I noticed this weird white hair stuff when I was cycling my tank and cannot get rid of it for the life of me. I took out the drift wood and boiled it for hours and have treated it with hydrogen peroxide but still nothing. I scrub it off every water change (once a week) but it still persists. Can anyone tell me me what this is or how to get rid of it because it’s so annoying? Also for reference my parameters are all good and it is a decently planted 5 gallon with a filter and heater.
Posted by Frog_Beansss
10 Comments
Wood does that when it’s getting settled in, I’ve had the same happen for every wood piece I put in, just let it naturally go away on its own, which it will, no worries!
I’m not 100% certain if its algae or biofilm (would help to have more pictures with better lighting), but I want to say its biofilm and shrimp would have a buffet out of this stuff.
Driftwood, even after sterilizing, will grow a biofilm while it acclimates to the tank. Let it be and it should eventually go away. Do you have any shrimp or bottom feeders? They are helpful at cleaning stuff like this. If not, you may need to manually wipe away the biofilm
This is 100% natural and healthy. Good bacteria in your tank are eating the available sugars in the wood – that’s why scrubbing/sanitizing doesn’t work, they just recolonize. When the available sugar is eaten up, it will look normal again. In the meantime, any algivore will enjoy the biofilm buffet!
Looks like biofilm, as others suggested. Totally fine and just takes time to get broken down.
Just let it be. Its biofilm. Its a good sign. Will go away after a while
So interesting – I have had a piece of bog wood in my tank for 3mths and at month 2 it grew this. I took it out, scrubbed it, put it back in? It regrew so I’ve removed the wood. Am I safe to return the wood to the tank perhaps??
Shrimp
Shrimp/snails will love that stuff
Some people consider them pest snails, but ramshorn have kept my driftwood SO clean