[Kegan Clark]

Hey guys,

I was wondering if anyone here knows if excel can cause problems with shrimps.

My RCS were happy and swimming around my 40 gal doing stuff but now day 4 of dosing with excel daily, I notice 2 cherry shrimps suddenly die.

I'm not sure but their bodies looked like they had a lot of dark spots maybe?

Any ideas?

Ammonia/Nitrites 0, PH 6.8, GH 5-6

 

[Pattern8]

I have read that others have had this problem with excel and sensitive invertebrates like shrimp. I believe it's suggested to cut the dose in half when using in tanks with shrimp.

 

[Termato]

Yeah, I've had a recent correlation like this between dosing Excel and Shrimp death. two weeks ago I started dosing my shrimp tank and notice 3 shrimp die within that week.

 

[randym]

Seachem claims it's safe, but my shrimp don't seem to like it.

This guy also found his shrimp do better without Excel:

Dosing Fertilizers with Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp .:. Information on dosing fertilizers in a planted Aquarium with Shrimp

You might try a low dose and gradually ramping up. I use Excel in some of my shrimp tanks, but I use only a half dose, broken into two doses (so a quarter dose in the morning, a quarter dose in the evening).

 

[Kegan Clark]

Seachem claims it's safe, but my shrimp don't seem to like it.

This guy also found his shrimp do better without Excel:

Dosing Fertilizers with Freshwater Aquarium Shrimp .:. Information on dosing fertilizers in a planted Aquarium with Shrimp

You might try a low dose and gradually ramping up. I use Excel in some of my shrimp tanks, but I use only a half dose, broken into two doses (so a quarter dose in the morning, a quarter dose in the evening).

Thanks for all the replies, I'm pretty sure this is what's causing them to look inactive and sickly too--I'm going to cut it to a half dose cut in half (quarter dose morning and quarter dose night) and see if that helps. Sadly I didn't suspect this until after I already dosed today. I hope they make it =(

 

[WaterLife]

Yeah, same here. Haven't dosed Excel personally, but have heard similar experiences. You can try lower doses if you want. I would still suggest shoo-ing away the shrimp from the general area where you are administering the dose, just so they don't get hit by a strong concentration at once.

I'm not sure about the dark spots you are seeing, but if any new shrimp die, check their underside and see if their internal tissue turns milky white (necrosis).

 

[AquaAurora]

I dose 3x Excel in a 12g long that has a lot of ohko stone(3ml) a day and have a thriving cherry shrimp colony (various graces from wild to painted fire red). I also do a 2x dose on a 2g tank with about a half dozen shrimp (.04ml) a day. I've dosed directly onto shrimp when treating micro swords for algae and did not have any deaths or freak outs(no back work swim spazes). I've been doing this excel doing for over a year and a half.

 

[Kegan Clark]

if any new shrimp die, check their underside and see if their internal tissue turns milky white (necrosis).

It was milky--what does that mean?

Bump:

Yeah, same here. Haven't dosed Excel personally, but have heard similar experiences. You can try lower doses if you want. I would still suggest shoo-ing away the shrimp from the general area where you are administering the dose, just so they don't get hit by a strong concentration at once.

I'm not sure about the dark spots you are seeing, but if any new shrimp die, check their underside and see if their internal tissue turns milky white (necrosis).

See this what is confusing me--people seem to be fine with excel sometimes- which suggests its actually something else and people (like me) are mistakenly attributing it to excel when it could be something else entirely?

 

[BadApple]

I dose 3x Excel in a 12g long that has a lot of ohko stone(3ml) a day and have a thriving cherry shrimp colony (various graces from wild to painted fire red). I also do a 2x dose on a 2g tank with about a half dozen shrimp (.04ml) a day. I've dosed directly onto shrimp when treating micro swords for algae and did not have any deaths or freak outs(no back work swim spazes). I've been doing this excel doing for over a year and a half.

Same experience here. Did a full dosing in my 55 for 3 months and ramped up to a double dose. Dosing 2x for a solid 7 months now. Started with maybe 12 shrimp and have hundreds now. Even with my blue rams eating some babies.