what's up with my marimo?

[registereduser]

It's in an extremely low light tank.
Is it growing?
How should I "mold" it .......
I'm thinking just roll it around in my hands?
The other one isn't growing as much.

[Cez]

What a strange moss ball you have there! Are we sure it's not another type of algae taking it over?

[registereduser]

I'm pretty sure, I haven't touched it yet, tho.
I was hoping someone has had the same experience

[Bsalem05]

Heard you have to wash and squeeze them out once in a while .. like a sponge.

[Cez]

Originally Posted by Bsalem05

Heard you have to wash and squeeze them out once in a while .. like a sponge.

Mmm, you do! Just squeeze them gently a couple of times in old tank water during a water change and it'll do the trick. If they don't get much current they'll need to be manually rolled about, too. But this doesn't seem to be a problem stemming from either of those points.

Hopefully somebody here has some experience with this type of growth!

[aokashi]

some say that if you see rapid growth it's another type of algae. i dunno. marimo actually comes from fairly dimly lit cool water environments and is itself a type of algae.

[paloverde]

All of the above, you squeeze him in tank water, then you gently roll him as though he was a little green meat ball. That is what they look like when they are growing but not rolling and bouncing.

[registereduser]

Thank you all, I kind of like the way it looks with the wild hairdo but I plan to roll it around and see what happens

[OrangeAugust]

Ew, it looks creepy. I wouldn't want to touch it. lol

[JackisLost]

i think these require high light or direct sunlight. i never had success with it in my tank, i have medium strong LED 7000k. when i put it in direct sunlight directly in front of the window, it floats and makes bubbles. i don't need to form it. at night it sinks and stays still. pretty neat.