# How do petshops clean driftwood?



## amit (Sep 22, 2014)

Hi

Been reading alot about the pros and cons of picking up driftwood from local streams and clean it.
The main concern is whether you bleach, bake, boil, or what ever you do to clean the wood, you can never know if it is really clean.

So, as it seems, buying wood from a pet shop is the safe way to go.
It is simple.
It makes sense.

But...

I do have to say it makes me wonder:
How do petshops (or any other driftwood suppliers) clean their driftwood?


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

amit said:


> Hi
> I do have to say it makes me wonder:
> How do petshops (or any other driftwood suppliers) clean their driftwood?


Pet stores don't ... If it is a wood that originates outside of the US then it has to be heat treated and/or fumigated before being allowed to enter the country. See the USDA's APHIS website for various regulations here. 

With respect to wood that originates within the US, there are various state specific requirements for example Illinois cannot export wood products without specific treatments due to the risk of Emerald Ash borers (for example, logs or natural materials must be debarked and have a certain amount of wood removed to ensure that the borers are not present in the wood, or it has to be kiln dried to a certain moisture content to eliminate the insect. 

Pet stores are not equipped to do these treatments and as the stores are within the states, the wood they offer has to be pretreated in someway before it is sold to them. 

some comments 

Ed


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## amit (Sep 22, 2014)

Ed said:


> ...the wood they offer has to be pretreated in someway...


The question is: in what way?

If they boil or bake it, any hobbist can do it just as well.
(even if wood is a good insulator and has many cracks, after one hour in boiling water or oven, the temperature is uniformly distributed thru it)

If they use some unknown chemicals, should we trust it?


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## Woodswalker (Dec 26, 2014)

Here's something to consider about buying wood from pet stores. Some may have a bird or turtle or other shop animal that roams free, and who will leave droppings on unpackaged wood (I have seen this personally), or otherwise present a risk of cross-contamination. To the best of my knowledge, you can't sterilize wood, but you can engage in prevention at the point of purchase. 

As for cleaning wood collected from outdoors, there are even greater risks, and I would wager that the average hobbyist does not have the equipment to do nearly as thorough a job in treating it as the commercial industry. Proper kilns with temperature and humidity control, sandblasters, autoclaves, pressure treatment equipment, fumigation chambers, etc. The home versions of these things (save perhaps only for a sandblasting machine) can't even come close. 

That's not to say one shouldn't bother cleaning anything, but by starting with store purchased woods, much of the work is done for you, and done better than what you could do. Besides, what one might save in wood costs would be a pittance compared to the vet bills and stress due to a hitchhiking illness spread to the tank's residents via wild-collected wood. An ounce of prevention, they say...


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## amit (Sep 22, 2014)

Woodswalker said:


> ...treating it as the commercial industry. Proper kilns with temperature and humidity control, sandblasters, autoclaves, pressure treatment equipment, fumigation chambers, etc...


Is that how it is done?
I'm not saying it is not the way, I know absolutly nothing about the driftwood trade or industry, but it sure looks like alot of hassle for semi decayed lumps of decorative wood.


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## carnzayne (Jan 3, 2017)

Well there is a reason that a piece of driftwood at my local pet store is 25 or 30 bucks. For that cost I hope they are bought sanitized safe wood.


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## Ed (Sep 19, 2004)

amit said:


> Is that how it is done?
> I'm not saying it is not the way, I know absolutly nothing about the driftwood trade or industry, but it sure looks like alot of hassle for semi decayed lumps of decorative wood.


Your looking at it on the small scale, the companies that supply the stores are either doing it in large batches or are purchasing it from those that are doing it in large batches. Consider cork, before cork is allowed into the country it has to be dried and is generally treated with methyl bromide under some pressure to help with penetration of the fumigant. 

Pretty much all of the cork sold in the pet trade originates with only a couple of importers and the pet trade is small scale to their main market (think wine corks, bulletin boards .... )

some comments 

Ed


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## ice19d (Jan 17, 2017)

i believe the start by sand blasting the wood


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

Back in the day, when I was young and worked in the LPS of our little hamlet, we used Potassium Permanganate as a net dip, parasite treatment, and to disinfect driftwood. PP is a powerful oxidant and deadly to life in the wrong amounts, so I wouldn't post this without a link to an article on how to use it.
The strong purple (or brown, after a time) color will disappear once it completes reacting. This is now my preferred method of plant dis-infection as well. You must be able to measure and weigh ACCURATELY to do this, but I believe their are those out there that can. And if you're really motivated, you can find a way to do so.
This wiki link has a good list of procedures and dosages. It also has links in the citations area with more in depth information. Use the cached links, as some of these pages are old. PP is somewhat harder to obtain these days. I get mine at the local science/chemistry supply store, and 100 gr is about $10. That's a lot for this use. And once you have it you can do some fun chem tricks for the kids!
https://www.theaquariumwiki.com/Potassium_permanganate


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## amit (Sep 22, 2014)

Methyl Bromide
Potasium based substances
Other fumigates...

This is excatly what concerns me.

Once again, I'd like to stress the main issue:
How can we trust such products?


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## Ravage (Feb 5, 2016)

Sorry, Amit, I was just telling you how we did it in a Petshop. If you want a completely safe way to guarantee is is aseptic: then you need an autoclave, as mentioned in other threads. Or a large pressure cooker would work, if your piece will fit. 240° (at sea level) or 15 lb/in² for 30-60 minutes (depending on thickness/ density). This is just water at heat and pressure.
Another thing that did occur to me is, it would be possible to treat wood with irradiation. I don't know where you would do this, maybe an x-ray lab, or a commercial food irradiation device ( not sure how their food safety rules would like driftwood in the processing line?) but, it would work. It'd kill everything. There is no residual radiation, no chemicals, etc.
This would work well for a large scale operation, and be pretty economical post initial purchase of the "rig".


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## kimcmich (Jan 17, 2016)

@Amit,

The simplest answer to the general question "Can I trust a piece of driftwood from a petshop?" is 'Not until you've taken the time to ask the proprietor about the source' - even then, you'll likely need to do more research to ascertain what cleaning procedures actually went on. It is always possible, and perhaps more likely in smaller independent shops, that no special cleaning has occurred beyond a power-wash or a sand-blast. Read the label (the fact that the piece of wood has a label to read is a good sign  )

"Name brand" natural wood products from vivaria furnishing manufacturers are your safest bet if you want to be sure your wood has been effectively sanitized.

There are indeed federal, interstate and intrastate regulations about wood products - but there are also traffic fines for speeding. Neither prevent people from skirting procedures.

About the procedures themselves: The kiln-baking or autoclaving would degrade the wood some - but not pose any threat to future inhabitants. Fumigated wood that had been properly cured should also not have any of the fumigants left... but I personally would skip using wood that had been fumigated just to be sure since I'm not sure how long off-gassing might occur.


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