# If you want to be forced to do a 50% water change...



## dotbomb (Jan 5, 2011)

Just add Flourish Excel to your planted mbuna tank :x

I guess I'll try root tabs next.

Anyone want to buy a newly opened bottle of excel?


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

I assume that you had some type of bad result? Can you tell us what happened so we might know a bit more about the complaint? I've used Excel with no bad result other than one has to watch for melting some types of plants. I don't think of mbuna and plants too often as there are so many that eat the plants.


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## dotbomb (Jan 5, 2011)

Sorry, I left out the detail of what happened.

All of my fish became immediately stressed. They started pacing like crazy along both ends of the tank. Within minutes about half of them sat listlessly on the bottom.

As soon as I saw the pacing I started draining my tank. The 50% water change gave them immediate relief and they are doing fine this morning.

I have planted my tank with anubias and java fern. My fish pretty much leave it alone.


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## Deeda (Oct 12, 2012)

Sorry you had a bad experience with using the Excel. I haven't had any problems using it in my planted Malawi, Tang or shrimp tanks. I always add the recommended dose right after a 50% water change and then the reduced amount every other day.


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## xxbenjamminxx (Jan 22, 2011)

I dont have any plant, except a Marimo Moss ball, but am looking into getting some, For my knowledge any idea why this happened or what was making them pace n lie there?

Does it increase Nitrates or something?


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## exasperatus2002 (Jul 5, 2003)

Or...you can let my 3 yr old daughter stop by with a bottle of bubble soap so the fishies can blow bubbles to. as she put it after pouring half the bottle into my 150 gallon preformed pond the other day. Had to completely empty pond rinse out & refill. Luckily I didnt loose any goldfish.


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## dotbomb (Jan 5, 2011)

xxbenjamminxx said:


> I dont have any plant, except a Marimo Moss ball, but am looking into getting some, For my knowledge any idea why this happened or what was making them pace n lie there?
> 
> Does it increase Nitrates or something?


I only stopped long enough to test pH and I didn't see a noticeable difference. I should have grabbed a water sample in a cup but I was moving pretty quick to change the water.

I'll probably run a test on some tap water before attempting to dose any tank I own with it again.


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## xxbenjamminxx (Jan 22, 2011)

dotbomb said:


> xxbenjamminxx said:
> 
> 
> > I dont have any plant, except a Marimo Moss ball, but am looking into getting some, For my knowledge any idea why this happened or what was making them pace n lie there?
> ...


Well glad to hear that there wasnt any loses for ya! That would have really bummed me out.


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## jeaninel (Nov 1, 2009)

Hey dotbomb,
If you only have Anubias and Java Ferns you won't need root tabs as they get their nutrients from the water column rather than the substrate. I use Seachem Flourish Comprehensive liquid fertilizer and dose once a week a day or so after a water change. I have a couple tanks with just Anubias and Java Fern that I don't even dose a fertilizer and they do fine.


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## dotbomb (Jan 5, 2011)

jeaninel said:


> Hey dotbomb,
> If you only have Anubias and Java Ferns you won't need root tabs as they get their nutrients from the water column rather than the substrate. I use Seachem Flourish Comprehensive liquid fertilizer and dose once a week a day or so after a water change. I have a couple tanks with just Anubias and Java Fern that I don't even dose a fertilizer and they do fine.


Thanks. Good to know! I'm definitely not going to be adding anything for a while. I have Seachem Flourish for my 20g long that has wisteria and anacharis and those seem to like it.

I'll probably try Flourish out on the 100g tank.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

No way to say at this point but I would guess there are other reasons rather than just the Excel. Sometimes we mess ourselves up and just never know what it was. Possible polution of some sort would be my guess. Maybe like washing your hands good before moving some plants???? Little things that we don't see can bite us.


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## AdamP (Mar 26, 2011)

I don't use excel at all anymore. I dosed it following instructions on the bottle and lost 2 ram cichlids because of it.


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## londonloco (Mar 31, 2011)

Unless you overdosed, Excel was not the reason for your distressing fish.


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## dotbomb (Jan 5, 2011)

I have a plastic syringe/medicine dropper I use for measurements.

I followed the dosing instructions for Day 1 on the label and within minutes my fish were stressed. I think it is unlikely that the stress was just coincidental.


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