Help Needed

[ibbledibble]

Hi, i'm not particularly knowledgable in terms of plants in general, so hoping somebody here can help.

i recently bought some mosses and riccia from ebay. 3 different sellers. riccia and xmas moss arrived fine wrapped in damp kitchen paper, both were vivid greens and looked healthy.

then my java moss arrived. it looked half dead, and nothing like what i was expecting. i went back and checked the ebay listing, and found the following right at the bottom of a long description of what java moss was, and its uses.

PLEASE NOTE, the moss we send out has been grown emerged and so does not look the same as the picture, however once submerged the growing habit changes and it will grow finer and lighter in colour It will also contain some brown dead looking moss which is in effect the roots where it was attatched in it's growing area

i realize its my own stupid fault for not reading the listing properly, but having said that, i still have concerns.
the moss was full of bits of straw and twigs, which makes me think he has just gone out and collected it from along the edge of a riverbank or something.
how can i be sure it is actually java moss? and if it is, how long will it take before it takes on a more recognisable appearance and can be used in my aquariums? the water in the temporary tank i have it in has gone all cloudy and slimy looking (i assume to do with breakdown of all the brown bits) so i don't want to put it in anytime soon.
its in a temporary tank, with added CO2 under high powered lamps to try and promote growth.

 

[aaronnorth]

take a close up look at the shape, this is what it shpould look like:

Givve it a month to full change to submeresed life.