# White Spots on Marimo Moss Ball?



## NoahG (Oct 24, 2011)

Last week (Wednesday) I finally got a fish and a tank set up -- just a 2.5-gallon for now as I don't have enough plants yet to get my 10-gallon going (will be ordering online soon enough). I also bought a moss ball to put in there and I noticed a while ago (not sure exactly what day, can't keep them straight to be honest) that it had a couple white spots on it...

The set up is this: small stones on the bottom of the tank, a couple of larger rocks as decoration, a couple of silk plants, a small ship ornament, and now a few stems of anacharis. There's also a heater, of course, and a thermometer -- and a plastic thing from a milk bottle cap because the little guy likes to swim around it sometimes. The water is treated with Prime and Stress Coat+ and stays consistently at 80ºF; I did a 50% water change Sunday and a 100% this past Wednesday, and I'll do another 50% tomorrow. Everything was rinsed thoroughly in hot water before adding to the tank, and I did the same before putting it all back together after the 100% water change.

Okay, that's all the "background" (I've been trying to get pics of the betta, but, well, I'm horrible at that). My question is...what could these white spots be?

They're only on the moss ball and there seem to be more recently (since adding the anacharis). It looks like individual strands are white. I did a quick search online and didn't find anything about spots on the moss ball itself, and I figured any key words would pop up too much on here to help me find any info.

Thanks in advance, and if pictures would be helpful let me know -- I think I should be able to get a decent picture of the moss ball at least...hopefully.


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## Kytkattin (May 15, 2011)

It sounds like it could be eggs... They might even be the kind that don't hatch though... A picture would help someone more knowledgeable than me help you out for sure!


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## NoahG (Oct 24, 2011)

Thanks, Kyt -- I...sort of...managed to get a picture. The uploaded version will look grainy because I had to sharpen it (apparently I'm more abysmal at taking photos than I had thought).










Later that day I ended up down in that area again so I stopped in at Petco to see what plants they had, check their fish, and I decided to ask the guy working in fish there. His only ideas were water conditions or a lack of nutrients, the latter of which had come to my mind as well. I decided to hold off on getting liquid ferts there though.

Now, I should have done a partial water change yesterday but never got the chance and looking at the ball now it seems to have colored up. So maybe that's it? Especially after adding the few sprigs of anacharis?

I'm doing a water test now to see where my levels are at...just a theory I'm throwing out in the meantime.


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