Stinking driftwood

So, I took a piece of my Driftwood out of the tank to clean off some algae and it has an unpleasant smell, almost like sulphur, but not too potent.

Could this be causing havoc in my tank? The one piece is quite thick.

 

Sure ... where did you get the wood form? Yeah picture will help.

Later Ferdie

 

What are the tank conditions in terms of Ammonia levels etc?

 

It can be the wood decomposing especially spider wood or wood that was not properly treated
However it can also be due to algae that is dead stuck to the wood?
Also think a picture will help
A good scrub with salt and clean water and you will quickly see if wood is ok or not
I would also just test your water as a precaution

 

These are the two pieces. I boiled them until the water no longer stained.

 

So the thing about wood - if it has anything soft on it ... that will degrade very quickly.

Check and see if you find any soft spots.

Some wood I have for over 10 years now .. others that look similar last a few years, also got some that are covered in the substrate in the outside tanks - these are "maturing" ok I forgot them but hey 2 years later and they are doing just fine,

But once things start going soft .. dispose of it or scrape it down to solid wood again.

Never been a big fan of boiling the wood .. - not trying to make paper pulp right. The slow multi month / year of tannin release means that the wood will typically survive way way longer. I am ok with a tinge in the tank .. Actual think it even helps some plants adapt faster - less light shock on high light tanks.

More to the point how on earth did you manage to boil such a big chunk of wood.

Later Ferdie

 

I boiled the wood in the biggest pot I could find. I just turned it.

I have taken out the wood, but when I took it out, a whole lot of "gunk" came pouring out!

So I'm going to leave it out for a while. I have dosed the tank with Prime and Stability and will do a few water changes this week and see how it goes.

I have also lowered the bioload of the tank by removing a whole lot of fish, about 14.

 

Smart move ... esp for winter. Now just remember to feed less ;-).

Later Ferdie

 

Thanks for this. After removing the wood, I found some soft sections which I'm going to remove. I'll let the wood cure in rain water and sunlight for a while and check it again.

Now that the carbon supply has been removed the source of carbon, maybe things will improve. I decided to add the airstone again about a short while ago just for surface disturbance and water movement.

I'll monitor the situation. I have sold all my love bearers to reduce the bioload.

Tha thing is that my water doesn't smell, it is only the wood which had a smell. Weird.