Slime on my wood.

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sadness child

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I have just finished soaking some Elm branches I want to use for my tank, and when I peel the bark off there is this redish slime thing on it. This wood was dead when I found it, and it has been sitting around house for about a week.
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That may be the case, but if it’s that soft after being wet, I wouldn’t add it to your tank.
 
I went around my property and found these sticks. I know that they are at least 1 year old, the oldest is probably 4 years old. The only problem with these braches is that they are Cottonwood branches, and I do not know if they are fish and aquarium safe.
16168789018883491421273868244295.jpg
 
I have used a number of locally collected wood species in my aquariums, including cedar, without issue. The sample you show with the slime is too new based on the relative abundance and the appearance of the bark. The slime could be sap or could be a fungi growing under the bark.

If the wood is well aged then there will be fewer compounds that can leach into the water. One area I found that is good for collecting wood for aquariums is reservoirs. In the area along the banks is usually wood that has been cut down for the reservoir and the stumps and branches from this get aged by being repeatedly submerged then dried. Obviously you do not want to introduce any disease or parasites into the aquarium so you will want to clean the wood thoroughly before using. I boil or wash and treat with oxygen bleach. I then dry and clean the wood a second time before going into the aquarium. The cotton wood might be a bit soft for use in the aquarium but if kept submerged it might work ok. In a moist environment cottonwood will rot really fast, but it might last a lot longer if kept underwater. To me your sticks look ok but I am perhaps a bit reckless.

If you are going to use collected materials for your tank you will be taking a bit more risk of introducing something with negative consequences into your aquarium. I haven't had anything bad happen in my tanks but that could just be luck on my part. I would have no hesitation putting the wood @madmark285 showed in his post into my tanks.
 
I have used a number of locally collected wood species in my aquariums, including cedar, without issue. The sample you show with the slime is too new based on the relative abundance and the appearance of the bark. The slime could be sap or could be a fungi growing under the bark.

If the wood is well aged then there will be fewer compounds that can leach into the water. One area I found that is good for collecting wood for aquariums is reservoirs. In the area along the banks is usually wood that has been cut down for the reservoir and the stumps and branches from this get aged by being repeatedly submerged then dried. Obviously you do not want to introduce any disease or parasites into the aquarium so you will want to clean the wood thoroughly before using. I boil or wash and treat with oxygen bleach. I then dry and clean the wood a second time before going into the aquarium. The cotton wood might be a bit soft for use in the aquarium but if kept submerged it might work ok. In a moist environment cottonwood will rot really fast, but it might last a lot longer if kept underwater. To me your sticks look ok but I am perhaps a bit reckless.

If you are going to use collected materials for your tank you will be taking a bit more risk of introducing something with negative consequences into your aquarium. I haven't had anything bad happen in my tanks but that could just be luck on my part. I would have no hesitation putting the wood @madmark285 showed in his post into my tanks.

So would you not recommend having part of the cotton wood sticking out of the tank?
 
THAT is not ready for aquarium use. In fact it might poison the fish slowly if not faster. You should really always stick to wood collected near water or in it. Saltwater wood is good, wood from riparian trees like Sycamore,Alder,Maple,...all those aged and debarked by nature are perfect...roots too of those trees.
Raw twigs like that? Are going to use your aquarium as the death leaching and fungus growing stage..to the detriment of the fish.
 
One week old tree branches are still alive and should not be used until they are at least 6 months old and have dried out completely.

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Since nobody else has made a funny about the title, I will.

Slime on my wood.
You should see a doctor about that or wash it more often. :)

If you don't understand that, I ain't explaining it.
 
One week old tree branches are still alive and should not be used until they are at least 6 months old and have dried out completely.

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Since nobody else has made a funny about the title, I will.

Slime on my wood.
You should see a doctor about that or wash it more often. :)

If you don't understand that, I ain't explaining it.
I knew a bloke with slime on his wood , said it was a real eye opener ?
 

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