Java Moss - Alive or Dead?

christine

christine

AC Members
Aug 16, 2004
15
0
0
Arizona
Hello All!

I'm sorry if this is a stupid question, but I recently ordered Java Moss and when I received it, it didn't look too good. Most of it was brown with hints of dark green here and there. It's been attached to a large piece of driftwood in my tank for roughly six days now and only one small area of it is starting to turn a nice green. Is it alive? Should I yank the brown stuff out?

I have 10 Val spiralis plants which are doing great (5 are shooting runners) and 2 Anubias coffeefolia which are doing great too.

This is my current set up:
36 gallon All-Glass Bow Front
Rena Filstar XP1
Play Sand Substrate
150 watt Rena Heater (not needed at present)
2 20 watt daylight lights and lots of indirect sunlight from 10am - 4pm
Lake driftwood and river rocks

Thanks!
Christine :0)
 
I forgot to mention that I am at the end of a long fishless cycle and my nitrites have been at zero now for two days, but the ammonia won't drop to zero.

Test results tonight:
Ammonia - 2ppm (dropped from 3.5ppm 24 hours ago)
NitrItes - 0ppm
NitrAtes - 30ppm
pH - 8.0

Thanks for any help!
Christine :0)
 
java moss alive!

The teeny bits of green in the java moss are alive and will grow out quite nicely. I started with a very tiny bit of java moss and now it's a deep green, softball-sized clump that serves as a nice meal area for my shrimp friends. Java moss is a low light plant and does pretty well in most water conditions. I'm not sure how dead the brown parts are but I would imagine that it's best to remove it. You don't want it rotting away and degrading the quality of your water, especially after you're done with your fishless cycling and add fish. Best of luck!
 
Thanks for the info, Richy, I appreciate you taking the time to reply.


Christine :0)
 
I agree. In high light my java moss seems to get hair algae in it.

IN areas of my tank with poor water circulation, it tends to get cynobacteria. Does well at the bottom of a low light tank.

Bob
 
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