Meet Puni!!!!

[ZennaBug]

I bought one at Petco today, but I will return it.  When I opened up the bag to rinse out the grody fish water, I realized they sold me a fake!  It was just regular moss wrapped around a foam thing and wrapped in fishing line.  Not happy.  I'm going to buy a new one on eBay from a place that sells the real deal (I might get a big one and a little one to be friends lol).  So watch out if you guys get them in the big stores! 

Post Merge: July 08, 2012, 07:35:54 PM

As an added note, I see a lot of them as keychains/phone charms/necklaces.  But they do best in very low light, otherwise they sunburn.  So I'm not sure it would survive 

[hyenacub]

Fake??  D<  Take it back and demand your money back!  I would!!

[True]

O.o omg a fake? How lame

Ill try and get pictures lol my son has a few in his fishtank too lol and they are easer to see

[ZennaBug]

I'm taking it back today

[Loona]

awwww, a marimo, so cute!
I love them, and I am a proud owner of two of them ^^

... or... well... not too proud actually  they both have been enjoying themselves with me for quite some time, moving up and down happily in the tank, until in the middle of this May I got in a hurry writing and handing in my thesis in time, which meant I didn't have time to change their water for 3 weeks, or even more. the temperatures also started to get higher, and the sun shone more and more, so the place they lived at during winter and spring started to become too hot for them, and by the time I had some time for proper care they were covered in another type of algae and developed brown spots! I was in tears I always owned pets and was good at taking care of them, how could this happen? I tried to change the water, rub the algae off of them, and roll them in my hands until the brown thing that oozed from them stopped coming out with the water. they got a lot smaller in size, but they seemed to have gotten a bit more healthy-looking. however, they still don't look fully healthy, and I also think the brown spots may have grown. I just don't know what to do they seem to be living still (they are producing oxygen, so they have to be alive; also when I tried to see if they are falling apart I noticed they can't be taken apart, but are staying together firmly), but they aren't so healthy as they once were, and they stopped moving up and down. I always was a good mommy to my pets and plants, how could I not notice their condition earlier? 
could someone give me some advice on what I should do to heal them and make them feel better? what about the brown (possibly growing) spots, what they are? can I make them disappear? I really don't want them to die

ZennaBug: I hope things went well and you got your money back! I heard there are lots of fakies in the "marimo industry", so you getting one doesn't seem an unusual case. still it's just not right, so you did the right thing by deciding to take it back.

[kaoskat]

Well, one of the sites I found said you can add a bit of salt to the water to help. Let me see if I can find it again.

Post Merge: July 09, 2012, 12:05:59 PM

Found it! It says: "Domestic marimo grow in tap water at room temperature as long as the water is changed every one or two weeks (more frequently in summer and less often in winter). The marimo can be placed in the refrigerator in hot weather (above 25°C), but does not survive freezing.
Photosynthesis occurs in normal household lighting, otherwise, indirect sunlight since the marimo is adapted for low light conditions only. Marimo balls can be immersed in club soda water to increase the rate of photosynthesis. The elevated carbon dioxide favours algae growth but may be detrimental to fish and other aquatic creatures.
In Lake Akan the epilithic filament form of marimo grow thickest where dense salty water from natural springs flow into the lake. If the marimo green color turns brownish it may recover without intervention, otherwise a minimal amount of salt can be added as a suggested remedy."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marimo

Post Merge: July 09, 2012, 12:24:43 PM

And this whole site is just adorable! It even tells the Marimo Legend and it's just too cute!

http://english.marimo.com.hk/marimari.swf

[ZennaBug]

I took it back and got a refund.  The woman at the register seemed as surprised as me when I told her it was fake (the fact that it started falling apart when I took the fishing line off helped my case).  She was going to just pitch it, but the fish guy told her to restock.  We both just looked at him.  So apparently he knows that they aren't real marimos and sells them anyway.  Guess where I will NOT ever be buying fish?


Post Merge: July 09, 2012, 03:19:35 PM

Good news!  I told my mom about marimos and she thought they looked adorable!  So I just ordered 3 large ones on eBay.  One for me, one for her (an early birthday present that she can keep on her desk at work), and one to propogate into smaller ones for each of our jars.  Or maybe I'll give it to my sister to take to college if she wants it.  We'll see.

I'm excited!!!!    I have a little vase with pebbles all ready for it.  I think I will name mine Tribble 

[kaoskat]

 Yay!!!!!! Don't forget pics!!!!

[wystearya]

I have one in my Betta tank!   I don't think I have a pic though...  I'll have to get one sometime.  Mine is about the size of a golf ball.

[StarDragon]

Wow that is cute. :o I would sing to it every night, and it would grow very big!

[Loona]

kaoskat: thanks for the quick search and loads of info! ^^ I've already tried the salt and it does seem to have a boost effect - however, only for about a day. maybe I'll try changing the water more frequently (even though I don't think it's healthy to change too often), and I relocated them for a possible cooler climate. however, in this awful hot not a single point of the flat seems cool, let alone cold
even though I've read this several times already I'm afraid to put them in the refrigerator it seems just too radical (even though our refrigerator's dying in this hot too, so it's by far not as cold as it should be...)...

thanks for the marimari site, that's something I haven't come across so far! it indeed is cute! :3

ZennaBug: glad to hear things went well ^^ but I'm sad to see seller dishonesty is everywhere :/ no wonder you won't visit that guy's shop again...
I hope your eBay marimos arrive quickly and you and your family will have much fun with them ^^

[SpaRx]

...that's so funny  I'd love to get one.
Wish the pet stores here sold those things D: Or is it possible to have them shipped all the way to Iceland without dying? Idon'twannakillaballofmossfornoreason

[ZennaBug]

Yay!!!!!! Don't forget pics!!!!

I won't forget    My mom's excited now too, it's hilarious!

ZennaBug: glad to hear things went well ^^ but I'm sad to see seller dishonesty is everywhere :/ no wonder you won't visit that guy's shop again...
I hope your eBay marimos arrive quickly and you and your family will have much fun with them ^^

What sucks is that it was my local Petco.  I'll still buy dog food and toys there, but no fishies.  He just plopped it back in the tank!

...that's so funny  I'd love to get one.
Wish the pet stores here sold those things D: Or is it possible to have them shipped all the way to Iceland without dying? Idon'twannakillaballofmossfornoreason

I'm having mine shipped from the UK to the US, as far as I've heard they can make the transit safely.

[Loona]

What sucks is that it was my local Petco.  I'll still buy dog food and toys there, but no fishies.

aww, that does suck :/ I wonder what could be done about it...

He just plopped it back in the tank!

(okay, sorry, I just can't explain this feeling with words...)

SpaRx: I think they can be shipped. they are pretty tough creatures, and can even survive for quite some time without water, so maybe even shipping them without water is possible, but nowadays even special conditions are available to ship animals that need water to stay alive, so I can't see a problem with shipping marimos. I think (or, after all the seller dishonestly and carelessness we get nowadays, let's hope) a seller who offers international shipping is aware of this and has taken care of these circumstances to be included in the international shipping charges.

[SpaRx]

AAaah!  Awesome!
Thank you Loona and Zenna 
I'm so gonna check this out better next week after my holiday