Do you know what kind of moss it is? Or did it just say 'tropical moss'? did you buy it in a sheet? Was it a certain brand? I have found that tropical sheet moss, especially the ZooMed kind, is already dead when you buy it. It's been sitting on the store shelves for so long, how could it not be? It's just died green so that it looks alive, but the dye seems to be photo-sensitive, and soon you can tell that the moss is dead. Your best bet is to either collect wild moss and clean it very well (in rainwater), or to buy some live moss, from either Black Jungle or your local fish store (most of them sell java moss, which can grow in or out of water, as long as it is kept constantly moist, if not wet).

it came from black jungle but it just said live tropical moss but it did come in a sheet. i have three 4"x4" sections of gold tipped moss but it grows so slow. i guess the sheet moss will due as a tempory ground cover for now till the gold tip takes off. thanks for the info ill make sure i dont buy any more.

I haven't had a great experience with Black Jungle, either. Did you phone them and complain? I did, but they wouldn't do anything to fix their mistakes, and basically told me it was my problem.

I bought a 3 plants from Black Jungle. The Java Moss, White Rabbit Fern and Dwarf Mono Grass. I think after purchase and shipping fee it is a little costly from that company.

The Java Moss is doing fine in my aquarium and foyer water fountain bowl of pebbles. In my terrarium the Fern went into shock but now is showing new growth. The Dwarf Mono Grass looks like it may not survive, mostly brown and the middle does have green spouts.
I did not know that you could grow Java Moss outside of water. I thought it was a water plant. This moss is very hardy in water. I was also told that this type of Moss does not like bright light but more subdue lighting. I keep my Moss in my aquarium under a bridge rock because of the very bright florscent light used in the tank for 4 to 8 hours. The moss in my fountain bowl gets very little light unless you turn on the foyer hall light. After i had purchased the moss I found out that some pet (Petco, Lowes hardware) & fish stores sell Java Moss and terrarium plants. There seems to be a big demand for terrarium plants.

I am also using dry sheet moss that I bought at a hobby craft store. It is dead but it has stayed dark green and gives a nice effect for ground cover in my terrarium. It looks just like my backyard forest moss. The reason I have not used my backyard moss, is I don't think it will survive. But I might give it a try. That would be fun to see it growing along with my other plants.
Theresa

Okay, one of my pet peeves is stores/books/etc saying that certain plants are 'very low light' and not qualifying that statement. That means low light for PLANTS. What looks like low light to a human is not enough for plants. Low light for plants is actually light bright enough to read by for humans. We really have no idea how dark our houses are for our poor plants. And besides all that, I have java moss growing very happily in my terrarium, which is definitely not low light. While a 'mature' clump of moss may be shocked and get burned by sudden bright light all day, and should therefore be somewhat acclimatized to it slowly, people who are in the business of growing plants never grow plants in low light. They use the best light they can, because the better the light, the faster plants grow. And java moss can grow very quickly indeed! =) So don't worry about any plant getting too much light. About the only thing that would be too much would be placing a houseplant outside in full sun all day. The result would be severe leaf burn, but the plant could actually survive, and new growth will always adapt to the conditions that it's emerging in, so new growth would automatically be used to higher light, and would not burn. Oh yeah, and 4-8 hours of fluorescent light is not much at all. It would barely supplement any natural sun your terrariums would be receiving. 10-12 is enough if the terrarium gets some real sun, and my tank, which gets no sun at all, gets 14 hours of lights on. So no offense to anyone, it's not your fault, but plant books and proffessional plant growers really need to be more specific about lighting requirements for plants!

Thank you sahoyaref for clearing that up. I got that information from our local fish store on Java Moss and too much light. So your Java Moss grows well out of water with using moisture in the air and daily misting? I am always learning and appreciate correct information. My husband has this saying....they say, they say and who is they?
Again thank you and Happy Easter,
Theresa

Yes, java moss does very well out of water as long as it is kept CONSTANTLY moist. Humidity alone won't do it. If it's in direct contact with moist soil and getting daily mistings, it should be fine. Mine does best where it gets splashed on by my waterfall. I actually don't think it's a water plant at all, it simply adapts to growing in water because it likes being so wet. Many plants sold as aquatics by the aquarium hobby are actually not true aquatics, but marginals at best, and terrestrials at worst. I've seen aquarium stores trying to sell dracaenas and aluminium plants as submergible aquatics. How ridiculous. . . and then the poor unsuspecting customer wonders why they always get covered in algae and die so quickly. . .