# Should i clean my java moss?



## dylanserbin (Apr 11, 2009)

Hey i got a huge ball of java from the pet store today, all balled up its probably the size of a soft ball. It was 8$! would a 5%bleach dip for 20mins clean it? i want to stick in into my vent viv.


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## Tim F (Jan 27, 2006)

You can wash jm in a bowl or sink w/ dishwashing liquid and a little bleach. That's what I do. I slosh it around in there until I think all of the snails, debris, etc.. are gone, and then I rinse it until there are no suds left whatsoever. You'll also want to make sure that there is no bleach smell left in the moss (always seems to stay on your hands tho). I then refill the basin and soak the moss in water to which chlorine/chlormamine remover has be added. After that, it's ready to use!


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## rusticitas (Mar 25, 2007)

If your tap water is chlorinated, you can likely just rinse it in the sink, then just untangle it in a bucket of tap water for a few hours or a day. (Try not to shock it with extremely cold water.)

Bleach is such a toxic substance, and considering how moss is you will likely either: (a) kill the moss, (b) never completely rinse it off.

Just my $0.02.


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## Tim F (Jan 27, 2006)

Chlorine from tap water is not going to kill many of the undesirable or potentially harmful elements that can be transferred from aquarium to aquarium or viv to viv. Java moss is tough. It can take it. Unless you have complete confidence in your source, the method I’ve described works perfectly. I’ve done it for decades and I’ve never had a problem with the moss, fish, nor amphibians. I don’t even transfer java moss between my own vivs or aquariums before doing this. 

That’s my experience.


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## Tim F (Jan 27, 2006)

This is only a partial shot of a 90 gal, but there is java moss all over it. There is riccia in the water features, but ALL of the java moss was treated with bleach. And there are some frogs in here that are pretty stoked about their set up.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

DONT use dishwashing liquid. 
bleach, as well as a number of other chemicals will be safe. a 5-10 percent solution (of bleach) is suggested.

james


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## Tim F (Jan 27, 2006)

Haha! DylanSerbin, 

Looks like you've got several VERY different opinions here! 

With the exception of certain mosses, all of my plants, ferns, and fern allies (i.e. spike mosses) AND java moss go into a mild dish soap/bleach treatment. Even the orchids - as long as they're not in spike. By the way, this is also an excellent way to rid broms and orchids of scale! I've done this for MANY years, and I don't lose anything to this process. The key is to rinse well and dechlorinate when the things that you are treating are going in with animals. 

Sorry I don't have exact measurements for you, as I eyeball almost everything. However I would agree that 5% bleach is adequate along w/ enough dish soap to make suds. I specify dish soap (not the stuff for automatic dishwashers) because it tends to be mild. I would avoid any other type of soap/detergent.

Ultimately you'll decide what you're most comfortable with, so best of luck to you. 

Tim


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## MattySF (May 25, 2005)

I have witnessed Tim's techniques in which he leaves plants long term in bleach and soap.
They all look good after being established and he has quite a few LTC plants and frogs doing well.


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## james67 (Jun 28, 2008)

i would just worry about residues left by the soap. i think many people have had good success with bleach/ water solutions, and other oxidizing chemicals, and dont see why soap would be added, i understand that some dish soaps are rather mild and pretty darn environmentally friendly but i dont know that i would trust it. thats just my opinion. 

any reasons that you add the soap to the mix? 

james


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## Dragonfly (Dec 5, 2007)

just my 2 cents please make sure that the dish soap you use does not say on it DO NOT USE WITH BLEACH.

We are also very subject to chemical reactions.


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## Tim F (Jan 27, 2006)

james67 said:


> any reasons that you add the soap to the mix?


Yes. As a cleaner, soap kills bacteria, removes dirt, oils, fertilizers, and other insecticides that water alone will not. It pretty much removes anything you don’t want. Just think of what you expect it to do for your hands or your dishes. Rinse your plants (or java moss in this case) as thoroughly as you would your hands and your dishes. I would expect that you wouldn’t want soap left on any of that.

Example: Tropical/ornamental/flowering plants from retailers have typically been heavily fertilized with who knows what. Leaves are often treated with neem, mineral, olive, and other oils which not only makes them shiny and attractive but also suffocates insects. Looks good, but none of this is good in a viv. Soap and water can strip all of this away.

I’ve always understood that soap-based insecticides work by penetrating insect cellular membranes and breaking down the cells themselves, and that suds have a suffocating effect on bugs. Whatever. What I know for sure is that soft-bodied insects (aphids, mealy bugs, mites, etc…) are killed on contact, and those that are not killed outright are easier to remove. 

Example: Scale cannot be easily removed from a plant by picking at it without damaging the plant. However, with dish soap (Palmolive is what I have on hand), water and a soft cloth you can wipe the scale away with little or no resistance and no damage to the plant other than what the scale has already done to it by feeding on it.

Another example: If you’ve ever dealt with plants severely infested w/ aphids or scale, you know that there is a sticky residue left on the plants and everything that surrounds them. Soap removes that sticky substance, which does not come off so easily (it at all from some surfaces) with water alone. 

Soaps are typically not sterilizers – at least not the ones you’d want to use for this process, so this is where the bleach comes in. Adding bleach takes care of molds, spores, mildew, insect eggs (usually), and other things not killed or removed by soap and water alone. 

This is why I use both and recommend it to anyone who asks as did the op.

Hope this helps.


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## earthfrog (May 18, 2008)

If it were mine, I'd rinse it off with RO water and pick it clean by hand using a magnifying glass to remove all snails and snail eggs. The eggs are a jelly-like mass clinging to the moss---don't want those loose in your viv!


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## Nicholas (Mar 16, 2010)

earthfrog said:


> If it were mine, I'd rinse it off with RO water and pick it clean by hand using a magnifying glass to remove all snails and snail eggs. The eggs are a jelly-like mass clinging to the moss---don't want those loose in your viv!


Would you also put it under a microscope to pick off all the spores, bacteria and mold spawn ? lol i think my viv would be filled to the rim with java moss by the time you were to complete that task!!!

Dishsoap, Bleach & Water.


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## trow (Aug 25, 2005)

Saltwater soak for a few minutes rinse and be done with it


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## frogface (Feb 20, 2010)

I wash all of my orchids with bleach and dish soap. So, I naturally did the same thing with my viv plants. Though, they did get extra rinsing.

I've received broms from 3 different sources, recently, for my new vivs. Each shipment of broms had scale. Not a lot, certainly not an infestation. I wouldn't put those plants in my vivs with my orchids without a good scrub with bleach and soap (in fact, I wouldn't have them in my house, with all my shelves of orchids around). So far no sign of scale.

(I in no way fault the suppliers. The plants were all beautiful and healthy. I think scale just has a special fondness for broms. And, unfortunately, orchids)


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## flapjax3000 (Jul 4, 2009)

Ive been adding a drop of Dawn dish detergent along with bleach when I clean java moss. So far I have no problems with residue from the dish detergent. Just make sure to soak your java moss in clean water for at least 20 minutes as well as thoroughly rinsing it after using the bleach-detergent mixture. Java moss from pet stores can contain all kinds of nasty things that you do not want transferred to your viv since most stores run all their tanks through a central filter.


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