LOL J-Man! Haha
No problem
Well, Nap83, all I can tell you is how I dealt with my
driftwood. I bought an aquarium-safe driftwood, but nevertheless I soaked, boiled, and rinsed it many many times before I put it in my tank. Even an aquarium-safe driftwood needs to be disinfected for the following reasons. Any wood, and even dried wood, contains "tannins" and other substances that lower the
pH of water as well as stain the water brownish color. Although this isn't dangerous, it may look undesirable - unless someone likes the "mysterious effect" created by brownish water.
Supposing you used an aquarium-safe wood, if you put it in the tank, it would stain the water and lower your pH. And violent pH changes are not safe for fish. This is one of the reasons why you should boil and soak the wood. Another reason, is that it may cause a pH way too low for your fish, which isn't good either. And of course the brown water ...
What I did is I soaked my driftwood for a day or two, then rinsed it, and then boiled it for an hour or so. When you boil the wood, it leaks out all the tannins and acids - and this is how you make sure it won't stain the water in your tank as well as won't affect your pH. After I boiled the wood, I'd rinse it again, and soak it again for a day or two. I repeated this process until the wood stopped leaking any brown tannins (took me several times to do this). This is how I knew it was ready to put in my tank. The driftwood never stained my water nor did it affect my pH in any way.
I suppode you could do the same with your wood that you collected. However, if I were you, I'd make sure that it isn't contaminated by any chemicals. Today environment is very polluted, so you have to be careful with collecting things. Any chemicals present could easily kill your fish. Though I don't know how you could find out if it's not contaminated. My advice would be to buy an aquarium-safe driftwood. And if you absolutely don't want it bought, then BOIL, SOAK, and RINSE A LOT. I cannot guarantee anything about collected wood - I have no experience with it. However, I have collected pebbles and stones in my tank - they also were boiled, soaked, and rinsed well.
OK, that's enough for now
Ask me if you have any further questions.
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