Regulusastro Blog

Well, the washing and soaking of the famed mopani wood has gotten the tank to a point where nothing has changed!   It is what it is: a happy tank with a funny piece of wood with a slimy mold(?) coating its surface. I would say that about 75% of the wood’s surface has a 1/4” thick coating of this:

Well, whatever it is, all the main chemical features of the water are well within the norm: pH is 7.0, GH and KH are low, Nitrates and Nitrites are 0ppm, temp is 83F, and tannins are nice and even. The occupants are happy, with the exception of this guy:

This is such a lovely discus, but he has not eaten one scrap of food since he arrived. The LFS’s discus were also not all that healthy – We offered this guy a home, but it looks like he’ll not make it through the week. All the others are eating voraciously and like kings. We’re talking mid-tank food, flake foods, brine shrimp and blood worms. What more could a fish want? Well I even tried crushed lettuce, algae and peas. Nope. This guy is having none of it. Alas.  The good news is that all other fish and plants are just fine. The other tank is also at 100%. No issues. With time, this slime, too, will take care of itself and either vanish or be eaten by occupants.

I guess we’ll have to write a new tune called “The Mopani Wood Blues” given the trials and tribulations of this week’s focus on my larger aquarium. I got this wonderful (WONDERFUL!) piece of mopani for my black water Amazon tank. I like that tannin thing with all the dark brown colorations: it makes the tank look realistic and helps to keep the water soft and acidic the way the fish like it. Two days after installation, the tank took on a lovely dark tone:

This morning the mopani had a healthy coat of slime (clear gel) all over it. I suspect a fast growing fungus from the wood’s intention to rot, as good wood should. This piece is huge though. It’s not the size to fit in my 5 gallon pot, or a bucket…. I could not boil it like I normally would. This is the result: one dead fish, a slimy mess and a lot of cleanup work.

1. Wood removed and placed in bleach water solution in my bathtub. Yeah. Yuk.
2. 8 Gallons of water flushed out of the tank and dead fish removed. I got as much slime as I could out.
3. Drained the bathtub and replenished the water with fresh warm water and a mix of Stress Coat to reduce chlorine from the bleach and house water supply. Let it sit for two hours. Scrub, repeat, rinse, scrub, repeat.
4. Replace wood in tank.
5. Clean out the canister filter: added some carbon (I hate to use it) and some ammo-carb just in case things gets to cycling again.
6. Sit and wait.
7. I will let you know!