Moss ball

[parker002]

If you use a service like Photobucket, you can use thumbnails. Then it doesn't matter how large the photo is. You can post a small thumbnail here and link to the bigger picture at Photobucket. I posted a primer around here a while back on how it works.

[Carl]

Here is a link to the photobucket primer by parker:

everythingaquatic.proboards.com/thread/3331

Carl

[cashay]

I had moss balls in my Oscar tank and they ripped it to shreds. They are just so destructive.

[Carl]

Nov 23, 2014 10:25:04 GMT -5 cashay said:

I had moss balls in my Oscar tank and they ripped it to shreds. They are just so destructive.

Pretty typical of Oscars!

Carl

[parker002]

Nov 23, 2014 11:55:33 GMT -5 Carl said:

Nov 23, 2014 10:25:04 GMT -5 cashay said:

I had moss balls in my Oscar tank and they ripped it to shreds. They are just so destructive.

Pretty typical of Oscars!

Carl

The Terrier of the Tank. That's what I call them.

[Deleted]

Here is my Moss Ball funny....

Last month when I did my son's water change for his 55 gallon planted tank, I noticed there wasn't much flow from his filter. I reached for the out-take tube and found it was totally blocked with some glob that looked like dark green steel wool. I took it out of the tank and saved it for my son to see. Well... turned out that was his moss ball (we pitched it). It certainly wasn't as attractive as the moss ball images posted in this thread/forum (grin). His girlfriend and I had some good laughs when I pulled it out.

And here is my opinion on Fluval fake Moss Balls.... NEVER ever try one of those....unless you want clear water and dead tetras. I did try one of those. The iron oxide (Clear Max) in the Moss Ball reacts with many treatments and medications - releasing something quite toxic into the water (I don't recall which treatments now react with the iron oxide). I lost all of my tetras - but not the pleco and cory cats. When I saw a local national chain pet store (not the one from which I made the purchase) with those in all of their tanks, I wrote to the company telling them NOT to use them and why. I saw all sorts of ailments in their tanks (but I bet their phosphate level was lower.....). The local store from which I made the purchase stopped selling the Fluval Moss Balls after I told them my experience with the one I bought. The national chain store no longer carries them either. I did write to Fluval... There is nothing on the package that says it has Clear Max inside -- and NO warning on the package to remove it if medicating fish - the local national chain store had some medication in their water that was reacting with the fake moss balls hence the massive spread of all sorts of diseases (Clear Max is another of my never-to-use-again products. I gave two full boxes away). I know none of you would ever use the fake Moss Ball.....I just felt like an idiot for giving it a try. That was my biggest stupid mistake I even made (grin).

Judy D.

[Carl]

Judy; your experience makes for a great point I often make myself

That is to know the ingredients of the products used and how they work. This is also where there are risks with products that do not list ingredients or their mode of operation is not known

While I no longer sell Hagen (in part because they require purchase of products I do not think are any good to get those that are and get a discount), the person who runs my aquarium maintenance company I used to own in LA still purchases from Hagen so as to be able to get replacement products for many popular Hagen Filters, etc.
He still uses Clear Max (as well as I previous used it too). It can be a useful product when used correctly and removed when one uses copper medications, Tetracycline, etc.

This is similar to why carbon should always be removed before treating an aquarium, yet based on my 1000s of service calls over the years, readers here would be surprised how many do not.

SeaChem Purigen is a good example of a product I sell and recommend, YET overuse or use in an aquarium with an unbalanced Redox can yield undesirable or even dangerous results since Purigen is a Redox Oxidizer that can easily overcome Redox Reduction in an aquarium that is not properly balanced.
My point with Purigen is not to bad mouth it, but only that one persons bad experience with this product likely has this underlying Redox issue and again why knowing how these products work and their contraindications are so important.

References:
www.aquarium-pond-answers.com/2007/05/aquarium-filter-media.html#chemical
www.americanaquariumproducts.com/Redox_Potential.html

Carl

[Deleted]

Thanks Carl,

I just looked over your filter media section again. Your site is the ONLY one that has this information:

>>ClearMax uses ferric oxide to control phosphates, which although effective, can be a problem if not removed when treating aquariums, as many medications/treatments can cause the ferric oxide to leech out to toxic levels.

I actually discovered the problem when I read all of the sheets on Fish Vet site on contraindications (you probably had this on your site at the time, too). I added information to reviews I had written for Clear Max. Fish Vet has "Remove all absorbing media" on their medications that would react with Ferric oxide (Aqua Pro Cure is one). Tetra Parasite Guard has not corrected their package instructions (I wrote to them about the problem in 2011). It was one of the components in that medication (Parasite Guard) that reacted. The instructions on the package is simply to remove carbon.

Last I looked on the Clear Max box, there isn't any warning about leaching toxins into the water if not removed during medications.

Judy D.

[angelminx]

There is no real noticeable growth since I measured it last, but my moss ball has been starting to show an "opening" on the "bottom".  Back in January, when I "rinsed" it out, I noticed it for the 1st time, and the "hole" was definitely open in the center.  I haven't squeezed it out to remove the "dirty" water recently, just sort of swished it around in the old tank water I was removing.  Today it looks like it it "healing" back up, although the "scar" is fairly large.

I turned it onto its "side" for these shots (with and without flash):
     

[devonjohnsgard]

Apr 4, 2015 2:41:41 GMT -5 angelminx said:

There is no real noticeable growth since I measured it last, but my moss ball has been starting to show an "opening" on the "bottom".  Back in January, when I "rinsed" it out, I noticed it for the 1st time, and the "hole" was definitely open in the center.  I haven't squeezed it out to remove the "dirty" water recently, just sort of swished it around in the old tank water I was removing.  Today it looks like it it "healing" back up, although the "scar" is fairly large.

I turned it onto its "side" for these shots (with and without flash):
View Attachment   View Attachment   View Attachment

Wonder what could have happened?

[parker002]

Most likely the material used to culture the moss ball is degrading and falling apart underneath.