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Re: Cedar/Cypress
>>
>>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.
Good point about the everglades... But remember that I said the cedar was
only toxic to certain types of *catfish* that I put in my tank. I also
kept tetras and rasboras, with a few blue rams, and noone else seemed to be
affected by the cedar. Now, I don't know what type of aquatic life is
found in the everglades, but I'm guessing that it's still possible for the
cypress to have some sort of toxin that may be poisonous to some fish
(especially tropicals). Mostly I'm basing this on the fact that I think
cypress and cedar and pine are all related, and are all considered soft
woods. Is that true? If not, and cypress could be considered a hard wood,
then I would think it would be allright.
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`/ \ ,/' Steve Robertson, GSRA
~\ ,/ UofM Radiation Laboratory
@, / http://www-personal.engin.umich.edu/~svr/
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