Bamboo

[martyn kirby]

have been keeping tropical fish for about five years with only a few hic ups, I am in the process of setting up a new tank for a pair of jaguar catfish, two pairs of royal whiptails and two pairs of chameleon whiptails. I wanted to use bamboo so i went to my local pet shop and purchased some. This was cut into 17 cm sections and boiled in water for 15 minutes, they were then left to cool and dry then they were stood up together and stuck to the bottom of the tank. They were then filled with aquatic soil and plants placed inside, this looked ok untill for three days and now i have noticed a furry groth on the edges of the bamboo. Will this effect the tank and my fish and shoud i remove it and start again?

[MatsP]

It is probably some sort of mold/fungus. I wouldn't worry too much. If you have some sort of

Ancistrus

or similar, then that would help clear it off.

--
Mats

[jerry58]

Hi martyn kirby

Its probably the sap coming out of the bamboo this does go after a while I did a planter out of bamboo. Another thing if your plants start to rot at the roots you might have to drill holes in the side or the inside of sections as the water flow needs to pass through the soil and roots.
Here is a pic the one with the plant I had to do this as it did rot and go stagnant.

Hope it helps Jerry

[martyn kirby]

Hi
thanks for the advice, should I remove the bamboo and start again with holes drilled in or leave for a while, the plants are cryptocoryne wendtii tropica.

[jerry58]

Hi
You could leave it and see what happens it might not happen to yours but that is what i found,also does this when you plant plants in pots without holes in the bottom of them I just cut the bottom or part of the back away with tile cutter and my Lucipinnis catfish loved living in there!. good luck.

Jerry