# Look at my wood! Is it poisonous?



## Conger (30 Aug 2013)

Hi

I'm very pleased with this bit of wood, although scaping round it would be challenging... any suggestions welcome! (I'll strip the bark of course). Having said that I may go for redmoor anyway!

However, the big issue is that it is ivy. Its been drying out for 2-3 months so far, but I'm aware that some sources say ivy is fine, some say never to use it. Is there a definitive answer from anyone? 

Thanks
Tim


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## BigTom (30 Aug 2013)

The definitive answer is; probably 

I've used lots of very dead and dry ivy without any issue. I have some in my fish fry and baby shrimp growout tank at the moment. I doubt you'll find anyone saying they've had ivy kill all their fish, but that may partly be because not many people want to risk it.


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## Yo-han (30 Aug 2013)

I think it rots sooner than some other types of wood. So if you plan a short term aquascape and use well dried wood without any soft tissue (bark etc), you'll be fine. Any longer than a year and it will definitely rot too much.


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## BigTom (30 Aug 2013)

Yo-han said:


> I think it rots sooner than some other types of wood. So if you plan a short term aquascape and use well dried wood without any soft tissue (bark etc), you'll be fine. Any longer than a year and it will definitely rot too much.


 

It should last a little longer than a year... the stuff in mine has been underwater since January 2012 and has just started to loose it's out layers.


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## Conger (30 Aug 2013)

Cheers guys. I'll be looking for a longer term feature and didn't know ivy would break down so quickly, so I guess I might end up not using it after all


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## foxfish (31 Aug 2013)




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## Yo-han (31 Aug 2013)

BigTom said:


> It should last a little longer than a year... the stuff in mine has been underwater since January 2012 and has just started to loose it's out layers.


 
I was close


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