Gonzofish

Just writing this as a warning to those planning to scape with a large amount of driftwood.

I recently introduced over 200 lbs of top grade Malaysian Driftwood into my well established Discus 120g. The driftwood was commercially bought at a LFS and I was told that it had been cured originally in freshwater "pools". In addition to that, I soaked them in clean tubs outdoors for 3 days and there appeared to be very little leeching of tannins. I was unable to boil the wood because of its size, but I thought it would be alright since it sunk in the tubs.18 hours after adding the driftwood to the tank, the Discus began gasping at the surface of the tank. I quickly did a 25% water change and that seemed to satisfy them, but only temporarily. The same reaction occurred just 8 hours later. I tested the water with every test kit I have and it tested positive for .05-.1ppm of Nitrite! The only solution that I could think of was to load the tank with Seachem Stability and Prime. After about an hour the fish still presented distress, so I did another water change. Then I thought that an amount of activated charcoal might absorb whatever toxins were coming out of the wood. It has been 2 days since I added 20 ml charcoal and everything appears to be back to normal. The water parameters are fine and the water visibly has less tannin than before. So the question remains, did the driftwood toxify the water? And if so, was the tannic acid responsible or some other unknown material present on the wood? Also, will I be able to remove the charcoal at some point so that I can resume my regular fert dosing?

Whatever the cause, I would recommend to anyone TREAT ANY DRIFTWOOD WITH EXTREME CAUTION!

standoyo

thanks for the heads up...

funny thing is gonzo, would you like to know where they get the dw from?

Gumby

I'd imagine that his LFS got the driftwood from Florida Aquatic Nurseries, who soaks driftwood in large pools in order to obtain the tanins it releases for their plants and fish. Once the driftwood's tanin's are "spent" they sell the wood.

Gonzofish

Yeah, I'm calling them tommorow. They need to warn customers of the possible side effects and how to remedy them. I considered returning the driftwood for a refund, but we're talking about REALLY nice looking driftwood. Maybe I should re-evaluate my priorities !

standoyo

hmmm,

well...most are harvested from our dams which were flooded decades ago.
so it has already been presoaked.

must be something more to it...

BryceM

You added 200 lbs all at once? How big is your tank? I didn't think you could fit that much wood into a 125g. Certainly I'm missing something here.......

Blazerfrs

That's very interesting... never heard of anything like it.
Glad you were vigilant and took care of the problem before you lost any fish, Kudos!

Gonzofish

Well, looking at the tank this morning I notice the tannins are back. Fish are doing great, however. Perhaps an indication that my charcoal is saturated, a mere three days later. I would also like to rationalize from this that the tannic acid was not responsible for the poor fish health. There must have been some other component to the driftwood that I can only speculate. Possibly being soaked in foul water, or perhaps defecated on by birds overhead? My plan now is to remove the charcoal and return to my fert schedule, but keep a large supply on hand to use at a moments notice.

BTW 200lbs may have been an overestimate, more like 100-150.

dennis

Its very possible that either there was a sudden ammonia spike due to rearranging the tank and possibly there was somethign in the wood that attributed to that also. Another possibility is that the woods release of tannins caused a faster than normal pH drop that he fish were not used to. Now that the carbon dealt with it initially but now that the carbon is filling the tannins could slowly built, makign the change gradual enough that the fish are un affected.

Or maybe, the fish were just so amazed by the awesomness of their new furniture they went into shock!

hoppycalif

I think you may have found the explanation for why some of the fish I buy just die for no apparent reason. I know how awesome my plantings are, but they, having lived for most, if not all of their lives in a plant free aquarium or pond, are just stupified by the spendor they suddenly find themselves in. Now I feel much better knowing they went to their maker in a state of sheer ecstasy!