Bests & Worsts Reviews from Amazon

This is an awesome deal for what you get! Mine arrived a nice dark healthy green and I got extras too! They were filthy dirty but for the price I don't mind doing some cleaning up myself. As the directions say, rinse, squeeze, rinse, squeeze, over and over again under running water. These things are tough! Rinse and squeeze until the water runs clear and no more sand comes out of ball. This takes awhile but is worth it to start off in a good place. I'm a house wife with a 32 year old daughter and we've both had (still have) multiple Marimos for 10+ years, done a lot of online research. Love these silly balls. Marimos grow in fresh water lakes, not rivers. They are an algae, not moss. They end up in colonies many balls deep. When happy and healthy, the balls produce air bubbles that cause them to float upwards enabling them to get from the bottom of pile to the needed filtered sunlight. Up and down they go. And with the current in the lake, it naturally turns this stringy algae into balls. Yes, in the ball form the tiny, short, hair like fibers look synthetic. They are not. Each hair does have the ability to connect to structures and grow long and stringy. I learned this the hard way by pulling one apart to attach to wood AND putting right back in aquarium. Don't do this! When in the ball form or flat form and actively growing, I've never had an issue. You have to let the algae start to grow to interlock tiny pieces again. Keep your balls rolled tight, (and I mean tight) once a month will do. If you want it on a piece of wood, do it! But to avoid a later mess, be patient. After rinsing throughly, run ur hand over it to dislodge those loose fibers, put the new algae on wood/rock/matting by itself in a separate large jar with good indirect light for a month or 2. When you're changing water and see no more hairlike lose fibers in water you're good to go. A plant with Marimo algae covering roots, all tied onto a wood piece with fishing line is gorgeous after 6 months! Isolatating and a pinch of salt can help revive browning Marimos if they're not too far gone (spots). Research online for correct amounts. Direct sunlight causes browning. Hollow centers with putrid, non circulating water in the center is a KILLER! Think about living in colonies, the weight of your other ball buddies 12" deep rolling around, you're not hollow. 10 years ago when you bought a M Ball it was solid. Now they have pumps, seriously!, to make Marimos appear bigger. Marimos grow exceedingly slow. They are a national treasure in Japan, kept as pets, passed down through family members. Love your balls! Roll them tight even if they are smaller. You'll have no putrid water inside rotting them from the inside out. They'll be funky bumpy for awhile but roll them once a month keep them tight and they will grow. Snails and other unwanted critters? No need to buy spendy specialty products or take a chance on hydrogen peroxide burning your balls. Get the dish soap out. I use Dawn, it's known to be gentle. 1tsp dish soap, 3 gallons of water, 1/2 hour soak. Squeeze the soapy mixture thoroughly through your balls and let soak for half an hour. Rinse and squeeze until no more suds. Let them rest in a jar of water for 24 hours just to make sure any left over soap is diluted. Rinse and squeeze again just to be sure before introducing into new home. Although I don't take responsibility for anyone trying this method, I've never lost a Marimo or aquatic plant yet with this method. And had no pests. Bacterial is covered too with some dish soaps. Gardeners have been using a drop of dish soap in a spray bottle to control garden pests for decades. If treating actual plants: take out of pots, discard old planting material, remove all decomposing greenery, no place to hide! Clean pot and use new planting material. And DO NOT use a tooth brush to brush debris off your balls. Again, it pulls those fibers out and apart from one another promoting the long stringy algae grows. Good luck!