Cedar/Cypress

To: Aquatic-Plants at actwin_com
Subject: Cedar/Cypress
From: olga at arts_ubc.ca
Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 16:35:16 -0700

>From: svr at eecs_umich.edu (Steve Robertson)
>Date: Wed, 22 May 1996 12:42:44 -0400
>Subject: Cypress Stump
>
>My conclusion is that there is some sort of toxin in the cedar wood that
>leaches into the water and is poisonous to various types of catfish.

Steve,

Your conclusion is correct. I assume that you haven't got a cat or a dog or
if you do you have no flea problems. Cedar shavings are a common filling
for pet beds because the oils and fumes drive fleas away. Cedar oils give
many people problems with rashes and itching and cats can be violently
allergic to it. Horses (which are often bedded on cedar chips here in the
Pacific Northwest) suffer reactions too. I'm not surprized that your fish
died. I'm not sure I'd be so leary of cypress. Isn't that an everglades,
swamp tree? If it were toxic there wouldn't be much aquatic life in the
water.

Olga
in Vancouver where it was nasty this morning but not bad now! :)