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Title: Need Some Pleco Help


tonymel19 - January 26, 2008 08:17 PM (GMT)
Hi I'm trying to find the right peice of drift wood for Zilla our Pleco. I found one at a pet web site. It says that it is real drift wood that is pre treated to sink, will that harm him or will he not wanna chew on it?

Thank you,
Melissa

tlc - January 26, 2008 09:42 PM (GMT)
Hi Melissa and welcome to the board!

I don't have anything to input here but Robyn or some other "Pleco person" will be on sometime today. There are lots of people here that have them.

What a cool name Zilla is for a Pleco!

Tia

tonymel19 - January 26, 2008 10:44 PM (GMT)
Thank you, we named him Zilla because he kinda reminds us of Godzilla! He's just not as vicious and a little smaller! lol...

Robyn - January 27, 2008 01:01 AM (GMT)
There are three types of wood you might find as driftwood. The first is what you want, real driftwood. I've also seen grape vines sold as driftwood; you don't want those. The worst was one I ordered on-line. It turned out to be hardwood they had simply cut; it had never been in water. It wasn't natural aside from being wood.

If you can send me a photo of the driftwood you're looking at, I can tell you what I think.

My section on treating driftwood to leach out the tannins, lignins, and also disinfect is at
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/decor2.htm#drift

As for being pre-treated to sink: I have bought many driftwood pieces over the years, many attached to slate by screws. I cannot remember a single one that didn't float initially except maybe a few tiny ones. I had to lay additional slate pieces on top of the other slate pieces to keep them down. My two big driftwood pieces would still float for years if I removed those extra pieces but do not any longer. They really need to attach them to larger slate pieces. I'm not sure what "pre-treatment" they've done to the wood they're advertizing that you saw. I don't think it's something harmful for your pleco though.

tonymel19 - January 27, 2008 10:52 PM (GMT)
QUOTE (Robyn @ Jan 26 2008, 05:01 PM)
There are three types of wood you might find as driftwood. The first is what you want, real driftwood. I've also seen grape vines sold as driftwood; you don't want those. The worst was one I ordered on-line. It turned out to be hardwood they had simply cut; it had never been in water. It wasn't natural aside from being wood.

If you can send me a photo of the driftwood you're looking at, I can tell you what I think.

My section on treating driftwood to leach out the tannins, lignins, and also disinfect is at
http://www.fishpondinfo.com/plants/decor2.htm#drift

As for being pre-treated to sink: I have bought many driftwood pieces over the years, many attached to slate by screws. I cannot remember a single one that didn't float initially except maybe a few tiny ones. I had to lay additional slate pieces on top of the other slate pieces to keep them down. My two big driftwood pieces would still float for years if I removed those extra pieces but do not any longer. They really need to attach them to larger slate pieces. I'm not sure what "pre-treatment" they've done to the wood they're advertizing that you saw. I don't think it's something harmful for your pleco though.

Thanks Robyn, I just emailed you the photo link of the driftwood I was looking at. I found a really nice peice of driftwood on ebay, it's been cleaned and is said to be ready to go, so i think I might just get that one. I'm a little nervous to buy that other one. Thanks again your very helpful. :P

I'm still a little new to all this :wacko: But I'm having a great time watching my fish, especially Zilla, I can't wait to watch him grow.




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