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Taking a page from the old-school method of the aquarium hobby (when all fish were caught in the local stream and aquariums were constructed by the hobbyist), I've decided to pluck some sunken wood from the local river and put it in my fishtank, rather than buy said wood from the LFS.

Now, of course the problem of sterilization comes up, however I have a few questions:

1. How necessary is sterilization? Isn't introducing a thriving biotope the point of bringing "natural" wood into one's tank?

2. Assuming the wood is waterlogged and found on the bottom of the river, do I have to worry about it leaching anything nasty into the water? That is, can I assume all of its sap is gone?

Some years back I brought a piece of wood back from the local river, and after a good rinsing, set it in my fish tank and my fish went nuts. Worms started popping out of that thing and the fish had a feast. No ill effects were had.

Any thoughts? Am I crazy?

How necessary is sterilization? Isn't introducing a thriving biotope the point of bringing "natural" wood into one's tank?

Sure, but unless you live in the tropics, the microorganisms you find on a piece of wood in a temperate stream/lake aren't the ones a tropical fish will encounter naturally, hence the greater risk of the two not hitting it off.

Assuming the wood is waterlogged and found on the bottom of the river, do I have to worry about it leaching anything nasty into the water? That is, can I assume all of its sap is gone?

Depends on the species of tree the wood came from. Some trees have particularly resinous wood that may sink, but still be full of resinous sap (which consist larrgely of non-water soluble compounds).

Well said.

I've often thought about importing fish-specific "soil" -- that is, river-bottom sediment -- from the exact locale of the fish. Logistically it's probably impossible, but from a theoretical standpoint it would work wonders for the specific species. Giving them what evolution worked on for countless millenia...

True enough.

That's the paradox of the so-called "natural" aquarium. We want the good stuff without the bad -- when, in fact, the bad stuff is just as much a part of nature as anything else.