay.. Am I going about it in a right way to get it prepped to introduce it into my tank?
 

 

[LyraGuppi]

Pouring boiling water over the wood usually gets everything out.

 

[ScubaMolley]

I'll do that for as a last step. I'll get all the loose material off before using the boiling water.

 

[Baccus]

Provided you know that the wood you have found is not toxic eg Oleander and that no chemicals have been sprayed on it eg herbicides or pesticides then it should be safe to use.

Be careful using boiling water on wood, it damages the cell structure and ultimately causes the wood to break down quicker.

I would allow the wood to soak for a few days, especially if its floating leave it till it sinks, do water changes in the meantime if you really want to leech the tannins out and then with a scrubbing brush that has not been used in household cleaning give the wood a good scrub to knock off any more loose bits of wood/ bark or dirt.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

You might want to have a quick read on these two sites:
 
http/www.fishkeeping.co.uk/articles_95/safe-rocks-safe-wood-aquarium-decor.htm
 
http/www.skepticalaquarist.com/kinds-wood
 
Avoid all new/green wood. Normally, avoid collecting wood from bodies of water as disease, nasties and pollution may be on/in it. Avoid collecting wood where insecticides etc. have been sprayed/used. Avoid using wood you are not 100% certain is tank safe.

 

[Srt4geezer]

All the wood in my tank is from Stanislaus river her in central CA. Snorkling into deep pool to check out long submerged trees and logs. Cut the big one (7ft) off of a long submerged tree. Everything else was laying loose on bottom of river. Brought it home (along with all hand classified gravel and most of the rock) and put it into new setup tank with no fish. Added fish and cycled. Didnt wash or clean wood at all. Probably just depends on the river and some luck. Now that the tank has been established over a year I wouldn't add more wood without being treated for parisited and bacteria. 300 gallon with 60gln sump.