I don't think my java moss is doing well

[An t-iasg]

I have some java moss in my 5 gallon betta tank. It's in a plastic soap dish, near the water surface, to make a little "betta bed". The moss is turning brown -- there are big brown clumps throughout the moss clump.

Could lack of water flow thru the moss be a problem? The tank doesn't have much of a water flow. The soap dish has holes in the bottom, so the moss isn't just lying in the dish with stagnant water below it. I use Flourish Excel every other day, and Flourish twice a week. The dosage is .5 cc of each.

Lighting is a 15-watt Penn Plax bulb. It's angled so that it covers both 5 gallon tanks. (tanks are in an L-shape; bulb is over both tanks, almost like a triangle or letter "A".) I don't have CO2.

The crypt was doing quite well. It's actually gotten too big for this tank. The roots are spread throughout the tank, so no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't avoid them with the gravel vac. It's gotten quite a bit of melt now. I may take it back and try an anubias nana.

Back to the java moss -- the other thing that concerns me is that the nitrate level has been 0 for awhile now. Do I need to buy nitrate to dose? Can I buy just a little for the 5 gallon tanks? I don't need it by the pound, do I?

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[malkore]

java moss is something I've never kept...so all my comments will be very general.

is the moss itself turning brown, or is there some kind of thin algae/diatoms growing on it?
Is the 15watt bulb a fluorescent? It sounds like it would be (like a 10gallon hood over the 2 5gallons at an angle)...that should be enough light.

0 nitrate is a little odd...but then again if you have a single betta in there, it's unlikely nitrates will get high enough to register, unless you never clean the tank (and I doubt you practice bad tank husbandry).

I'd suggest removing the soap dish first, give the moss some room to spread...it may be choking itself out. You could try dosing a little Flourish nitrogen.

As for planted tanks with crypts and a single betta, I don't think it'll be dirty enough to need a gravel vac'ing, so I'd stop that, especially if the crypt is putting out a lot of roots. The crypt will soon put up new plants, and a tank full of crypts looks great. I'd give it some time. I've not really like'd the nana's I've kept.

 

[PK Tester]

I'd free the java moss...

Some javamoss just doesn't do great.

Where did you obtain it from?

As malkor said the best idea is to let it float...odd that it isn't doing too well.

Tell us what ends up happening!

 

[BrianNY]

I think it may actually be too much light for the Java moss. Try moving it out from under the direct lighting and I'd bet it perks up.

 

[An t-iasg]

Thanks, everyone...I have picked out the brown areas and they were all tightly clumped together. I guess the moss did grow in the soap dish (I just thought it wouldn't really grow fast) so I will pay more attention to that from now on. I risk being bitten by the betta if I remove the moss! The lighting is a flourescent light. I don't know the color temp but it's a bluish light rather than bright white. Brian, the moss is on the ends of each tank, and the light slants from the middle of one tank to the middle of the other tank. So the moss isn't right under the light, but the whole tank is still illluminated. I have a large silk plant that I will try to shade the moss with a little bit. I have to move the silk plant anyway so I can add the new crypts. The light is about 5 inches above the tanks.

PK Tester, I got the moss and the crypt at the hatchery I go to: www.alloddballaquatics.com This is where I got my bettas and other things like food and plant fertilizers. I'll pick up some Flourish Nitrogen also. I will plan to go on Friday. I'll get some more crypts. I do like how they look and the betta loves hiding under it -- it's like a big betta umbrella. The moss came from a huge clump that was pearling. The hatchery doesn't have anubias nanas. They said it isn't a big seller.

Malkore, I saw on your website that you have a 5 gallon planted betta tank. I'd like to see the pics when they are up! For a long time, as I was gravel-vaccing, I noticed that there was really no waste coming out of the gravel. I'll arrange the old and new crypts once more and then I won't use the vac directly on the gravel again.

About the nitrates -- I used to have just a strip test kit. It always said 20 ppm, which I thought was high with just one betta. When I got the plants, I got a reagent kit and it said 0 ppm. I thought that what little nitrates were there were being used up by the crypt and the moss and that's why I thought I may need a little more. I'll test for the nitrates as I use the Flourish Nitrogen. I don't want the nitrates to raise too fast or high for the betta. I'm sure they won't get too high with a low dose of fertilizer.

 

[BASSNMAN]

With a light fish load and small tank, only a few plants can use up the nutrients in your tank. Check out www.gregwatson.com for some good info on plant care. As you found, test strips are not worth much. My LFS uses them, so as an experiment, I took some botled water in and had them test it. They said my nitrates were high. What can I say.

 

[An t-iasg]

Hi Bassnman,
Yes, I'm probably limited to only java moss, java fern (which I've never seen a really nice one), and the anubias or crypt species in this tank. But as soon as I stop disturbing the crypt, I hope it will look nice again. I didn't realize that even a gravel vac was too much for it to handle.

That's funny about your lfs! If they only knew it was bottled water! 8O