How Long Does Excel Need To Kill Brush Algae?

F

Fazzafaris

AC Members
Aug 12, 2003
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Reigate, Surrey, England
I am fighting against a black brush algae problem at the moment that I have had for years. I finally got sick of bleach treating my wood/rocks periodically and bought some Flourish Excel. I read just about every post on this site about dosing Excel to fight algae, and then did the following:-

Day 1) 50% water change and dose triple the specified initial Excel amount
Day 2) Dose single recommended daily amount
Day 3) Dose double recommended daily amount
Day 4 onwards) Dose triple recommended daily amount

So far nothing has happened at all to the algae. My plants look great though
I have started to notice a new type of green algae beginning to develop too. I am on day 9 now of my dosing regime, and I would like to know when I can expect to see something happen to this damned algae?

TIA
 
Before getting too gungho about using Excel as an algacide using big doses, you should consider the following which is taken from a post at another site:
The active ingredient in Excel is polycyclogutaracetal which is derived from glutaraldehyde, a toxic disinfectant. Excel does have a biocidal effect on algae and a few plants other than just improving plant growth. Anacharis and vals are often reported susceptible to Excel and I've personally seen riccia killed off quickly using Excel.

I personally would not overdose Excel, it being derived from a disinfectant used to sterilize medical equipment and all, plus Seachem advises against it.
Click to expand...
 
if you are willing to remove affected plants (or lower the water level enough so that affected leaves are above the waterline) you can put some Prime dechlor in a spray bottle and spritz it directly onto the algae. the Prime will kill it, but of course without solving the underlying problem it will come back eventually.
 
Sorted my BBA out, I mistakenly used just flourish not flourish excel to start off with. I also used a syringe to spot kill some in a friends tank.... that method worked real well
 
I tried prime on some BBA on anubias leaf edges. It may have killed the algae but it killed the leaves too. I was glad I just did a few, got a couple spots on other leaves & now have holes. Is it just anubias? I thought they were pretty hard to kill.
 
maybe the salts from the prime got them.
 
I read somewhere that bbg can be spot treated with hydrogen peroxide with a syringe or eyedropper. The person claimed that the bbg turned white and died within a few days. Pics seemed to confirm his claim.

Have not tried it myself. I had this problem years ago when first starting out and finally gave up and emptied the tank. Nasty stuff.
 
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