Did Oliver lay eggs? I'm so confused!

Help!

I'm freaking out a little about my tank... If these are Oliver's babies, then it's all good, but they don't look like eggs I've seen in pictures and Oli's still fat.... I tested the water and as far as I can tell all the levels are perfect, or not far enough from perfect to be a problem...

This stuff is only on my driftwood... The wood had steeped a bit in the water turning it brown, not murky or dirty looking, just not clean and clear, so today I was going to take it out and soak it in the tub and change some of the water to get it looking a bit nicer... I was told the brown water wouldn't hurt them at all.... I did clean off the driftwood as best I could before it even went in the tank.. I bought it at a big aquarium store in Ottawa... I figured it would be ok.... can anyone please tell me what's going on? Is this something I should tak out of the tank??

Sorry the photos aren't much good... I had a lot of trouble getting any of this white stuff...
Thanks!!!

I don't think that you have eggs here. You would see the egg itself (which should have a darkened pole) encased in a jelly coat which I don't see in the pictures.

My guess is that your driftwood piece is just growing a little fungus. Some organic material that is deep in the crevices of the log is providing food to fungus that probably came from spores that landed on the log sometime. I don't think it will be harmful, but it may be a good idea to take the log out and scrub off the fungus and boil it. That way when the fungus dies it won't pollute the tank and it will keep it from possibly spreading to some other surface and decomposing other objects in the aquarium. Boiling it will keep the fungus spores from germinating into new fungus and will also help leach out some tannins. Tannins are the compounds that discolor the tank water to that tea color I am sure you are familiar with.

Sorry, doesn't look like eggs. (As I recall Oliver is a Chinese firebelly - it is always helpful to tell your readers what species your newt is.) It looks to me like some kind of schmutz growing on the surface of the driftwood. I'd recommend taking the wood out of the tank and giving it a good scrubbing using a stiff brush (preferably a brush that has never been used with soap or anything nasty). Also, boiling it will get some of the brown color out, a bit more quickly than just soaking it.

Thanks for the quick replies! That driftwood is going straight in the tub for a scrub and a soak! I don't think it's going to get boiled though as is is much bigger than any pot I've got... I will scrub and rinse it extra and hopfully that will be good enough.....

Thanks again!

hmmmm.... hope I've done the right thing.... the driftwood is soaking in the tub in the hottest water possible.... then I re-read the post... the fungus was VERY jelly-like... I didn't see anything in the jelly though... it was white-ish clear maybe if they were eggs there was something wrong... I'll keep my eyes open for any of this stuff showing up elsewhere in the tank!