Link

I just got this new item for fish tank so one of my sharks that got evicted by the other shark will have somewhere to go. But i noticed you guys say to boil any new items before puting them into the tank. But this item has plastic plants all over it. The item itself is very heavy like a rock so im sure its not plastic. Im just worried that if i boil it they plastic plants will fall off. Here i took a picture so you can have a look. What do you think i should do? If i put it in with out boiling it will it kill my fish? there is no way to unplug the plastic plants from the fake log.

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if that picture didnt show try this link
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TheDon

let it soak in water or something perhaps?

I stuck a plastic cave in my tank that I bought at wal mart.. All I did was rinse it off and stick it in.. nothing bad has happened yet

sirdarksol

I've never boiled anything I've put in my tanks. I rinse them off, though.
If you're worried about it, but don't want to boil the thing, you could put it 130 degree (F) water. Pretty much nothing survives at that temp, you've just got to leave it in longer to make sure every surface gets hot enough. (Note, if they used something like hot glue to put it together, it could still fall apart at this temperature.

mlinden84

I've got pretty much the same thing as you. All I did was rinse it with really hot water before putting it in the tank. It's been in there since Feb, and there hasn't been any ill effects from it.

Link

You are all awesome, i posted about 10 min ago and already got enough reply's to carry on with what i was doing Thank you all

mlinden84

I always like when that happens, then you don't have to sit around waiting for some advise to continue setting up a tank.
Glad we could help!

COBettaCouple

it's mainly driftwood that needs boiled for helping get the tannins out and stuff pulled from the great outdoors. Otherwise usually some treated water heated in the microwave is what we pour over the new items.

TheDon

careful with boiling water in a microwave... Remember the myth busters episode

COBettaCouple

never saw that.

TheDon

distilled water .. if that is what you boil it in will violently react when something is put in it after it has been boiled.. since there are no impurities in it...

COBettaCouple

oh, well i never boil it, just heat it to about 150 or so.

GuitarFreak664

Whatever you do don't microwave pure distilled water because it can become superheated and explode rather violently with boiling water when something breaks the surface tension.