growing and caring for asian water moss

[cichlidgirl22]

I just picked up some Askento4 water moss online and I'm curious to know if anyone else here has experience with it. What are your thoughts on it? Any advice on how to get it growing quickly would be great. I also got some Jungle Val and moneywort in the same order, and the seller threw in some water wisteria as a nice bonus.

[cichlidgirl22]

Here are a few pictures of the Askento4 water moss, the roots are really something I'm loving so far.

[cichlidgirl22]

I also found this random plant in one of the bags with the other plants I ordered. Does anyone have any idea what it might be?

[coltin]

I'm pretty sure your Askento4 water moss is actually Salvinia, which is a floating plant that tends to spread pretty quickly. One thing to watch out for is parasitic mites, they can be a real issue and you can usually spot them on the leaves, but your plants look clean so far.

As for the mystery plant, the leaf in the picture looks like it might be a piece of Cabomba. It's probably not going to grow, but you never know, so just leave it in and see what happens.

[cichlidgirl22]

I'm pretty sure your Askento4 water moss is actually Salvinia, which is a floating plant that tends to spread pretty quickly. One thing to watch out for is parasitic mites, they can be a real issue and you can usually spot them on the leaves, but your plants look clean so far.

As for the mystery plant, the leaf in the picture looks like it might be a piece of Cabomba. It's probably not going to grow, but you never know, so just leave it in and see what happens.

Thanks for the info, I did a hydrogen peroxide soak so hopefully that took care of any potential pests.

I'll just leave the mystery plant and see what happens, might be a nice surprise.

[greensea_1]

I've got some of that in my tanks and it's really pretty. I think it's also known as velvet salvinia, I've heard that name used for it before.

[sSjey]

I'm pretty sure the Latin name for that Askento4 water moss is actually Salvinia cucullata.

[Bisco]

The mites aren't much of a concern, they do have some effect on the plant, but generally not enough to cause significant harm. Fish that feed on tiny invertebrates actually find them quite tasty. My angelfish are always on the lookout for them, and it's entertaining to watch them try to catch the mites at the air-water interface - it's a challenge for them. I've noticed these mites also appear on other floating plants, like frogbit, duckweed, and water hyacinth, although I'm not sure if they're the same species.