Flourish excel causing recycle

[sliderfish]

So I came home this afternoon to see my favorite fish dead...my female gbr was freshly deceased.

I quickly checked my specs and was shocked to see ammonia had risen to 1.0 and trates were at 0...

I just did a large water change saturday of about 50% and added flourish excel for the first time. I did as the bottle suggested adding one cap for every ten gal on initial use...in my 29 I added two and a half caps...the bottle suggested adding a cap for every 50 gal every other day so yesterday I added half a cap.

To the best of my knowledge what happened was a kill off of my bb. Is this correct? will I need to wait for a complete recycle now?

I am assuming the directions are overkill, does anyone have a recommendation for dosing the excel in an amount that keeps my plants looking strong and algae down, but is safe for my fish and bb?

I only have one oto in the tank currently and was planning on starting to restock this week, but now that looks doubtful.

 

[aqua_chem]

Excel won't hurt fish, inverts, plants, or BB at normal dosing. I have used up to triple the recommended dose without severe side effects (although the shrimp didn't like it much).

Rams just die like that, unfortunately. One day they're full of zip, the next the croak. The ammonia spike was likely a result of the fish starting to decompose in the water.

 

[Jscoggins]

I have used Excel for years now and I have never lost a fish to it....I think the fish just died...sorry!!!

And I don't think Excel will cause your tank to cycle..

 

[jetajockey]

I have to agree, have never had any issues dosing excel, I've even dosed glutaraldehyde at 3-4x concentration without any noticeable issue. I've also had many a ram die for no reason, its the reason I stopped breeding them after a year.

 

[Batt4Christ]

If you poured you a pan of excel, then soaked your filter media in it for a bit, then yes - you would likely get a cycle. The main ingredient in Excel is used in the rest of the world as a sanitizer for medical instruments that cannot be put in an autoclave (can't be heated). It is quite effective at that. BUT

Diluted to a such an incredible level in an aquarium - even a double or triple dose won't even begin to upset the bio filter.

You definitely have something else going on - and it could be that the fish just died. As others have posted, they do that sometimes.

 

[sliderfish]

Ok thanks for the responses...I understand rams just die at times. The spike was more of a concern to me. I didn't think the decomp would be that extreme.

Ill continue to dose according to directions then

Sorry for the delayed response, my new daughter decided to make her debut a little early!

 

[rkilling1]

sorry for the delayed response, my new daughter decided to make her debut a little early!

congratulations!

 

[CorallineAlgae]

Is it possible that you may have forgotten to dechlorinate the water during that last water change? That could happen to anybody and would cause a recycle. It's an easy slip-up to make.

 

[DragonFish71]

Like everyone else, I can't see Excel being the problem. GBRs are notorious for dying without a reason. One minute they're fine, the next they're dead.

As for the ammonia spike, could something else have died in the tank that you can't find? Like a pleco or something?

Or, your tap water might have high ammonia in it.

 

[Bbush]

New baby?

 

[sliderfish]

New baby?

Yes! She was born Wednesday at 11:33! Elliot Ryan Morgan!

The fish tanks have tanken a bit of a back seat

I am confident the spike was from the dead GBR...she was the only fish in the tank and it has stabilized after a water change