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Why You Have White Spots On Your Driftwood!

There has been a huge surge in the popularity of fish keeping over the last six months to a year with a large number of brand new fish keepers getting to experience this excellent hobby for the very first time.

With there being such a sudden influx of people new to keeping pet fish we have noticed a correlating surge of the number of questions we see beginners asking that a more seasoned fish keeper may overlook.

One of the more commonly asked questions that we have noticed people asking time and time again is about the white spots on their driftwood.

Many beginners instantly think that it is fungus starting to develop but in many cases, it is actually eggs being laid on your driftwood by nerite snails.

As we have seen so many people reaching out with questions about white spots on their driftwood recently, we have decided to publish this dedicated article on the topic.

Our hope is that we will be able to help as many of our readers as possible as a large number of people are starting to noticed these tiny white spots developing on the driftwood in their aquariums.

What Are The White Spots On Your Driftwood!

Most white spots on driftwood are actually nerite snail eggs rather than a fungus. Although it is unlikely that nerite snail eggs will actually hatch in a freshwater tank, it is still very common that a female nerite snail will lay her tiny white eggs on any driftwood in your tank leaving little white spots in the process.

Many people instantly dismiss nerite snail eggs as the cause of the white spots on their driftwood and other surfaces in their fish tank if they only have a single nerite snail in their tank but this does not matter.

A female is able to lay her eggs in an unfertilized state if needed so there is no need for a male nerite snail to be present.

A large number of people who are new to fish keeping seem to overlook the possibility of the white spots being eggs and instantly think that it will be fungus.

Although fungus can commonly grow on driftwood once it is first placed into your aquarium, this is generally short-lived and once your driftwood has been in place for a few weeks, the little white spots will almost always be nerite snail eggs.

Do You Have To Do Anything About The White Spots On Your Driftwood?

There is no need to do anything about the white spots on your driftwood. The fish, snails, and shrimp in your aquarium will eat the nerite snails as and when they find them with the little white spots just ending up as a part of the food chain of your tank.

Some nerite snails will even eat their own eggs, especially once they turn cloudy due to not being fertilized. Most of the more common fish species kept in aquariums will happily wolf down a nerite snail egg as quickly as possible though.

They are almost pure protein and jam-packed with vitamins and minerals making them a healthy snack.

If the nerite snail eggs have been fertilized then it is still very unlikely that the eggs will hatch into actual snails in freshwater.

Although it can happen in very rare situations, the vast majority of the time, your nerite snail eggs will need to be in brackish water to hatch so there is no need to worry about a potential snail infestation in your aquarium due to seeing so many white spots either.

How Can You Stop White Spots On Your Driftwood?

Due to the majority of white spots on your driftwood simply being nerite snail eggs, the easiest way to stop them is to remove the nerite snails from your tank.

Due to nerite snails being popular options for algae eaters for your tank, you may want to try and only keep male nerite snails to prevent the eggs from being laid.

It can be difficult to correctly identify if a nerite snail is male or female though and a single female nerite snail is able to lay a huge number of eggs.

In addition to this, the eggs are quickly eaten by the inhabitants of your aquarium anyway so they are usually gone within a day or two of being laid by the female nerite snail.

Some people do try to manually remove the eggs from their driftwood and other surfaces but the majority of the time, this is just too much time and effort for what it’s actually worth.

As we have covered in the article, it is rare that the white spots are fungus so there is usually nothing to worry about so most fish keepers just accept them.

Conclusion

That brings our article going over why you have white spots on your driftwood to an end. We hope that we have been able to help our readers realise that the majority of white spots on driftwood in an aquarium are just nerite snail eggs and they pose no threat to your tank at all. Most of the time, once people realise this, they simply let their fish eat the nerite snail eggs as they find them rather than trying to manually remove them.