ndrewtan wrote: ↑29 Mar 2023 10:15 Whoops super late reply!hi andrew,
I peeled my marrimo balls open and flattened them because I wanted more of a carpeting aesthetic, that's why they didn't look like balls.
However suddenly now after 2 years, my marrimos are dying. Some are turning white at the tips, and others are browning. Strangely, there is also this random sprout of algae (it has happened twice) sprouting out from the marrimos. I have no idea what they are. Feels like Chaeto, buy much thinner than the chaeto I used to have. Brittle and hard. Its weird though, this tank never had chaeto, and the only thing ever added to this tank in the past 2 years is RO bottled water and food pellets. Where did this chaeto come from? Is it even chaeto?
Tank conditions is still good though, I still have berrying females, and larvae turning to juvies.
It's november - how's the tank now?
i've had quite strong advice from my local breeder that marimos don't work in brackish. I threw mine out after a few months, just to be safe. From what i've heard
1. they slowly die out from the inside.
2. there are some people whose whole tank crashed due to the marimo rotting away slowly (turned to smelly slime).
There is also one website that state that "they are dead man walking".
I had hair algae start growing naturally, sprouting out of the marimo balls. Hair algae seems to suddenly grow naturally out in brackish water conditions, so that isn't a surprise to me when you say you had new algae sprouting out of your balls.
so, to be safe, i have no vegetation in my tanks other than those that grow naturally. I do have one small jar from a famous opae LFS here that has a marimo in it, though. That one i'm leaving it in, just to see what happens over time.
