# Marimo Moss Balls



## Caliban (Oct 12, 2010)

So I decided to get three 1.5" moss balls from http://plantedaquariumscentral.com/ for my 10 gallon, filtered tank. It only has fake plants at the moment. Does anyone have these? Any hints or warnings?


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## Waterbottle2 (Sep 8, 2010)

I have one and I can say you chose great!
Marimo moss balls are pretty easy to take care of and help clean up waste
They dont need alot of light the only maintenance you do one them is turn them over once in a while so they dont get brown spots on their bottoms.
I've heard you can also take them out and squeeze the water out and stuff out of em during water changes but dont quote me on that


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## Caliban (Oct 12, 2010)

Thanks! I may see if the local petsmart has them to save the $15 on shipping. Yikes!


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## sunnymui (Sep 24, 2010)

Yep you can squeeze them out to clean them.

Mine have got some brown spots on them, from where food has landed on it, and my fish has "ummed and ahhed" about whether to eat it or not.

I take mine out every so often for 1-2 days in clean water, and put them in a jar somewhere sunny, as I realised they weren't getting enough light. 

When you first put them into your tank, they may float, you can weigh them down with a stone, or just let them sink naturally. My fish loves 'nudging' them and darting off when they're floating!


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## Caliban (Oct 12, 2010)

I'm getting so excited about these things. They sound perfect: low maintenance and entertaining. PetSmart didn't have them (maybe for the best), but the $15 shipping is still killing me. I may try PetCo before I pay it.


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## Posaune (Sep 17, 2010)

Suppose you've gotta think about the actual price too. I think the petco in my area charges $6-8 per ball (I bought a flat thing of moss, ten bucks x.x) but it's still living


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## wallywestisthebest333 (Nov 30, 2009)

Caliban said:


> I'm getting so excited about these things. They sound perfect: low maintenance and entertaining.


BAHAHA!!!!!!!! XD I LOVE that quote! =P

Yeah marimo moss balls sound awesome! =] My petstore back home didn't have them but I'm hoping one up near my college does! =]


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## Caliban (Oct 12, 2010)

I dished out the cash at the good plant place (link up top). I also bought a piece of driftwood covered in another, supposedly, low maintenance moss. My water tends to have a high pH and I've heard driftwood can help with that. I'll cross my fingers. Anyone know about the best way to introduce moss like this? Should I worry about it damaging my betta?


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## TigerLily (Sep 17, 2009)

I have one in my tank as well. I looked them up on a few sites before buying them and from what I saw they sounded great.

I do take my marimo out when I do water changes and give it a quick squeeze in some spare tank water before putting it back and rotating it. It appears to be doing pretty well, and Twinkle seems to love it.


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## Adastra (Jun 18, 2010)

It's probably better that you decided to buy from Heather, the ones at the pet store are usually borderline dead due to lack of light. The ones you get from her should be much better quality. 

I don't use marimo balls because I dose all my tanks with Seachem Excel. Excel promotes rapid plant growth but suppresses algae--because marimo balls are actually a type of algae rather than moss, I would not use Excel with them.


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## Caliban (Oct 12, 2010)

Should I worry about disinfecting these when I get them, or are her plants pretty safe?


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## sunnymui (Sep 24, 2010)

I didn't get mine from Heather, but I put them in a jar with some clean water over a week with 2 water changes (just in case, or that I'm paranoid!)


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## Lion Mom (Jun 14, 2010)

Caliban said:


> Should I worry about disinfecting these when I get them, or are her plants pretty safe?


IMO/E, Heather's plants are safe. I have had multiple orders from her and never had a problem. :-D


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## Jupiter (Aug 30, 2009)

I got one recently too, a pet store at the mall started carrying them. Neither Gemma nor my new boys pays any attention to it! They do look really neat though, and they're very hardy.


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## scootshoot (Oct 11, 2010)

Caliban said:


> Thanks! I may see if the local petsmart has them to save the $15 on shipping. Yikes!


Pretty common for Petsmart to carry these. They usually won't place these in plant only tanks, look for them in fish community tanks.


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## Caliban (Oct 12, 2010)

Got my mossy driftwood and moss balls today from http://www.plantedaquariumscentral.com Fantastic! I don't mind paying a little bit more for some peace of mind. Caliban seems very curious about both. The driftwood gives him another hidie fort, which he seems to appreciate, and I think I saw him "gardening" only a few minutes after putting the plants in as he was nudging a piece of gravel that was on top of one of his decorations around with is nose. The moss balls are adorable. I was a bit skeptical about the idea of a ball of algae doubling as a pet for some people, but now I kinda' get it. I would highly recommend both the moss balls and the website.


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