So the day before yesterday I decided to dose my one 20 gallon tank with some Flourish Excel. This is a tank which has been established almost a year. I'd done a 50% water change the day before and all the fish were acting fine. I've used Excel before in this tank, out of the 500ml bottle with no problem. Well, this time I dosed out of the 2 liter bottle...directions said 1 capful per 10 gallons, so I added 2 capfuls. After some online reading, it turns out the directions are a misprint - they mean for you to dose 1 capful on the smaller bottles whose cap holds 5ml...the larger bottle has a 15ml cap. I unknowingly dosed 3X the recommended amount of Excel in my tank. Of course I did not realize this until yesterday...
I came home from work yesterday to find cloudy tank water and my poor bronze cories with clamped fins lying listless on their sides. I didn't even waste time checking my water parameters, I did two 60% water changes. I assume the ammonia was through the roof. My platies seemed fine. The cories were still totally inactive after the water change.
I've since moved the cories to my other 20 gallon tank as the platies were picking on them badly and chewing their fins. Only 3 of the 6 look like they will make it (eating, fins no longer clamped)...another ate, but still looks bad, and the final 2 are very haggard looking and will not eat or move.
Anyway, I am wondering if anyone knows what exactly the overdose did to my tank? Did it kill my bacterial colonies? Cause some other toxic reaction? The platies did not seem harmed at all, but then again they are very resilient as far as fish go. I may pick up some Bio-Spira tomorrow for both tanks as I expect the bronze guys who make it will be recovering in my healthy 20 gallon for some time and will add to the bioload.
I came home from work yesterday to find cloudy tank water and my poor bronze cories with clamped fins lying listless on their sides. I didn't even waste time checking my water parameters, I did two 60% water changes. I assume the ammonia was through the roof. My platies seemed fine. The cories were still totally inactive after the water change.
I've since moved the cories to my other 20 gallon tank as the platies were picking on them badly and chewing their fins. Only 3 of the 6 look like they will make it (eating, fins no longer clamped)...another ate, but still looks bad, and the final 2 are very haggard looking and will not eat or move.
Anyway, I am wondering if anyone knows what exactly the overdose did to my tank? Did it kill my bacterial colonies? Cause some other toxic reaction? The platies did not seem harmed at all, but then again they are very resilient as far as fish go. I may pick up some Bio-Spira tomorrow for both tanks as I expect the bronze guys who make it will be recovering in my healthy 20 gallon for some time and will add to the bioload.
