I have a tank currently running that was going beautifully.
High tech, full carpet of dwarf hairgrass, some rotalas and ludwigias, and some pieces of nice looking dark brown wood that I had in a previous aquarium.
Story time, skip to the end for the actual question:
One day I was admiring the tank, I spotted a bit of moss on the wood. What's this, I thought. The wood had been dry for 4-5months prior to its current use, and I cleaned it thoroughly when I put it away last. I removed the moss with my tweezers, and thought nothing of it. A couple of weeks later I found some moss amongst my dwarf hairgrass carpet. I removed it promptly, and scoured the DHG for more moss. I thought that was it. But no; that was just the beginning. Long story short; The moss eventually took over the entire carpet. It was awful. No matter how much I removed, the damn stuff would always remain, creeping in the shadows. I gave up.
The tank has stood here next to my desk for a few months now, left to do it's own thing. I feed the fish, of course, and I do waterchanges weekly. Other than that, it has given me no joy.
Today, I finally mustered up the will to do something about it. I tore out almost all the plants, and removed the wood. I left the epiphytes to float about, awaiting a new home.
Now, on to the question in the title:
I never want to see the javamoss again. I do want to use the hardscape materials again, but I can't risk another round of cancer spreading from the depths of the wood.
What I've done so far:
What more can I do to make absolutely sure the javamoss does not return? I thought about pouring gasoline on the wood and setting it on fire, but that interferes with the plan to reuse them at some point. 🙄
Any ideas?
High tech, full carpet of dwarf hairgrass, some rotalas and ludwigias, and some pieces of nice looking dark brown wood that I had in a previous aquarium.
Story time, skip to the end for the actual question:
One day I was admiring the tank, I spotted a bit of moss on the wood. What's this, I thought. The wood had been dry for 4-5months prior to its current use, and I cleaned it thoroughly when I put it away last. I removed the moss with my tweezers, and thought nothing of it. A couple of weeks later I found some moss amongst my dwarf hairgrass carpet. I removed it promptly, and scoured the DHG for more moss. I thought that was it. But no; that was just the beginning. Long story short; The moss eventually took over the entire carpet. It was awful. No matter how much I removed, the damn stuff would always remain, creeping in the shadows. I gave up.
The tank has stood here next to my desk for a few months now, left to do it's own thing. I feed the fish, of course, and I do waterchanges weekly. Other than that, it has given me no joy.
Today, I finally mustered up the will to do something about it. I tore out almost all the plants, and removed the wood. I left the epiphytes to float about, awaiting a new home.
Now, on to the question in the title:
I never want to see the javamoss again. I do want to use the hardscape materials again, but I can't risk another round of cancer spreading from the depths of the wood.
What I've done so far:
- Removed the wood from the tank
- Sprayed it thoroughly with a bleach mixture (50:50 water/bleach)
- Left it outside in the cold to freeze (Literally, it's -6c at the moment)
What more can I do to make absolutely sure the javamoss does not return? I thought about pouring gasoline on the wood and setting it on fire, but that interferes with the plan to reuse them at some point. 🙄
Any ideas?
