Stupid Driftwood Question

[TammyLiz]

The driftwood in question was ordered online so I had no idea what I was getting before it came. It is a dark brown color and sink, not the washed out kind that floats. It is pretty split up at one end, like cracked, old wood, that I woulnd't expect to see on driftwood. It has been in a tank that has served as a quarantine tank since December (5 months) so the stock has changed several times, and I've moved filters around, but currently it is about 10% overstocked and 50% underfiltered and full of snails. I'm adding a second filter today. BUT, when I did the water change last week I took the driftwood out to see if it would look good in another tank I'm setting up and noticed it smells terrible! Oh, and another thing about it is that when I vac the gravel (weekly) there is an unreasonable amount of mulm under and around it. It doesn't look like fish waste, it looks like its coming from the driftwood. I rinsed it off and put it back in (wishfully) hoping it would just go away. Yesterday, another water change, and the wood still stinks. Could it be from underfiltering the tank, or because it is splintered at the one end, or is it just rotting? Or is it OK for it to stink? The actual tank does not stink, when I open the lid and smell at the surface it smells like the normal organic smell you would expect from a planted tank. The fish all seem fine. I even have 2 tiny plecs in there and they sit on it sometimes and they seem OK, too. I don't have a long history with driftwood so I don't know. This is only one of three pieces I've ever had, and the other two are fine.
Sorry to be so long winded. I have a hard time keeping things concise because I hate to be vague and leave information out!

Thanks

--Tammy

 

[Wonderboy]

I am not too sure if this will help at all, but you can try to boil the driftwood. It might kill anything stinky on it, but I'm just taking a wild guess. I don't think this is causing the driftwood problem, but why don't you look into something that can filter the tank correctly so you don't have to worry that the filter is the cause of problems in the near future?

~ Wonderboy!

 

[TammyLiz]

I did boil it before adding it to the tank but it wouldn't hurt to do it again, I guess...

I do have another filter for the tank. It is sitting on another tank to seed another filter, but its going back on this tank this afternoon as its been there long enough.

 

[scott67892002]

when you clean it again give it a brush off with a stiff brush, should get rid of any loose bits on the surface that may fall off later!