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Recently I went to the ridge area on a bird watching trip. Collected some pieces of fallen wood. Looked liked hard wood to me. A friend thought that it was Sheesham, although I am not sure because the surrounding area was populated by Kikar. So anyways I bought the wood pieces home, selected the best looking ones, discarded others. One particular nice looking piece I selected for aquascaping and started preparing it. I boiled it for 3 hours approx. with untreated salt. Then when it had cooled down placed it an an empty tank with water. It released a lot of tannins for the first 2 days but now it is has stopped releasing and has started to develop a slimy layer on it. A white mucus like substance. Although the wood is still very hard, it is starting to smell....like its rotting. Not sure what to do with the piece anymore. Will it require further boiling and salt treatment? Or it has started to rot and is not good for the tank anymore.
another thing, I am keeping the tank closed, because can mosquitoes breed in it. Could it be that the wood is rotting because it is in an enclosed container?

dont worry after 15 days its ready use

thank you for the clarification

Buddy no use boiling and drenching if you feel its rotting.

It was just not completely dried to the core I presume which is a must.

Lastly a pics of wood will talk more than what you can say.

hey thanks for replying saikumar, I checked it again today and it smells like yuck! The white slimy stuff is there too.
I will post pics later, my PC got fried recently.
Meanwhile, do you suggest, that I stop drenching it and dry it first?
It had soft black bark on it which I had removed before boiling it, but the inside was brown and solid.

Yes, dry it please. Also try taking a dig into the wood till core with a sharp object- which should not happen.
If the soft was bark, it probably wasnt fully dried.

Throw this wood away. It is of no use. Commercially sold driftwood is cured and sandblasted before it appears on store shelves.

From your description, its quite clear that the wood is not cured properly. If you put it in stagnant water, it will begin to rot immediately.

saikumar wrote:Yes, dry it please. Also try taking a dig into the wood till core with a sharp object- which should not happen.
If the soft was bark, it probably wasnt fully dried.

Hi again
Dried the wood in hot October sun for two days. Checked it today, it is rock solid. It can easily crack a skull, if I were to hit someone on the head with it.
Tried burrowing into it but it was tough enough to resist. I will let it dry some more, probably microwave it and then try soaking again.

apuda2010 wrote:Throw this wood away. It is of no use. Commercially sold driftwood is cured and sandblasted before it appears on store shelves.

From your description, its quite clear that the wood is not cured properly. If you put it in stagnant water, it will begin to rot immediately.

Hi apuda, I know the difference. I just needed to do this experiment because I come across many DIY driftwood articles on the web. Thought I will give it a try

saikumar wrote:Yes, dry it please. Also try taking a dig into the wood till core with a sharp object- which should not happen.
If the soft was bark, it probably wasnt fully dried.

followed your method, wood is fine now, stopped releasing tannins\ stinking

Another question I had in mind. Does a driftwood that has stopped releasing tannins will still acidify water?

If the wood is cured completely it will never acidify the water, thats my understanding, it should be inert by then.