# Can I use a tree branch in my aquarium?



## Dollface (Sep 30, 2008)

Yes.


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## kvntran (Feb 16, 2008)

Vladdy,

below is your exact quote written two days before this post! so you have answered your own question even before posting!  Thanks for your thorough post, I was thinking about using eucalyptus, but I heard that eucalyptus has very high oil content, do you have any experience with it? 

You wrote:
"No. Brushwood is the term for using a piece of wood in an aquarium that's never been submerged in water before. Brushwood contains fungal spores and is prone to rotting when it is wet. If it is placed in the aquarium without treatment it will rot, and produce slimy bacterial blooms. Boil it for an hour or more before butting it in your aquarium. Do not use pine or softwood brushwood, because the sap is harmful to fish. All of the aromatic woods contain toxic, volatile oils known as Phenols. The best woods for the aquariums are from fruit bearing trees (apple, pear, cherry, walnut, oak etc), anything 'sappy' (ie pine, cedar, beech, maple, sycamore) have high contents of Phenols and are toxic to most life forms in some respect (it has been proven that pine/cedar shavings cause cancer and liver damage in rodents). That is why pine is used in furniture and cedar is used in mothballs. Make sure the wood is dead and not already rotting."
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/aquascaping/87166-can-i-use-any-piece-wood.html#post850094


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