moss marimo balls

[superbsite]

Hi All

Have a couple of questions

Is it ok to do a Potassium permanganate dip to rid snails ?
I didnt do it thinking that its too sensitive and now my tanks slowly flooding with tiny pond snails that I keep crushing every day.

Part of one of my Moss balls looks like it has grey hair as if its rotting or shedding or dying. I'll upload a later to show you what I mean. What do I need to do to get it back on track.

Thanks

[Cliff]

I'm not a big fan of using stuff like potassium permanganate. Have you considered getting something to take care of the pest snails, like a assassin snail.

I have never had one, but from what I read a assassin snail will eat those unwated snails. And when he runs out of snails to eat, you can feed him sinking pellets. That might be a option to look into

Can't help with the moss balls. None of mine have ever done that.

[mermaidwannabe]

My mossballs have stayed a nice deep green. Do you have enough light in your tank? They don't require a bright light, but you do need some. Low to medium, at least.

How deep is your tank? The deeper it is, the less light penetrates to the bottom, where mossballs sit.

Do you have any salt in your tank? It could be, if you are using aquarium salt, that mossballs don't like that. My tank is strictly freshwater, and mine thrive (except that one has expanded and is beginning to fall apart, but still is a nice deep green).

Generally, you don't need to fertilize them, as the nitrates already in the tank are adequate. Now, if you have zero nitrates, then they might require some outside fertilization. Couldn't tell you what to use, as I have never needed to do it.

-- mermaidwannabe

[smaug]

Have you recently used excel or anf form of algae killer in your tank? If so the mossballs will die off from it. My wife has had one for about 6 months in a tank that has almost no light,its in her classroom and the light is only on for 8 hrs a day and its only a screw in 15 watt incan. For the snails,a 20% bleach dip for a few seconds kills snail spawn on new plants,just rinse after.

[boogernose]

Have you recently used excel or anf form of algae killer in your tank? If so the mossballs will die off from it.
Are you sure about this? I overdose Excel almost daily and have used a "plant-safe" aglaecide once without any ill effects on my moss ball.

[smaug]

How long have you done it? I got away with it for about 5 months. It happened to 3 different sets of marimos for me till we tried them in a tank with no excel use. That's the funny thing about stuff like this,excel seems to kill fish and some plants for some,and for others they could dump bleach in there tank and grow madagascar lace plants:hmm3grin2orange:

[dragoonwoman]

Lady Hobbs mentioned it in another thread. I tried it and it works VERY well, but it takes a day or two instead of just a few minutes. One to three tablespoons of alum in a container of water, add the plants and let soak. Alum can be found with the spices and baking needs.

Personally, I'm willing to wait a while to get rid of snails without harming my plants. I've done the bleach dip a couple of times and I always lost at least one plant, even with measuring the bleach carefully and watching the clock.

I have mini-marimo balls in my shrimp tank. I just turn them over every week and shuffle them around a bit, so they all get different sides exposed to light. The ones that have come apart on me, I've just rolled around in the palm of my hand to reform them into balls. Seems to work.

[boogernose]

How long have you done it? I got away with it for about 5 months. It happened to 3 different sets of marimos for me till we tried them in a tank with no excel use. That's the funny thing about stuff like this,excel seems to kill fish and some plants for some,and for others they could dump bleach in there tank and grow madagascar lace plants:hmm3grin2orange:
About 3 months so far. I'm going to keep adding Excel and see what happens to the moss ball after 5 months. I'm looking forward to this experiment. It's surprising because you'd think the moss ball would show signs of deterioration a lot sooner than 3 months, but mine hasn't.
And what's wrong with dumping bleach in the aquarium? My stingrays love a little bleach bath (just kidding, I don't have stingrays nor would I ever put bleach in an aquarium - especially one containing expensive stingrays!!). :ssuprised:

[smaug]

Experiments are cool. What dose excel do you use and what size tank is it?

[boogernose]

Experiments are cool. What dose excel do you use and what size tank is it?
75G tank and I dose enough for 100G 5 days a week. On water change days (once a week) I add the recommended dose on the bottle for large water changes. I recently flipped the moss ball over and there was a small brown spot the bottom, but it's only due to the fact that I haven't flipped it in a while. It's already starting to green back up only a day later. So far so good!

[newbie1]

Hi, I'm about to buy some Marimos from this store aquaticmoss.co.uk has anyone had any from them? If so where they good qual?