Marimo algae balls… what are these steel wool, of the plant world, and how do they fit in our aquariums???

I have a bunch of them, and looked at their history, a little before making my “Stargate” topiary… well my adult Tin Foil barbs have pretty much destroyed it over the last year… the balls are in essence, a wirery kind of hair algae, that are rolled into balls… I believe it’s a natural effect in one or two areas, where they were 1st encountered… but suspect any that are currently sold in markets like Amazon, are hand rolled… as my Tin Foils have ripped them from the wire used to make my topiary, I have hand rolled them myself, and reinstalled them…

While they are alive, their nutritional needs must be next to nill, as they are traditionally kept in glass containers by themselves for generations, without fish or added fertilizers…

So they are a unique tank ornament for critters to crawl on, but aside from providing roughage to the diet of larger fishes ( they don’t appear digestible ) I don’t think they serve any purpose in an aquarium… oxygen output, or nutritional use are next to nothing, as their growth rate is extremely slow…

Anyone have anymore information or insight on Marimo algae balls???

There was a David Attenborough documentary on plants a couple of years ago and one episode had freshwater plants and showed Marimo moss balls in the wild. They naturally grow in a ball shape and slowly turn by themselves throughout the day so every part of the ball gets sunlight. They use nutrients and light and produce oxygen in return. They are slow growing but if you have fish that eat them, you won't see any growth.

Colin_T said:

There was a David Attenborough documentary on plants a couple of years ago and one episode had freshwater plants and showed Marimo moss balls in the wild. They naturally grow in a ball shape and slowly turn by themselves throughout the day so every part of the ball gets sunlight. They use nutrients and light and produce oxygen in return. They are slow growing but if you have fish that eat them, you won't see any growth.

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I saw that documentary and it was interesting about the algae balls . They’re almost a thinking plant if that’s possible .

In the aquarium, I see them as decorations - not adding anything unless you like them. As for thinking plants, I recently saw an interview with Robert Plant, and he was pretty articulate.

All along the roadsides in Gabon we had to cross big patches of sensitive mimosas, the little plant that folds up its leaves on contact. That says nervous system of some sort. It's a real can of worms when you start looking at these things - there's intriguing data coming in from research, and it really shakes up a lot of what I think. I suspect it would do that to a lot of people.

my understanding, on the Marimo balls, was it was tides, or winds in that area, that rolled the algae into balls... they do not "self turn" in the glass jars / bowls they are traditionally kept in... they do swim up & down in my tanks, in the bubble waterfalls, if you want to believe that... not saying that some plants don't react to touch, and that the Marimo algae isn't an unusual plant...

@Colin_T ... was it green planet 2022???

Magnum Man said:

@Colin_T ... was it green planet 2022???

The 15 best David Attenborough documentaries

Fantastic beasts – and where to stream them

www.timeout.com

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I think it was Green Planet . It was a three part series . One of the three had a giant water lily coming up from the bottom and unfurling at the surface and pushing other floating plants out of its way . That David Attenborough guy has the best nature shows ever . The legendary Marlin Perkins pales in his shadow .

https://www.dfw.state.or.us/news/2024/08_Aug/080924b.asp The state of Oregon has an issue with these. They are a source of Zebra Mussels an invasive species in North America.

I used to have these and I think that magnum man may be right in that many for sale on the web are, I suspect, not true Marimo moss balls and are just rolled up hair algae. I am still suffering the legacy of this in the tank I kept them in as I’ve got quite a bit of hair algae. I know there could be lots of reasons for this but I have two 5 gals which are pretty much identical (same water parameters, same stocking level, same substrate, same filters, same temp, same planting level, same fert and water change regimen, same lighting) one has no algae, the one I had Marimo balls in has lots of hair algae. Am gradually combatting it with an hour less light and two amano shrimp. Anyhoo, mine grew pretty quickly actually and I was quite often cutting them in half to keep them under control.

mine seem to be the real deal, as far as the algae type... & do get bigger, but get less dense... so assuming they just loosen up, and actually grow slowly...

Magnum Man said:

@Colin_T ... was it green planet 2022???

The 15 best David Attenborough documentaries

Fantastic beasts – and where to stream them

www.timeout.com

Click to expand...

Back in the fold said:

I think it was Green Planet . It was a three part series . One of the three had a giant water lily coming up from the bottom and unfurling at the surface and pushing other floating plants out of its way . That David Attenborough guy has the best nature shows ever . The legendary Marlin Perkins pales in his shadow .

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I don't know what the series was called but I do remember, the giant Amazon water lily. And the BBC does the best documentaries with David Attenborough. Sorry National Geographic, yours are good too but the BBC is better.

They do not self-turn. You have to rotate them yourself if you want them to keep their ball shape. In the easlier years when I first had them show up (at least where I looked for tank things), I believe they actually came from Japan.

It took me many years to buy anything during the traditional Sunday auction at almost all weekend fish events. But I did attend a few and my first ever purchase was made when I was one of the very few potential buyers still present at the end of the auction and a vendor dropped off a late bag of 5 moss balls. I bid and won them for les than one moss ball general cost at the time. The balls were a donation to the NRC who sponsored the event. Years later I was a regular vendor at their annual events. "It's a small world after all"

I was in my ramping up phase and that included many planted tanks and I never did the regular turning they should have and ultimately I had moss mats and moss chunks before they were gone.

edited for typos/spelling

GaryE said:

In the aquarium, I see them as decorations - not adding anything unless you like them. As for thinking plants, I recently saw an interview with Robert Plant, and he was pretty articulate.

All along the roadsides in Gabon we had to cross big patches of sensitive mimosas, the little plant that folds up its leaves on contact. That says nervous system of some sort. It's a real can of worms when you start looking at these things - there's intriguing data coming in from research, and it really shakes up a lot of what I think. I suspect it would do that to a lot of people.

Click to expand...

Well i have one 10 that is totally coated in the stuff and the frys and shrimplets love hiding in it. To be honest the amount of covering in the tank has become annoying (will post a picture later today); but i think i'm going to transition this tank to blackwater and that will hopefully get rid of it.

I don’t think “actual” Marimo algae balls, are made from common hair algae… mine are almost the texture of steel wool, and I don’t have any common hair algae in the tank that has the balls in it, even though the adult Tin Foils are shredding the balls

So here are a couple of pictures back first then front; on the front the long line of green is a piece of driftwood; as the stuff mostly only grows on hardscape (driftwood, sponge filters, heater) it doesn't grow on the substrate or glass - something happened in the tank that caused all the crypts to melt (this suggest water chemistry change); and it also turned a portion of the marimo algae lighter green - the crypts are now regrowing - though i'm thinking of transitioning the tank to blackwater which will likely harm the crypts - so i might wait until they get some growth back; anyway it took 4 years to get this far - and it all started with one giant petco m. ball that was put between the heater and sponge filter in the very back on the left.