My Marimo Moss Ball ♥

Lately i was a bit lonely in my room without having a mood booster  or something to stare to ..
furthermore,, i was suffering from lost internet connection because of my broken modem a couple week ago,, so i was like this  akwokaowkoakwokoaw...

And, (one day) when checking my BBM recent update,, i saw a very cuteeeeeeeeeeeeee  green round thing (at first, i thought it was a ball of fur) on my big bro display picture.. being supa dupa curious i asked him "what is in your display pict, ;;) ??"...... he said "it's a marimo" ......... "eh..?? what is marimo...??" i asked him then
he answered "it's a plant such algae, in a form of a ball like you see in my display pict"



so,, i did a google 
and finally after looking here and there in google,, i found some explanations about marimo

Aegagropila linnaei, known as Marimo (毬藻^?, literally "ball seaweed") in Japanese and as Cladophora ball, Lake ball, or Moss Balls in English, is a species of filamentous green algae (Chlorophyta) found in a number of lakes in the northern hemisphere. A marimo is a rare growth form of the species where the algae grow into large green balls with a velvety appearance. Colonies of such balls are only known to form in Iceland, Scotland, Japan and Estonia.

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

and i also found some pictures

picture taken from Google




OMG.... uber cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee 


my big bro said there are 3 size of marimo he offered me,, NANO (0,5-1 cm diameter), GIANT (3-4 cm diameter), SUPER GIANT (more than 5 cm)
finally after thinking for a while,, i decided to adopt some marimos from my big bro 
2 NANO and 1 GIANT

GIANT 

 NANO

 NANO

the difference size between giant and nano
a quite big difference la~

in the jar

this jar only an SOS jar,, wakaaakakakkaka  i still haven't found bigger one

Raising your Marimo! – Basic Care Guide
source : http://www.bleakhillycoalcountry.com/blog/marimo-%E3%83%9E%E3%83%AA%E3%83%A2/

Marimo come from the cold, clear water around Hokkaido (Northern Japan).  When you add a Marimo to your family -no matter where you live!- it’s important to try and recreate an environment as close as possible to their natural habitat.

Change the water regularly!
When Marimo’s water becomes dirty or warm, please change it!  Brown gunk accumulating is a sign of dirty water – change it as soon as possible!
It is recommended that you change Marimo’s water once every 1-2 weeks during summertime and approximately once every month during wintertime.
Marimo likes cleanliness!
When the water is left uncleaned, Marimo will quickly become weakened.  Around Marimo and the container, a hard-to-remove algae will form.  This algae can also cause harmful insects to appear, so please try to always remember to keep the water clean.
CAUTION! : When changing Marimo’s water, be careful not to mistakenly wash away Marimo itself.  There have been many unfortunate cases in which Marimo have been accidently washed down the drain.  During water-changing, please move Marimo to another container.

Pick up Marimo!
Taking care of Marimo is more than just changing the water regularly.  Marimo also needs to be kept clean and tidy!  Place Marimo on the palm of your hand.  While rolling Marimo back and forth, GENTLY wash Marimo with water.  Finally, make sure Marimo’s ball-shape is firmly intact.
It is often difficult for clean water to reach the center of larger Marimo.  Make sure to softly press the dirty water out from the inside as if gently squeezing water from a sponge.  Be very careful not to smash Marimo.
> If Marimo’s surface becomes brown-colored or whitish, please clean it as soon as possible.
CAUTION! : Please be careful not to squeeze Marimo too strongly or put Marimo directly under streaming water. It is very possible for Marimo to crumble into pieces. Once the pieces become disconnected, it is extremely difficult to return to the original shape.

Find a Proper Place for Marimo!
As a plant, Marimo grows through the process of photosynthesis.  Therefore, Marimo cannot be raised in a lightless environment.  However, Marimo does not require a strong light source so the normal indoor lighting of a room should be sufficient.  We recommend placing Marimo somewhere that receives weak sunlight – such as near a covered (with curtains/blinds) window.
CAUTION! : Absolutely avoid placing Marimo anywhere that receives direct sunlight.  Overly strong light will weaken Marimo, as well as raise the temperature of the water.
Also, please be careful about placing Marimo in a hard-to-spot location - or else you might accidently forget all about Marimo!

Keep the water cool!
Marimo is a plant raised in the icy cold waters of Hokkaido (Northern Japan).  Therefore, please do your best to raise Marimo is a cool place.  In particular, the temperature of the water often rises during summertime so be careful!  A suitable temperature for Marimo is between 15 degrees Celsius (59 degrees Fahrenheit) and 20 degrees Celsius (68 degrees Fahrenheit).  Try not to let the temperature rise above 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).  It’s okay to put Marimo in a cool room with stronger air-conditioning in the summer and a room with lower lighting and heating in the winter.  There’s even been people who keep their Marimo in the refridgerator every summer for fifteen years!

If your Marimo becomes blackish.
There may be a possibility that your Marimo is decaying or that another type of algae is forming around your Marimo.  If you split open your Marimo and find it decaying inside, remove the black sections and re-roll Marimo into a sphere-shape with only the green healthy sections.  Your Marimo may become smaller, but it will start growing again.  When a Marimo becomes large, it becomes difficult for clean water to be soaked into the center.  Therefore, the inside can easily rot and become a hollow cavity.  Even some of the large natural Marimo found in Lake Akan (阿寒湖) in Japan have developed hollowed centers.
> A Marimo dies from the inside-outwards, so even if the outside of your Marimo is fine – the inside of your Marimo may be black. 

If your Marimo becomes whitish.
There may be a possibility that your Marimo has received a “sunburn” from exposure to direct sunlight.  Please move your Marimo to a place that does not receive direct light.
Other than sunburn, another cause of whiteness may be another type of algae forming around Marimo.

If your Marimo becomes brownish.
There may be a possibility that part/all of your Marimo ball has died.  A Marimo is a plant.  When it dies, it becomes brownish or blackish colored.  A Marimo is made up of small algae collected into a ball-form. If there is still some green healthy sections of your Marimo ball left please just remove the brown, dead sections.

and here's my marimo 

 

CUTEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE....
i'll find a bigger place for them


Thank's for passing by 



Regard's
Depth ~ Dreamie