Everything Thrives But Marimo Moss Balls

What do I need to do to make my marimo balls healthy and nice bright green?
All my plans thrive, fish, snails, shrimps are all happy, just not my moss balls.
They are each half brown, although I keep rotating them so they get enough light. First, the light was on for about 10 hours a day, then I reduced it to 8. Still no help. Every few days they get a white-ish coat at the ends and become kind of slimy. So I started taking them out every few days and rinsing them. But they kept the brown-ish colour. So I thought maybe they didn't like it in the fish tank. Maybe it was too warm for them (77), or they didn't like the waste from fish on them, or it was too strong light. So I put them all in a fish bowl with fresh cold water, changing it every few days, washing them gently with clean water. They get only day light and a bit of light from the lamp in the room in the evening. They are still half brown though. When I change the water from bowl, it smells. Or more likely it smells after I squeeze the balls in the water.

What am I doing wrong? I already had to throw one away as it was turning black and falling apart. Now another fell apart but is still green inside so I tried to reshape it and left it in the bowl.

 

Where did you get them?

They don't look very round or heathy.
Do they feel like they are falling apart.
They could be poor quality I get mine from amazon from a company called luffy aquatics or something like that. Don't get them from a no name company.

 

Where did you get them?

They don't look very round or heathy.
Do they feel like they are falling apart.
They could be poor quality I get mine from amazon from a company called luffy aquatics or something like that. Don't get them from a no name company.

From Amazon too. Don't remember the name of the seller. Will have a look if the seller you mentioned sells in UK. I heard about fakes but don't really know how to recognise them.

 

4 LUFFY Marimo Moss Balls - Aesthetically Beautiful & Create Healthy Environment - Eco-Friendly, Low Maintenance & Curbs Algae Growth - Shrimps & Snails Love Them

This is the link for the ones I got. 2 separate orders few weeks apart. It's supposed to be a best seller.

 

4 LUFFY Marimo Moss Balls - Aesthetically Beautiful & Create Healthy Environment - Eco-Friendly, Low Maintenance & Curbs Algae Growth - Shrimps & Snails Love Them

This is the link for the ones I got. 2 separate orders few weeks apart. It's supposed to be a best seller.

That's the right company. But they are from a different distributor because I live in Canada. They don't really look like good quality ones. Maybe you might have one that comes apart but you just roll the halves by themselves and they grow like that. They shouldn't all be falling apart.

I don't think it'd anything your doing wrong. Mine are great and I do they same thing but I barely touch them and they get covered in poop and stuff.

I would try ordering them from a different company. There is another one called marimo pets I think. They are supposed to be good. See if you can get a refund. You should be able to contact the company and get your money back. I would especially if they all end up dying.

 

I find that mine get brownish in my tropical tanks that go over 75C, they definitely do better in cooler tanks.

 

try popping them in the fridge overnight. i've heard it helps. but yeah, they might not be the best quality. were they heat damaged at all when they were shipped? do they smell bad or turn the water in the bowl brown (especially when you squeeze them)? I had to return my recent order from aquatic arts because they got baked.

I ordered from luffy on amazon before and they did great in my 80 degree fahrenheit frog tank. I just squeezed them out once a week. they were very firm, very high density. one of them arrived with a couple of brown spots but after a few months they were both as green as ever.

 

try popping them in the fridge overnight. i've heard it helps. but yeah, they might not be the best quality. were they heat damaged at all when they were shipped? do they smell bad or turn the water in the bowl brown (especially when you squeeze them)? I had to return my recent order from aquatic arts because they got baked.

I ordered from luffy on amazon before and they did great in my 80 degree fahrenheit frog tank. I just squeezed them out once a week. they were very firm, very high density. one of them arrived with a couple of brown spots but after a few months they were both as green as ever.

This has been my experience too. Maybe you just got a bad batch

 

Yeah... so the Luffy ones aren’t good... at all... or at least they weren’t for me. Sorry about the bad moss balls you got! Try ordering from Aquatic Arts, I ordered their 5 B-Grade Moss balls just to try them out and because of their size (theirs come at about 2-2.5 in where others come at 1 in) and they were great! They actually look Grade A and they even threw in a couple extras so I actually got 7 instead of 5 and they’ve been going strong for the past 6 months without an issue (even with my lighting)