# Keeping bog wood clean?



## Tyrone5797 (Aug 25, 2007)

I have a couple of pieces of bog wood in a tank with my rhom that is starting to collect some sort of furry algae...now i had the same wood in with 6 4" reds and a 5" pleco ...and the pleco kept the wood nice and clean...now i have the wood in my rhom tank and its getting quite dirty...I'v tryed a pleco...but the rhom killed it 2 days later...I'v tryed these 3 of these 1" algae eater fish but they were gone after the first night...now i'v established that nothing is going to survive with this rhom (he really is an aggressive mofo)...but i was wondering if there was any other way of keeping the wood clean? (bar phisically taking it out and cleaning it myself)

Thanks for any help anybody is will to give in advance!


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## Dr. Giggles (Oct 18, 2003)

That furry stuff is actually a form of a fungus. imo it is not contagious to the fish. When i used to have that problem i simply took one of those algae brushes that are used to clean aquarium glass and scrubbed the crap off under a sink and placed back in the tank. No need to go out of the way, just when you do your next round of maintenance add that to the list.







or you can add more wood and try another pleco. I wouldnt add any chemicals though.


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## Tyrone5797 (Aug 25, 2007)

Yeh i really dont think its worth sacrificing another pleco...the poor things stand no chance...once again thanks for your time Dr. G you trully are an asset to the site


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## Dawgz (Aug 18, 2005)

Snails took care of it for me....back in the day.


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## Tyrone5797 (Aug 25, 2007)

And they didnt get eaten?


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## Dawgz (Aug 18, 2005)

well, piranhas dont pay any attention to snails...lol


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## Tyrone5797 (Aug 25, 2007)

Yeh im sure they dont look at the snails and see food but i think my rhom might kill out of dominance...is that a possibility?

and will this "form of fungus" effect the water parameters i anyway?

Oh and thanks for the suggestion Dawgz...its really apprieciated bro


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## Dawgz (Aug 18, 2005)

well i dont think ur rhom is gonna even take a second look at the sail...most liekly take it for a weird rock lol.

I dont use HUGE snails in my tank, the ones i have dont get bigger than (1/4) of an inch.

I just converted my community tank into a Red hi fin tank..(gave the community fish to a friend of mine)....so now that the ottos and flying foxes that i had in the community tank are gone...they were basically my algae clean up crew. So last nite i put in a few snails from my caribe's tank into the wolf's tank....

I think this is the best option for predatory fish, other than the ones that eat snails like puffers do.

GL!


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## Tyrone5797 (Aug 25, 2007)

ok thanks dawgz i think im gonna give them a try! Ill let you know how i get on...Thanks again!


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## Tyrone5797 (Aug 25, 2007)

Ok so i bought 3 snails last night...they're about 1"-1.5"...the only size snails they had...i put them in the tank with a bad of live ghost shrimp...the snails came out of their shells and were really active...i was hoping the rhom would be more concerned about the shrimp than the snails...which he was...i watched him him eat a few shrimp and he seemed to ignore the snails...so i went to bed...woke up this morning...and all 3 snail are in their shells not moving...one of them had a busted shell where the rhom had blatently tryed to get at it...i think its only a matter of time untill they're gone...im going to try and look for the 1/4 inch ones your talking about dawgz but i think im destined to have dirty bog wood...


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## Tyrone5797 (Aug 25, 2007)

^uninjured snail



















^the one that was attacked


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## Big-Kev (Mar 29, 2008)

The monthly food bill for that rhom is starting to add up. lol


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## CLUSTER ONE (Aug 2, 2006)

Like dr giggles said. easiest way is to just clean it with a brush. Just cclean it when you clean the glass or do other maitnence.


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## Tyrone5797 (Aug 25, 2007)

^Yeh im going to have to...it isnt really a problem doing it...i was just wondering wether there was an alternative...but obviously not

The injured snail is REALLY battered now...i dont mind the rhom taking them out...but will it harm my rhom eating the shell? Like could he chokeon it?...or am i just better off taking them out?


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