The other day some moss arrived in the post – Round Pelia and Taiwan Moss.
But as I have journeyed to this point I have made some errors in judgement and it leaves me with some problems.
First mistake, was the whole DSM débâcle, and the consequences of that decision are still causing ripples. If I hadn't tried it I would almost certainly have tied on the moss before flooding the tank, adding fish, and getting some growth in delicate plants.
The second mistake (though not chronologically) was to have such a tall tank. Dealing with things in the tank without removing them is a right PITA.
Thirdly, despite having the foresight to put holes in the cave roof to feed thread through for tying moss on, the cotton rotted enough to make it useless 2 or 3 weeks before I got the moss.
Fourth, the wall round the shelf is no more than an inch high and at the moment, a deeper layer of substrate would be a great help.
These mistakes have the following result. It's going to be an absolute ***** to tie the moss onto the shelf wall.
With the wood and cave in the tank it's really difficult to tie moss on without disturbing all the plants and hardscape around them.
The fact that I'm having to stand on a chair, and even then can only really reach the things I need to, just compounds the situation.
The thread that was in place to take moss on the wall isn't there any more (fishing line would have helped). As the tops of the holes are now covered in substrate, they are no longer even visible.
With the moss for the wood, this is not the end of the world, just a major inconvenience.
I've manage to tie all the Round Pelia onto a couple of branches on one piece of wood. It's not particularly neat and it doesn't cover as much as I had in my head, but that's probably my own fault and I'm not redoing it now. I shall have to put Taiwan Moss on the other tree stump, but that is in itself is no bad thing, as it will hide the join, and give some continuity between the wood and the stone. 'Tis an ill wind...
With the moss for the cave roof, the situation does give me a major problem.
As far as I can think, I have three options:
1) Leave the cave roof without moss. But I think it would look a lot better with moss, and I hate admitting defeat.
2) Use a large needle to root around the substrate on the cave roof to find the holes and tread the cotton / fishing line through them again. I've tried this, and it is difficult at best. I don't really want to drain the tank to below the shelf, so the water doesn't help. Then there's the issues of disturbing everything else and the problems with height / access. I've uprooted several clumps of Hair Grass in the process of threading just two holes, and replanting them is fiddly as ****.
3) Take the shelf out, and tie the moss on on dry land. I really don't want to think about the disruption this would cause as the cave roof supports the right hand wood, which in turn supports the deep substrate round the end of the tank. Add to that, the Wisteria at the back on the shelf will almost certainly need replanting, as there is nothing except the tank glass to stop the substrate pouring off the back of the shelf as I it gets moved.
I think I shall probably have to have another go at option 2 (rethreading the holes) but I think I'll have to drain most of the tank to do this, otherwise the moss is just going to float off as I try to tie it down.
So all in all, not a great situation to end up in.
On a different note, I am a little concerned about the health of one of my Dwarf Blue Rainbows. At times he has been swimming slightly on his side, and and also with a slight curve in his spine. Sure signs of an unhappy fish. But sometimes he seems fine and is buzzing round the tank and chasing the females like his life depends on it. I've rarely had ill fish recover, so I am not a little worried.