moss ball question

[lornajane89]

Hi guys i had 3 moss balls from petsmart a while ago. Occasionally i see pale shoots coming out of them. Is this them trying to spread?. I would like this. A shoot came out of my smallests one so i anchored it to a piece of mopani hoping i could get it to cover it but it never took off. Can it grow on wood? If not what will in spread on or how does it reproduce?

Thanks

 

[Gboy66]

Hi guys i had 3 moss balls from petsmart a while ago. Occasionally i see pale shoots coming out of them. Is this them trying to spread?. I would like this. A shoot came out of my smallests one so i anchored it to a piece of mopani hoping i could get it to cover it but it never took off. Can it grow on wood? If not what will in spread on or how does it reproduce?

Thanks

I dont think moss balls grow out, just get bushier and fatter. I also havent heard of them spreading on wood, the best thing for you would be java moss

 

[aqua_chem]

Moss balls are algae, specifically a type of cladophora. They are basically a small colony of independent micro-organisms. That means that they do not generally form structures like plants do. IMO, it's possible that you have some sort of hitchhiker plant in your moss ball.

 

[lornajane89]

Thanks for the info. Could b possible, definatley on 2 occasions had an odd pale green quite stiff plant like thing growing out of it. Always dissappeared after a few days. I just read that u just tear odd lumps off to multiply.

 

[blert]

... I just read that u just tear odd lumps off to multiply.

Really? That true?

 

[Discusapisto]

The petsmart in my area sells marimo moss balls in Betta cups and all of them have bladderwort stuck to them most likely is growing at the nursery or farm where the moss balls are being cultivated/grown. Bladderwort is a thin parasitic type of plant it's closely related to those pitcher plants you see trapping bugs it gets into everything. I had some get into my flame moss and ruin it with it's growth. It's stringy green with little bladders spaced along the stringy stalks I hate it.

 

[aqua_chem]

The petsmart in my area sells marimo moss balls in Betta cups and all of them have bladderwort stuck to them most likely is growing at the nursery or farm where the moss balls are being cultivated/grown. Bladderwort is a thin parasitic type of plant it's closely related to those pitcher plants you see trapping bugs it gets into everything. I had some get into my flame moss and ruin it with it's growth. It's stringy green with little bladders spaced along the stringy stalks I hate it.

In addition to bladder wort, I've also heard if or seen glosso, HC, and HM piggybacked like this. If it looks like little beads on a thread, its bladder wort.

 

[lornajane89]

Yeah it does usually have a rounded tip on the end. To b honest i havent noticed them for a while so maybe it died it doesnt seem to be affecting the growth of the moss ball.

Apparently i just wait for a bulging part of my moss ball to stick out like a growth and carefully pull it off. Ive also read cutting them in half doesnt hurt them but the will obviously lose there shape untill it regrows properly.

Thanks for the info guys very helpful.

Dean