White Growth on Red Moore roots? Causes and a quick fix

Hello all,
was just reminded of one of my first "wtf"-moments of keeping fish. I had bought an expensive piece of 'driftwood', called Red Moore roots (AKA Spiderwood) and was thoroughly enjoying it.

The root, seconds before the fungus attack .-)

And then this weird, white growth appeared and crawled all over my pretty decoration.
Nasty, I thought and began panicking.
Today I know better and would love to share this with all of you :-).

Causes:
Apparently whenever a root that has been boiled or similarly treated is inserted into an aquarium, a species of marine fungus will take this as their chance to prosper. And when they prosper, they grow large enoguh that we can see the resulting white fussy and fluffy growth.
And good luck searching for the scientific name of this species of fungus. Each type of wood has its own particular species of marine fungus. And as marine fungi are among the worst investigated lifeforms on Earth, theres quite a good chance we shall never know the name of the redmoore eating fungus.

Solution:
Well, this is the easy part. If you are not in a hurry, then just let it be. Once your aquarium gets better established the inherent bacteria will triumph. Growing much quicker than the fungus, they will soon conqour the spot and eat the easily available nutrients that the root is leaking.
If you are in a hurry (or find the growth disgusting), all shrimps love the fungus, and quite a few catfish (and other types of fish) will also eat the growth. So either way nothing bad will happen - either it will disappear on its own, or it will provide free food for your aquarium :-).

This qoute (from an old defunct homepage) sates the above in better English :-):
Floridadriftwood
About Fungus

Sometimes when an enthusiast brings driftwood home, the temptation to boil it before adding it to their aquarium becomes too great to ignore. When they do this, they sterilize the wood and leave it vulnerable to fungal colonization. If this happens, do not panic! Two things to note:

1. This fungus is harmless to both fish and plants. In fact, many fish will seek it out to eat it. Yes, it looks unplesant but boiling the driftwood again and again to get rid of it is futile. This just restarts the cycle of colonization.

2. This fungus is temporary. Once the natural bacteria in your aquarium have a chance to get a foothold, they will colonize the driftwood and out compete the fungus. The fungus will then seem to disappear; almost overnight.


All the best,
Kasper