I have had a Java moss ball on my desk at work for well over a year (his name is Garth). The lights in the office are constantly on (even at night, as far as I'm aware), and there's no windows near my desk.
For the past 3 or 4 months, he's been struggling. Before that point, all I ever did was change his water every 1 to 2 weeks and occasionally gave him some shade. Then suddenly, he started to die, he was turning yellow and his "branches" started breaking off.
I got him some "fish fertilizer" (I thought it was fish fertilizer like, for fish, not made of mashed fish) which didn't seem to do much, and smelled too bad for an office setting.
Then I got him new fertilizer and a fancy grow light (see above), which worked well for about a month. I had the grow light on for 3 hours a day, at the lowest brightness. Then he started dying again.
I figured this was because of too much light, so I turned the grow light off, gave him some fertilizer, changed his water every week or so, and tried not to look too closely at him (I have been told java moss is very hardy and thrives on neglect). Well I came in today, and he was covered in black sludge that I'm assuming was either algae or bacteria. I took what parts of him weren't covered in it, tossed the rest, and put him back in his bowl with no anchor (also see above).
He's now floating at the top, and I have his light set back to being on for 6 hours a day to try and deter any more algae/bacteria growth.
So, what am I supposed to do here? I don't know if he's getting too much light, not enough, how much fertilizer he should get, if that's even the right one, etc. Everything I've seen online about caring for Java moss just says "it's basically indestructible, just leave it alone," which worked for a time, but not anymore. I also get the impression that people find it so easy to grow because it's in an active aquarium, which mine is not, nor will it ever be.
Posted by Neon_Chains
9 Comments
This is wild and I’m here for it
Java moss is low light, and use aquarium fertilizers i personally like using the brand thrive. For any updates you should take a picture of the potential algae/bacteria that was growing on it to help identify. Even just that could help with if its algae or something else then what approach to take.
I am unsure. Maybe the old growth has a limited life span and if it’s a ball the internal parts aren’t getting much light? Can you take off a piece and float it to see if you have new growth happening on the piece and maybe deduct from there?
Plants need time without light just as much as they need light to phtosynthesize.
They need darkness for crucial processes like respiration, energy storage, hormone regulation, and triggering flowering, acting as a vital counterpart to light for overall growth and development, not just rest. While light fuels photosynthesis, darkness allows them to convert stored energy, repair tissues, and synchronize with their circadian rhythms (internal clocks) to manage growth cycles and blooming, with many plants needing uninterrupted dark periods for specific functions.
So youre basically over working your plants and burning them out alive.
Just put a box over it when you leave the office so its in total darkness. And it needs to be on a stable schedule of dark to light periods. Itll probably recover. I dont think the light intensity during light hours will hurt it.
My experience with Java moss is the more you neglect it the better the outcome and it spreads like wildfire.
I had great results when the java moss is tied onto a piece of wood with a fishline.
I also used RO water for top-offs. As someone else mentioned aquarium liquid fert is great. Thrive+ from amazon has been pretty good to me.
Get him a rock or a stick it will start to go crazy. Java moss likes to climb not really go in a ball
Miracle grow liquid isn’t for aquatic plants. The chemical composition is different than what aquatics would need and is designed to penetrate soil, it’s going to burn aquatic plants. You would only use miracle grow as a brand for soil substrate not liquid fertilizer.
Get thrive fertilizer. Idk where you go the idea to use houseplant liquid fertilizer cause I can guarantee that’s playing a role in it’s death. Literally any fertilizer from a fish store is fine.
Your moss is probably dying from lack of nutrients, but it can still be saved. The fertilizer you have is meant for potted plants and not aquatic ones. If you want a recommendation, the fertilizer I use in my aquarium is seachem flourish (it’s like 10 buck for a bottle but the instructions are 5 ml per 60 gallons of water so it should last you forever since that cup would only need a few drops twice a week at most)
I’d keep using the light and not give it more than 8-10 hours a day because light also attracts the algae. Putting it in the closet when you leave should work great for the dark period.
I would keep up with water changes every one to two weeks still especially if you are using fertilizer. The minerals in the fertilizer and in the water will build up and start to kill the plant if you don’t.
Also it sounds weird, but stirring it every so often (especially right after adding fertilizer), will help make sure it doesn’t die. The stagnant water makes the middle brown and can promote algae growth.
Looks like you already got a lot of good advice. Wishing Garth a speedy recovery. 💕