<3, Bill.
Excel will totally kill this kind of thread algae and while some purists think it's cheating (and I'm normally one of those guys who thinks of himself as a purist), I know for a fact lots of name guys who know plants use it for short periods during trouble times as an algaecide and just don't talk about it. Lots. LOTS. My opinion is Excel and this kind of Algae is an easy kill and a quick fix, just like a big water change after a misdose or being stupid and killing fish. And, most importantly, it does not harm plants. (Its better to cheat a little than to ever use anything that harms plants. IMO this includes Hydrogen Peroxide, which will melt many sensitive plants with spot doses. Excel will hurt some plants too, but not many.)
So if it doesn't die back even more or something I'll pick up some Excel.
But it is dying back already. After the Dario masacre, I did lots (maybe 5 of 50%?) of water changes for about two days. Following instinct, I increased CO2, which with my non-limiting light should drive up plant uptake, so I also bumped my P dose. I did not dose N because plants prefer inorganic N (such as from KNO3) to organic N (such as from my dead fish), and I figured I needed their help with that. (I always dose an excess of K and traces.) I added 6 Amano shrimp last week after I felt good about the CO2 level and the fish but **** its awesome to watch the Paradise Fish attack shrimp. I pulled those bodies out the next morning. About a week ago I started dosing N again.
But after your question I remembered that I used to be able to induce then kill this algae whenever I wanted, posted pictures about it through a bunch of threads, and that in exchanges with Travis and folks I thought we found the secret to this stuff and that it led to better plant health (and easier since we dose anyway) then using Excel. After searching through threads I now see my experience then was different than now: we thought the secret was not enough N. If you get around to it, check out this blasts from the past, which were really good threads including posts and pics from some folks who had very nice tanks, some of which hit those nice golden moments shortly after they figured out the stuff in these exact threads! :
Doing it with dosing:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forums/f24/hair-algae-problem-70881.html
Doing it with Excel/Algaecide:
http://www.aquariumadvice.com/forum...h-peroxide-to-kill-82921.html?highlight=Excel
So after reading them and recalling past experience, I think I made a mistake by dropping N dosing once the fish died. But not sure. I'd need to set up a tank and play with organic N (I have only played with C.A.N., which I believe to be inorganic NH4) to have a better guess, but I'm not going to do that because thats the kind of thought process that had me spending a little time with lots of test tanks instead of as much time as I can with one favorite fun tank
I'll post updates on the thread. In the dosing (no Excel) thread you'll see this same algae in front of some L. brevipes and ET... I remember within three weeks or so that part of that tank was one of my favorites and it made me believe growing plants in a high uptake tank with was way easy and fun.
If folks do get around to (re)reading those threads, ignore what I said about 5ppm PO4 and algae. I had done it since because smarter people did not believe me, and now understand that was from something else (the C.A.N.) and my test/method was wrong.
Anyway, I hope this helps. I hope it helps my tank, too.
