Any idea on the future of marimo moss balls

[Will Billy]

I totally understand the concern of the zebra muscle infestation. Invasive species of any kind should be closely monitored, and im glad it was caught quickly from what we can tell. I wonder tho about all those contaminated batches, and how they will all get destroyed. Since marimo moss balls are endangered in the wild, and they grow soooo sloooowly, i wonder how long it will take the farmed moss balls to bounce back (pun not intended). Will we see them again for sale? I wonder how long it will take the industry to recover from all of this. Im thankful for the 3 i have that i bought a long time ago, but im saddened that it may be a long time before they are safe for purchase again. I hope we can see our green fuzzy little aquatic tribbles again soon. 

[FlyingFishKeeper]

I heard in an Aquapros video about an idea/speculation that aquatic plants, or marimo moss balls might become more tightly regulated. I hope someone can find a way to grow them quickly, when you don't want algae it grows explosively, when you want it to grow it can take 12 years to get a large size lol. 

[CT_]

Yeah, I'm a bit concerned about this too.  It makes me want to take better care of the 3 I have now.  If what I've read about their growth is true then i may be able to split them into 6 by the year 2030

[gardenman]

I may be way off base on this, but it's occurred to me that putting puffers in with moss balls should eliminate any mussels on the moss balls. Puffers eat things like mussels and have a seemingly insatiable appetite, so combining mussel infested moss balls and puffers should end up with fat, happy puffers and no mussels on or in the moss balls. Kind of a win-win solution to the problem.

[Maggie]

I have 4 moss balls from A-C that are doing great, and 3 from a big box store that underwent alum treatment and turned a little brownish. I'm hoping they'll bounce back. 

[Will Billy]

10 minutes ago, gardenman said:

putting puffers in with moss balls should eliminate any mussels on the moss balls

Thats so simple and brilliant. Maybe puffers could be the cure to save many moss balls. My only concern would be how the zebra muscles procreate. If the tiny babies stay imbedded in the center of the moss ball it might be hard for puffers to get to them until they mature and possibly continue the cycle of life. 

[ChefConfit]

If the info in the aquapros video is accurate then the infestation originates from a single geographic location. Most of the farmed moss balls apparently come from there but not all. We'll most likely see a rise in the price of moss balls until the problem is fixed or the other areas that grow them increase production. 

It's also likely that  aquatic plant regulations will be revisited because of this. 

Who knows maybe this will lead to a rise in domestic aquatic plant farming. That could be a good thing. 

[gardenman]

5 minutes ago, Will Billy said:

Thats so simple and brilliant. Maybe puffers could be the cure to save many moss balls. My only concern would be how the zebra muscles procreate. If the tiny babies stay imbedded in the center of the moss ball it might be hard for puffers to get to them until they mature and possibly continue the cycle of life. 

Mussel procreation is interesting. The Wisconsin Division of Natural Resources has a nice article on it. Female mussels must be downstream of male mussels in order for the sperm to reach them, The eggs then are fertilized and the female mussel holds them until they develop into larvae called glochidia. At that point she then releases them and they need to find a fish host to latch onto. Most glochidia are very host specific and need a very specific fish to latch onto. Without that host, they die. If they try to latch onto just any old fish, they die. If they don't find a host, they die. (As long as puffers weren't a host fish, the puffers as mussel eater plan should work.) It's not easy being a baby mussel. After a few days to a few weeks the glochidia float off their host fish and settle into the substrate as mussels. They can take from two to nine years to mature and can live as long as 70 or more years. (Assuming there are no hungry puffers around.) 

If you're a Marimo Moss ball importer, keeping a few eagle-eyed puffers with an appetite for mussels in the tanks with the moss balls might just solve the problem. Though it's largely a matter of closing the barn door after the horse has gotten out as zebra mussels are pretty much everywhere already. Moss balls are a minuscule part of the problem. According to the US Fish and Wildlife folks as of 2011 zebra mussels had been found in all of the following states: Alabama, Arkansas, California. Colorado, Connecticut, Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Kentucky, Louisiana, Maryland, Massachusetts, Michigan, Minnesota, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New York, North Dakota, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Texas, Utah, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia, and Wisconsin. And that was ten years ago. I'm betting they're even more widespread now and not because of moss balls. I'm kind of betting they're everywhere now and not just in the thirty states listed back in 2011. (New Jersey isn't listed on that list, but also has them.) Their presence on aquarium plants is likely to have a minimal impact in the real world problem.