# Excel and Bettas



## StrangeDejavu (May 1, 2014)

Well, seemingly out of no where, i've developed a hair algae outbreak in both of my planted 10 gallons. I've done multiple water changes, scrubbed the plants with a tooth brush, bumped my sponge filter bubbler up to increase surface agitation/filtration and repeatedly turned the sand over. Whenever I do this, it puts a serious whooping on the hair algae population, but sure enough it comes right back. This horrible stuff is starting to choke the life out of my micro sword as it's all tangled up in it and the tips are turning yellow and brown. My low light/low tech tanks are starting to require more upkeep than I ever intended going into this.

I have heard of people using Excel as an algaecide with great success on hair algae and BBA. If I dose using the recommended instructions, will my bettas be fine? I imagine they could handle it better than gill-breathing fish since they breathe from the surface. I'm looking for absolute certain answers from those who have used Excel, and not a "I think it will be okay" response (no offense). My bettas lives are worth more to me than a coin toss. ;-)


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## Bikeridinguckgirl14 (Oct 22, 2013)

Have you tried snails?


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## StrangeDejavu (May 1, 2014)

I have a Nerite in each tank and they only eat off the aquarium walls and ornaments. They pass up the hair algae entirely. :/


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## givemethatfish (Feb 10, 2014)

Yeah the only way I was ever able to get rid of hair algae was a combination of manually removing it and dosing the plants with hydrogen peroxide. I had to take the plants out, dip them, and replant them.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

I use Excel at the recommended dosage with no ill-effects on any of my fish or inverts.

And don't apologize for asking for answers from those with actual experience with whatever your concerns. Anyone can Google and regurgitate what they find.

Ann Landers had a saying: Base it on what you know and not what you think. Wise woman, our Ms. Landers.


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## StrangeDejavu (May 1, 2014)

givemethatfish- It didn't hurt the plants? Someone advised me to do a bleach dip on Anacharis once, they said 3-5 minutes was safe so I did 2 minutes to be extra safe, and the entire plant ended up dying.

Russel- Thanks! I think I have narrowed down the source of the algae. I was doing 10 hours a day of light, went to 8 and the algae was just exploding still. I didn't think about it, but I think i'm overdosing ferts. I have the sand substrate loaded with root tabs and I also dose liquid ferts twice a week. Ferts as a culprit would be easier to explain since my lighting is not outrageous and i've even restricted it considerably. If it grows right back, then i'll know it's something more and i'll explore the Excel route.

Thanks again guys!


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

From what I know hair algae is cause by imbalance of nutrients and too much light. I got rid of mine with amano shrimp and I got rid of BBA with SAE.


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## StrangeDejavu (May 1, 2014)

How many Amono shrimp, Tony? I tried keeping Ghost Shrimp with my betta once and he wasn't having it. After 4 days he stopped being territorial, but he always ate ALL the shrimp food. Even when I sprayed the flake with a turkey baster, he momentarily became a cory catfish.


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

I keep 7 amanos in my 37g, but if your betta is aggressive you might have to remove the hair algae manually and did figure out the balance for your tank. All planted tanks are different when it comes to balance.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

My hair algae started when I ran out of Excel and didn't order more. Fast growing plants like Cabomba, Hornwort and Anacharis help by eating up the nutrients faster than the algae.


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

Very true Russell, I forgot to mention that, but I hate cabomba and hornwort personally. I do like anacharis and hygrophila polysperma can grow pretty fast.


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## mpooyan83 (Apr 12, 2014)

I didnt a whole lot of hair algae issues, just a ton of brown and green algae on the plants and glass and driftwood... I have Cherry shrimp which take care of any hair algae for the most part. Also have 1 mystery snail that dosnt do jack s**t. 
SOOOO, I got 3 Otos, and put them in the tank around 8pm the night I gotem... woke up in the morning to find no algae on the glass, plants and driftwood.... and even the tad bit of hair algae on the driftwood on gone. I LOVE my Otos. I just heard they are sensative to water conditions, so I hope I can care for them properly. 
I'm worried now that there wont be enough algae in the tank to feed them and the snail.

http://www.petsmart.com/live-pet/live-fish/otocinclus-zid36-15277/cat-36-catid-700002


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## Tony2632 (Aug 30, 2013)

Otocinclus are nice fish, I lost 3 out of 6 last year because I made a few stupid mistakes. My otos never ate hair algae, but they love green spot and brown algae.


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## mpooyan83 (Apr 12, 2014)

Dont mean to put on the spot Tony... BUT, may I ask what the mistakes were so I dont makem? dont wanna lose my 3 Otos.


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## DaytonBetta (Feb 4, 2014)

I use Excel in my planted community tank with a betta. I have Anacharis so I dose every other day with slightly less than the recommended dose. I love the algae control and the plant growth.

You definitely need to reduce the photoperiod. I cleaned my decorations with bleach, reduced light to 8h and started Excel. It has made a huge difference. You can check out my journal on here if you want to see pictures and further discussion about Excel.


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## StrangeDejavu (May 1, 2014)

Thanks for the input guys. Since a few of you have experience using Excel with bettas, I feel better about potentially trying it. How have some of your bettas reacted to the initial "super-dose"? Seachem's instructions say to use 1 capful per 10 gallons at first then 1 capful per 50 gallons after that.


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## MameJenny (Jun 11, 2012)

I've been using Excel for a week. The initial "super-dose" didn't harm them or my snails, as far as I can tell. I've been adding a smaller dose every day since then. I accidentally squirted some right next to Mr. Gold, and it didn't seem to hurt him...I think it's pretty safe. Also, my red plants are redder than they've ever been, and plant growth has probably doubled.  I also tried using some on my driftwood to get rid of the green fuzzy algae that grows on the moss. It seemed to work pretty well for that purpose.


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## StrangeDejavu (May 1, 2014)

Good to here Jenny. 

One final question: If I use this as an algaecide, and it kills the hair algae, will it come back when I stop using it? I don't want to have to dose something every single day to avoid algae bloom as I often go out of town for 2-4 days at a time. Would hate to get it under control then it come back simply because I missed a few doses.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

You can miss doses; just not a month or two as I did. 

Excel is beneficial to plants so worth using along with fertilizers. I alternate Excel and Flourish.


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## StrangeDejavu (May 1, 2014)

I'm going for as low tech as I can, so if at all possible i'm going to save Excel as a last resort method.

I _think_ I may have pinpointed the source of my hair algae, but i'm not certain. It didn't make sense to me that some guys could do 10-14 hours of light and i'm still pulling golfball sized amounts of hair algae out at 7 hours. My phosphates test very low (0.25 ppm) so the next area I considered was excess nutrients. I have root tabs in the sand and dose liquid Flourish twice a week. While looking for new root tabs, I found a site which sells tabs/pellets that apparently smoke Flourish tabs. In the description, the site says something like "feed the roots, not the algae (like water column ferts do)". That got me thinking... On Sunday, I scored on a huge Craigslist find, easily $1,000 worth of aquarium equipment for $150. In the 55g tank was a few plants- various Anubias and Java fern species. I clipped all the dead leaves and roots off, floated the plants in vases which sat under 6500k lights and dosed 2x the recommended dose of liquid Flourish. Four days later (today), I peek in the bottom of the vases and see hair algae growing on the rhizomes and roots of the plants. Either I contaminated these plants at some point, or the excess nutrients is the culprit. Time will tell, I suppose.


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## RussellTheShihTzu (Mar 19, 2013)

IMO, the only ways to keep hair algae in check are to dose Excel, manually remove or have fast-growing plants that out-compete it for nutrients.

Anubias are, again IMO, gorgeous plants; I'd love to have a tank with nothing but. Unfortunately, they are slow-growers and practically invite hair algae to visit. :-(

I started dosing Excel again on Sunday and between that and manually removing, it's almost gone. Now I have to cultivate algae on my Akro Agate cullet to feed the Nerites. :roll: (Cullet is the leftover from marble-making.)


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