# May have bought reptile decor for my fish tank



## Carrot Nose (Dec 23, 2015)

Hi, I am setting up a new tank intended to house guppies and a pleco. I got some new décor including 2 pieces of wood that were sold under a sign that said 'Aquarium decor'. I rinsed them and noticed that some colour was coming out but thought it was natural as they are natural wood pieces. After putting them in the tank (no fish are in there yet) the water turned a deep shade of Martian red. All it needs now is a little rover.

After some thinking we figure the wood is actually meant to be reptile décor. Given the colour scheme, the dry desert look, the size of the pieces, and their location right next to the reptile tanks. And therefore they may be artificially dyed.

We are going to replace the water, take out the wood and soak the colour out of them. Hopefully it actually does come out.

But does anyone know anything about reptile décor, would the dye be toxic to fish? I would think not as it's still meant for animals but it could be toxic to fish and not reptiles.


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## Witchipoo (Dec 13, 2015)

It's probably just the tannins in the wood. I boil mine. Pour off the stained water after a couple of hours, put in fresh water and repeat about 4 times. 
I buy a lot of driftwood from the reptile section, it's cheaper and they sell packages with small pieces that are perfect for my small tanks.


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## Carrot Nose (Dec 23, 2015)

Ok, thanks. I don't know if I can boil them as they are relatively large pieces, but we might have some big enough pots. If that's all it is, at least it's not an artificial dye which is more worrying.


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## Witchipoo (Dec 13, 2015)

You can soak them in buckets too, but it can take a couple weeks.


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## SydneyA (Jan 17, 2016)

I agree, likely tannins. You get the same color from IAL. Good luck boiling!


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## Carrot Nose (Dec 23, 2015)

Thanks, I can spare 2 weeks. This is really helpful and reassuring, we were just staring at this red tank for days wondering what the hell was going on with it... haha.


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## Witchipoo (Dec 13, 2015)

Heh heh. I deliberately have red water once a monthe or so, I use rooibos tea or Indian Almond Leaves for various reasons. Two of my tanks are slighty orange from banana leaves too. I'm working with Dragonscales and banana leaves are said to be good for scale development and diamond eye. 
The tannins won't hurt anything, but they're probably a lot darker off a chunk of wood than a leaf, lol.


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## kittenfish (Dec 1, 2013)

If it's mopani wood it's fine, but will leech a lot of tannins for a very long time unless you boil it for a couple of hours first. I think malaysian driftwood is not quite as bad. If it's grapewood, it is not meant to go in an aquarium.


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## Aqua Aurora (Oct 4, 2013)

Can you show a clear photo of the wood? If the wood was prepped for use in a vivarium/terrarium (reptiles) those pieces are often coated in anti fungal chemicals which are not safe for the aquarium.


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## Carrot Nose (Dec 23, 2015)

The label on one of them said mopani, I believe it's the bigger knotted piece here.

I read some people say they deliberately darken their water to imitate the natural environment of some bettas - so this is the stuff that does it - ha, I guess I could've kept the Martian water for my new betta but I'd rather keep his water pretty clear.

Here is a pic of the wood after the red water was drained, and the filter to show how red it was.


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## SimplyXt (Mar 27, 2016)

Carrot Nose said:


> The label on one of them said mopani, I believe it's the bigger knotted piece here.
> 
> I read some people say they deliberately darken their water to imitate the natural environment of some bettas - so this is the stuff that does it - ha, I guess I could've kept the Martian water for my new betta but I'd rather keep his water pretty clear.
> 
> Here is a pic of the wood after the red water was drained, and the filter to show how red it was.


Carrot Nose, how is your tank looking now? I am struggling with orangey water at the moment and now I realise its the driftwood most likely! >.<


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## Carrot Nose (Dec 23, 2015)

Hi SimplyXt,

The tank is clear. What we did was take out both pieces of wood and soak them in wash basins filled with hot water. Due to the size of the pieces we couldn't really boil them. We'd replace the water about once a day and after a couple days we noticed it was really the mopani wood that was coming out red. So we put the other piece in the tank, where it's doing well. As for the mopani, well let's just say it's been weeks and it's still leaching out red. Looks like it'll take a while. As for the red water, we drained it completely (well, we left a centimeter in as it's hard to get it all out) and put in new water before adding fish.

Maybe try taking yours out and soaking it, if it's coming out orange, you'll know it's coming from your driftwood. I read that the colour isn't really harmful to fish though so at least that's not a worry...


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