# Are driftwood tannins bad for baby fish?



## ChuckRum (Sep 11, 2010)

just got some free baby cichla off of one of my friends, and i bought a piece of driftwood to put in their temporary 10 gal since it will help with their preferred water chemistry. Anyways i know it will turn my water green and murky but this sounds like it will help to create amazon conditions, i really dont care how the water looks as long as the fish are healthy. if i put the wood in without soaking it, will it harm the fish?


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## chriscro (Dec 3, 2010)

id recommend boiling it or atleast a good cleaning with very mild bleach to eliminate any unwanted parasites. the tannins themselves are not harmful though


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## qwerty (Dec 15, 2009)

Actually tannins turn the water a golden brown tea colour, not green... Looks like Oolong tea.

The water should remain clear though. Not murky.

As far as the tannins, no, it shouldn't be a problem. If it's soft wood (pine, etc) then that's a problem. But otherwise, no, the tannins wont matter, though it never hurts to boil it for just a couple minutes to make sure it's clean if you're worried.


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## AlgaeBeater (Feb 18, 2011)

In my experience, a reasonable level of tannins in the water won't harm fish. I've had some fish seem to do better with it but that's more than likely attributed to (as you mention) the water conditions that are created by having a good amount of wood in the water.

I have had one issue with wood when I received a wholesale lot of driftwood (sandblasted and cleaned) and had to get it soaking/waterlogged sooner rather than later. I just placed about 75 pounds of it into a 90 gallon tank that I had a few misc fish in it. In the morning the water was dark, dark brown, almost black and all the fish were dead (a sad learning experience). I seriously doubt it was the tannins that killed them though. It's more than likely a very rapid and significant change in water chemistry.

Also, don't use bleach (mild or otherwise) to clean / disinfect anything really porous or absorbent (wood is both to some degree). Bleach is HIGHLY toxic and even a minuscule *amount will kill fish. Can you do it and then rinse it really well? Sure. But it is not worth the risk. Just give it a good scrub with clean, hot water and boil it if you wish (and have a piece of wood that'll fit in a pot).

If you want to deal with tannins in your aquarium, use carbon/charcoal in your filter and do frequent partial water changes for a few weeks/months. The wood will eventually slow it's release (pretty-much stop) of tannins.


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## mrobson (Mar 5, 2011)

they should be fine im guessing your creating a black water tank, it is not advised to use bleach just a good scalding and scrub you can boil but you will waste tannis.

http://fish.mongabay.com/biotope_amazon_blackwater.htm


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