# Java Moss Turned Brown



## thedood (May 30, 2015)

Trying to figure out why my moss wall has turned brown. I had a small piece on the gravel, a trimming just laying there, that is nice and green. This is a new tank with no fauna other than a few snails. Flora is two Aponogeton Unulatus, several rotala rotundafolia, a Crypt wendtii that is returning from the dead, and a couple of small java fern. This is a 20h with two 18" 15 watt ge daylight t8 tubes That said here are my questions and thoughts:

1) If the issue is nutrient related then why is the piece on the bottom still green yet none of the moss on the wall is green?
2) If the issue is light related why is none of the wall green? One would think some of the moss would be getting sufficient light.
3) This crypt is recovering from a complete meltdown and hasnt died, the aponogenton started off as bulbs and has sprouted, is flowering, and has created several new leaves. This leads me to believe water parameters are fine.

Here is what I plan on doing immediately
1) Water change
2) Flourish root tabs 
3) Flourish
4) Glut

Any chance this moss will recover or does brown = dead?


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

1) Because the toxic thing did not reach the bottom or because at the bottom you have a slightly higher nutrient level leaching
2) unlikely light related
3) different plants, mosses are non-vascular plants so easily impacted by whatever is in water.

Any chance this moss will recover or does brown = dead?

Depends on the strength of damage, in general you will see small green buds. 

Did you dose glutaraldehyde ? Do you low-dose your nutrients ?


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## Seattle_Aquarist (Jun 15, 2008)

> 4) Glut
> 
> Any chance this moss will recover or does brown = dead?


Hi thedood,

It may be that the tank was going through the nitrogen cycle and the ammonia levels became so high as to kill off the moss, if some of it is still green it may recover but not if you dose Glut. I have killed off more moss with glut/Excel than I would care to admit - granted I was dosing normal 'Initial' dose but 2X daily dose when that occurred.


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## thedood (May 30, 2015)

I guess the wall is dead then. I have been dosing glut. There is no green. First time I have ever killed anything with glut. I will dose for now as stated and stop the glut. If it doesnt come back I will pull the wall and start over. I will leave the piece that is sitting free on the bottom and let it go. A lot of work went into that rock wall. Oh well lesson learned and thanks.


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

thedood said:


> I guess the wall is dead then. I have been dosing glut. There is no green. First time I have ever killed anything with glut. I will dose for now as stated and stop the glut. If it doesnt come back I will pull the wall and start over. I will leave the piece that is sitting free on the bottom and let it go. A lot of work went into that rock wall. Oh well lesson learned and thanks.


keep it in place for now, in about 2 weeks you should see some green new growth if it is still alive


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## thedood (May 30, 2015)

dukydaf said:


> keep it in place for now, in about 2 weeks you should see some green new growth if it is still alive


But if it isnt then wont the rotting moss be leaving crap in the tank?


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## dukydaf (Dec 27, 2004)

thedood said:


> But if it isnt then wont the rotting moss be leaving crap in the tank?


well the most nutritious stuff already left the moss cells when it turned brown. All that is left is the cell wall for the cells in the leaves and hopefully a living "stem". So not that much crap to be released and will not rot that fast. Still you may want to reduce its quantity or put it in another vessel with a good light source.


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## thedood (May 30, 2015)

Thanks for the replies. I have put the moss back in. We will see what happens. Not all is lost if it does die/is dead. I have some more small pieces and can build a new wall.


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