Manzantia Wood

[Petah]

I added some manzanita wood on wednesday night. Friday morning (today) i noticed my tetras are all swimming at the top of the tank... all but one of my amanos are dead. Water conditions haven't changed. It's a South American blackwater set up.

I'm confused to what happened. I did an emergency water change and removed the manzanita wood. Any ideas?

Peter

[2wheelsx2]

Is the manzanita cured? ie, has it been soaking in water for a while? Depending on the size of the tank, putting a lot of uncured manzanita into a smaller tank could cause a drastic pH drop, as the first few days that the wood goes into water, a tremendous amount of tannins leach out of the wood. I never put the manzanita in the tank without soaking for a week or so.

[Luke78]

Another issue to consider is that manzanita wood will release a white,fuzzy substance if it hasnt been cured for a while.This will be ongoing until the wood settles into your setup longterm.Any remains afterwards are usually eaten by your cories,plecos,or other grazing fish. I noticed this after i put my stumps and a few loose pieces in early on, and while letting it cycle saw my ammonia and nitrite levels rise a few points.Run a few water tests to see where you stand,and go from there.