I got excel, now have a couple more ??

[fish_4_all]

Ok, I plan to dose 1/2 dose to start with just because I do and I don't trust anything right off the bat. Anyway, I have a couple ??

First, I want to spot treat some algae. Can I dilute it to get it to go farther and treat more of the plant? I am dosing 0.5ml daily to start as I have a 10 gallon. Second, do I need to do the big dose as the bottle says or can I simply start at 0.5ml as I plan to dose daily?

Also, I plan to dip plants if I need to, especially my anubias, what is the dilution for doing this?

 

[Purrbox]

Go ahead a do the large dose the first time that you dose and the days that you do water change. The rest of the week do your regular small dose.

I'm not sure that you are going to get as good of an effect if you dilute the Excel for spot treatments. It's already going to be diluting pretty fast as it enters into the water column. I would just treat a different section each day.

For the Anubias, instead of dipping it you could try a method that I found works really well. I believe that An t-iasg was the one that originally suggested it. Basically you remove the Anubias from the aquarium, and use a toothbrush (reserved for only tank use) or something similar to apply the Excel directly to the leaves. Just sort of dip the tooth brush and then brush the entire surface of each leaf. Once done, replace the Anubias in the tank. As long as the leaf hasn't been too badly damaged by the algae this method has worked really well for me.

You'll need to wait to hear from some of the others as to what to do for an Excel Dip, as I've never tried it.

 

[Lonewolfblue]

As for a dip, I've done a 10:1 (10 parts water to 1 part Excel) solution and let the plants soak in it for 5-10 minutes. My preference is closer to 10 minute, but I don't think it makes much difference. With stem plants, I haven't had problems with dipping roots and all, but I believe Jchillin has killed a sword by dipping the roots.

But as always, test with just 1 of each plant in a small cup. If all goes well, make a little bigger container and dip all plants.

 

[7Enigma]

If removing from the tank a 30second dip in store bought 3% hydrogen peroxide will have a similar effect to Excel. You just rinse the plant under tap water after the 30seconds and your good to go back in the tank.

I'd do a PWC and dose the full amount, but there is no reason you can't start out slowly and do 1/2 dosage.

If treating a plant in the tank (that can't be easily removed) don't dilute the agent (Excel/peroxide), use it straight and apply with an eye dropper, pipette, etc. With such a small amount for use you want it to be as concentrated as possible or else it probably won't kill the algae.

Dip method is the safest and most effective since you can be sure ALL of the algae on the plant has been treated, but for some plants its just not possible/practical to remove them from the tank.

 

[fish_4_all]

Well I dosed almost a full dose yesterday and the fish are fine with it. I also decided to dase the whole 1ml each day with all the recomendations from here. Even Bud my big BN didn't care and is eating just like normal and being his bullish self.

Is nice to hear first hand experience when dealing with a new chemical.

I don't know if it is my imagination but my Christmas moss already seems to have grown more than it has in 3 weeks, overnight. Will do the dip with peroxide once my wife gets me a brand new bottle. Gonna dip the Christmas moss in Excel. Maybe use peroxide on the anubias or do the tooth brush thing with either one.

Thansk for the help everyone.

 

[7Enigma]

Well I dosed almost a full dose yesterday and the fish are fine with it. I also decided to dase the whole 1ml each day with all the recomendations from here. Even Bud my big BN didn't care and is eating just like normal and being his bullish self.

Is nice to hear first hand experience when dealing with a new chemical.

I don't know if it is my imagination but my Christmas moss already seems to have grown more than it has in 3 weeks, overnight. Will do the dip with peroxide once my wife gets me a brand new bottle. Gonna dip the Christmas moss in Excel. Maybe use peroxide on the anubias or do the tooth brush thing with either one.

Thansk for the help everyone.

When carbon is the limiting nutrient plants are capable of storing a large stockpile of other nutrients (especially those with rhizomes). Then when carbon is plentiful they can shoot up like weeds.

Be very careful with the Christmas moss. I would use 1/2 or even 1/4 the time or strength regardless of which chemical you decide to use. Very fine or thin plants react much more readily to oxidizers than thick waxy leaves such as java fern and anubias.

 

[fish_4_all]

I took a close look at the Christmas moss, Pearlweed and Anbias where I did the spot treatment and the algae is already reddish so it is on it's way out. I think I will keep puttin ghte Excel directly on the moss instead of a "treatment" until it is gone. The anubias is going to get treated sometime today I hope and likely with a 10:1 water:excel ratio, just enough to toothbrush the entire plant.

I had an EXTREME thought today about taking the fish out and overdosing the tank by 10x to kill all the algae but it flitted away before I was crazy enoguh to really consider it. Would probably actually work but I am not going to work that hard to get rid of a little algae.

Thanks for the heads up on the Christmas moss, I would do a 10:1 ratio so I don't damage this beautiful plant. Also very good point about stocking up, the growth spurt may be an illusion but it sure looks like a huge spurt to me.

 

[7Enigma]

That extreme idea would probably also nuke your biofilter.....

When doing the anubias remember the time you start the first leaf needs to be taken into consideration. I prefer dips with agitation since you are sure no part of the plant was in longer than X seconds. Peroxide's cheap. I would just pour 1/2 the bottle on the plant in a small bowl and make sure you get it all covered. I didn't know about peroxide when I did my anubias and instead used a 1:20 dilution of bleach in tap water for 2 minutes, then did a TON of washing, then a soak in dechlor, then added back to the tank.

 

[fish_4_all]

Thats even better. Can't beat it if it that easy. I figured I would have to do a scrub and wash and scrub and wash, etc. Just bought two brand new bottles of peroxide, 2/$1, gotta love the dollar stores.

Will take before and after picks to see how well it works.

 

[7Enigma]

30 seconds contact time. If you can fill a small bowl do it that way. General rule for all treatment with chemicals is to NOT let the roots get treated. I normally hold by the root ball and dunk and vibrate the plant so there are no air spots. Then immediately wash well with water, then back into the tank. You should notice changes as early as tomorrow.

 

[jsoong]

I have a somewhat different way of doing the Excel treatment. I am too lazy to remove the plants, plus uprooting it surely must cause damage & set the plant back (I don't want another episode of total leaf melt like when I moved my Anubias.).

I took a plastic cup & poke a hole in the bottom, just large enough to tightly fit the business end of a syringe. I cover a plant with the cup, burying the rim a little bit to get as good a seal as possible. Then I inject my daily dose of Excel into the cup, and let the whole thing sit for 15 minutes or so. My daily dose is 5 ml, & the cup is about 100 ml, so I have maybe a 20:1 dilution in the cup. So far I have noticed a significant algae dieoff in plants so treated, although not 100%.

I agree that for easily removable plants, the H2O2 dip is the way to go. But my in-tank spot Excel treatment gives anothe alternative.

 

[fish_4_all]

Never Mind, I just did 3 dips getting the leaves as much as possible without getting any peroxide on the good roots and as little as possible on the old green roots. Will update with pics every day until it either dies or doesn't.

But if someone else has this problem, what would be the best way to handle this situation?

The roots are very high in some areas of the plant. The roots are very green and not very new so it may be alright to dip them but I wanted to ask first. The new white roots are all below the anchor I have the anubias on except for one and it isn't very long so I won't worry about that one.

Should I go ahead with the dip because they are old roots and not new flesh roots? Or should I play this whole thing safe and do an excel dip?

Or maybe even try the cup thing with Excel on a water change day so I can give it a good 3ml?

 

[7Enigma]

The roots are very high in some areas of the plant. The roots are very green and not very new so it may be alright to dip them but I wanted to ask first. The new white roots are all below the anchor I have the anubias on except for one and it isn't very long so I won't worry about that one.

Should I go ahead with the dip because they are old roots and not new flesh roots? Or should I play this whole thing safe and do an excel dip?

Or maybe even try the cup thing with Excel on a water change day so I can give it a good 3ml?

Auxiliary roots on most plants are not that important. Things like hygro, rotala, and wisteria will send out roots from stems/leaves much higher in the plant in order to absorb more nutrients from the water column. If those are the types your talking about, a dip won't be a problem. If you are talking about roots coming directly off the rhizome, I would try to keep the chemicals off of them. They are probably tough enough to survive without a problem, but I wouldn't chance it (especially if you don't see visible algae on the roots).

 

[fish_4_all]

Well so far the algae doesn;t look good but isn't dying very fast. Will see in a couple more days if the Peroxide dip took care of it or not. And yes, the bottle was brand new.