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Moss stock collapse

1K views 9 replies 7 participants last post by  Betta132 
#1 ·
Can someone tell me what is happening with my mosses??
I have had similar collapses in other containers.
The mosses have been collected from a variety of sources, local, commercial and interstate.
This is the most obvious scenario that is happening in a few other tanks but the most obvious.
The moss sits on a drainage layer with a thin layer of general potting type soil, moist conditions and the lids opened once a week.
They sit on wire shelves with LED lights wired top and bottom (the bottom ones light the shelf below but create some warmth for the containers above.
Any idea, comments?
Thanks for any help.








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#2 ·
Are most of those temperate mosses? The biggest issue with those is that most species will stop growing when temps pass about 65F. In the wild many of them just sit there through the warm summer months, but in an enclosure they often decline and die.

Temperate mosses also require very clean water and good air circulation. In a terrarium they grow best on an almost sterile substrate such as straight perlite, shale gravel or charcoal.
 
#3 ·
Greetings,

Your issue could be a number of things. I agree with hydrophyte that the likely culprit is your selection of mosses being temperate species that cannot be grown indefinitely without seasonal variations in temperature and moisture that give the mosses a period of dormancy or semi-dormancy.

Temperate mosses will usually explode when first added to an always-moist and warm viv. As their growth period falls longer and longer out of synch with the typical seasonal cycle, however, they will become less regulated in their growth. This can mean losing their typical form, losing vigor and/or succumbing, as yours are, to fungal epidemics. Once a fungal epidemic establishes itself on a weaker colony, it can spread even to plants, like moss from tropical climates, that would otherwise be resistant to fungal attack.

I suggest giving your growth chambers more ventilation including letting the moss dry slightly (though not completely) from time to time. In the case of the large mold outbreak in your picture, I would suggest removal of the effected areas and a perimeter around them.

If you aren't using R/O or distilled to water your containers, the moss will decline eventually as salts and minerals build-up. This decline can be a precursor to a mold outbreak.
 
#4 ·
Thanks for the replies,

You are totally right and they did explode for 2-3 months before starting to decline.
Most of the mosses are collected from temperate to cool environments as i have no access to tropical mosses commercially or personally here in Australia, the market for this type of thing is very small.

The soils used as a base (zero ferts) matches the Ph levels to where i found them as i was careful to test and copy that and distilled water is all i use on all my tanks and grow containers.

I guess i was hoping that at least some of the mosses would be able to acclimatize to the different conditions so i could then transplant them to my display tanks.
Strangely, the Pin Cushion mosses has adapted the strongest and are actually thriving.

I do run computer fans in all my tanks so some venting in the grow containers makes sense and ill add some and see if any of the mosses do better.

If is fun searching and seeing what will work but it can also be pretty disheartening at times.
The trials continue, thanks for the input and advice!


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#7 ·
I would bet there are various bromeliad and orchid vendors in Australia with boatloads of tropical moss they don't like.
Exactly. Just get yourself some greenhouse weeds. Who cares if they're common? They're still mosses, if what you want is "just some nice live green mosses". The fact that they're opportunistic, early-successional species is a good thing for our purposes.

Note, there will likely still be a little variety among greenhouse weed mosses. If you can actually get inside a greenhouse, you will see various taxa:
  • on the substrate (probably gravel) under the benches,
  • on the benches themselves, especially if they are wooden benches,
  • on the soil surface of whatever potted plants are in there, and
  • on any wooden stakes or other supports for vines or epiphytes

Grab a little bit of everything, and see which ones like the inside of a vivarium.

Failing this - how about a roadtrip up top?

Good luck!
 
#10 ·
Most greenhouse owners will happily sell you (or give you) some of the random mosses that show up. Especially if you buy something else. And if it pops up in a greenhouse and does well enough to spread, it should do at least okay in your environment. Just grab a bunch of different ones and see which does best!
 
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