Got lots of plants doing well in my tank but my java moss has just turned kind of brown and seems to be dead or dying. It was never really healthy but in the last four weeks or so it seems to be getting worse. Any ideas? My tank is very "peaty" if that makes a difference. I have a substrate of peat, covered by soil, covered by sand. I don't run CO2 but as I said all the other plants seem to be fine. I REALLY want some java moss or something similar to grow on my root system.
Here is a bad picture of the set up as it was a few weeks ago.
I'll try to post some better pictures tomorrow after the lights come on.
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I can't even really see moss in the pic :)
In a new planted tank.. diatoms tend to collect a lot on java moss. Once you go through your diatom bloom, everything should manage itself.
As well, I see no moss. I do see one thing that you are doing that is working against your plant idea. The bubbler there. I have none in any tank. What happens with the bubbler is that it takes the C02 out of the water too quickly and basically starves the plants of the one necessity they need lots of. Take that and use it only if you get an algae bloom someday.
Jeffrey...
I guess the java moss is just left of center all the way in the back?
I don't think it matters if you run an air bubbler unless you are using CO2. Maybe dose some excel?
Irene
Quote from: irene on September 18, 2007, 08:07:51 AM
Maybe dose some excel?
Nee ;) just give it some time, moss is slow growing anyway and Brines tank doenst look like it as much lighting. I wouldnt use Excel at this point, there are not too many plants. Also Java Moos is quite sensitive: i have seen Excel actually killing the moos just as it does with algae.
One thing to try - in addition to show patients waiting for the diatoms to disappear - is planting a bit of moos higher up in the tank on the woods. This gives them more light and also looks great.
Very cool looking set-up! I love the branches descending from the top!
I think the tank is just too cloudy right now. If you take the Java moss our and give it a rinse, then put it in a vase or container until your tank clears, it should do much better. It doesn't need much light, but it hates debris, and by the looks of it, you have a lot of it right now.
Quote from: fischkopp on September 18, 2007, 10:05:15 AM
One thing to try - in addition to show patients waiting for the diatoms to disappear - is planting a bit of moos higher up in the tank on the woods. This gives them more light and also looks great.
Ya the hanging moss look can be very nice if done well.
Excellent advice so far...keep it coming. Here are some pics I took just now. The other one was a few weeks old. In the one shot you can see the moss looking kinda brown and some of the water sprite I got from Dave looking very green. The other shot is just an overall view. I really want to cover some of that root system in the top right with moss. I am going to take it out, rinse it and keep it aside for a while in a tank of its own to see if that helps it come back some. The other plants seem to be doing fine (thanks Charlie, Jody and Dave) I think I'd like to get some ground cover for the foreground eventually too.
Any other suggestions or hints would be appreciated. Thanks everyone.
Brian
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Best suggestion is to come to the meeting next week if you live close enough and check out the mini auction, likely going to be tons of plants for sale.
Oh I'll be there for sure....I love that mini auction ...and the cookies too!!
for some reason the overall shot did not upload. I'll try again here.
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How did you treat those branches again? I seem to remember another thread about it. I would like to try something similar in my new tank.
I was about to ask the same thing - I love the 'root look'. I just found your other thread where you mentioned they are 'curly willow'. At the time you thought they were leaching something into the water - any advice you can provide?
I have found that Java moss can go into a bit of shock when moved from one tank to another, but eventually bounces back. For me, it has never thrived in warmer tanks (80s).
The only "treatment" I gave the curly willow was to cap the top ends with wax so that they did not start to sprout or draw water up and out of the tank. As for the leaching they are not doing it now but they did for the first week or so. They seemed to leach some kind of substance that appeared "jell" like. This eventually came loose and migrated to the filter media which I have since changed. It was just a crap shoot whether these roots would work or not but everything seems to be fine with the exception of the moss which I have taken out of the tank. I rinsed it and found it was very tightly packed so I have gently taken it apart and now it is in a vase by itself. Hopefully it will bounce back and I will return it to the tank in a few days or a week. I also noticed that when I changed the media I neglected to replace the finer floss like material which would explain the particulate matter in my tank. I replaced that floss today and dosed the tank with aqua-clear in hopes of cleaning up the finer particulate. Stay tuned.
I really do like the look of the curly willow so I hope this will all be resolved without having to remove it. There are two ottocats and one pleco who have been feeding off the willow with no obvious ill effects. They have been in the tank for weeks now.