Moss Balls Breaking up

[J Migidy]

I have a couple moss balls floating around in my 55 gallon. I've had them for about 2 months now. They say that moss balls don't require any special light or CO2. They also say that algae eating fish don't touch them. Well, two of my (moss) balls have turned lighter in color (parts have browned) and have begun to come apart. I have some brown dust looking algae that has formed on my swords but I'm not sure if that has anything to do with it? Anyone know what's happening? Any help would be great.

 

[SeanMurphy]

Personally, I'd probably throw them out and get new ones. They're pretty cheap. Or you can try pulling them apart, throwing away the brown bits and let the little bits grow into new baby moosballen.

 

[malkore]

that's one reason I never bought more than one marimo ball. even under high light with CO2 it fell apart or my fish would rip it up.

 

[NoSvOrAx]

How big were the moss balls? Been my experience once they reach a certain diameter, 2 to 3 inches, the light can no longer pentrate to the center. At this point the center start rot and that makes the ball get weak. The ball will then tear apart into little pieces which continue to grow into full sized balls. This is one of the ways they spread themselves. My largest moss ball just fell apart and it was about 3 inches and all the pieces are firm and growing well.