Bummer, Jeff. Tossing about some possibilities:

Are you trying to grow temperate or tropical mosses? Some temperate varieties MUST have a cold winter rest.

If you're trying a variety of mosses in the same conditions, you may be killing some off just because not all mosses LIKE the same media, lighting etc.

Perhaps you somehow introduced some sort of pathogen?

What did you clean the tank with before set up?

How wet of a terr are you trying to do? (Btw, I do have quite a bit of moss growing in very wet conditions that I can sell or trade off come warmer weather if you're interested)

You might also be throwing in the towel too soon. Mosses can be very slow to get going.

Good luck!

Ahhh! That's it... I collected most of my mosses around here (NYC) and they haven't had the cold winter. I cleaned the tank with filtered water, clean it; and water it with the same.

I have some tropical plants on the way that will give me the feel of moss... baby tears, etc.

Thank you for the offer! I'll see how the plants work out and let you know!!!

Thanks!
Jeff

I collected most of my mosses around here (NYC)

In that case, you might also have been keeping them too wet or not on the correct media (depending on the enviroment from which you collected them).

Not a big fan of 'baby tears' myself but an alternative suggestion -- do a google image search for Selaginella. Some very neat types out there. (If you like them, I may have some small divisions of those too come spring.) If time permits and if you like them I can try later to take a couple pics of mine.

i like the selaginella. you're right about the baby tears... the under-layer ends up dying and brown. i think i'll look into some tropical mosses along with the selaginella.

i used a mixture of soil and coconut coir; then a 1/4" layer of coir before putting the moss down. someone gave me that recipe on this board. does that sound about right?

thank you!
jeff

A trick I use with my mosses is to tear them up a bit and then "stab" them into the soil in my terrariums. It sounds rough but true mosses are very resiliant and will use this process to sprout new growth.

Also check my blog for some photos of selaginella in bottle gardens- it's a little touchy and takes a while to sprout new growth but is hard to kill as long as there is some humidity going on.

***
http://thefernandmossery.blogspot.com/

Here is a link that might be useful: The Fern and Mossery

I just pulled some moss off of some limestone rocks around my pond which is going to be removed this month. I wanted to save it because I love it so. I put it in a jar and created a terrarium with it...is it going to die? MEEPS! I have NO clue what it is, but it looks like what someone said was "pillow moss." It's very soft and velvety and grew naturally on the limestone. I layered the jar with pebbles on the bottom, orchid mix (including act charcoal) and then just a think layer of dirt for the moss to "grab hold of" though I don't know that it needed it.

Is there something else I should do? I'm not sure how much humidity it got there, but it got moderate light where it was before.

I hear you! My pillow moss never lasts and it seems like most people on the forum have trouble with pillow moss as well. I bought some new pillow moss (again) and am hoping it will live. With a lot of help from people on the web and a lot of research, here's the mix I came up with:

 coir-based potting soil
 chopped sphagnum
about 2:1
 charcoal
 little sprinkle of ground limestone in the mix
 bark or coconut hull chips as a top dressing

Good luck to both of us! Let me know how your terrarium grows.

Sincerely,
Jeff