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Staghorn Algae I will kill thee!!

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algae crinum calamistratum staghorn
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SmoothSailor

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Discussion Starter · #1 ·
Please help!! I have a Crinum calamistratum that is covered in staghorn algae. It's all over my tank, but it is really enjoying my Crinum calamistratum and my vals. I can't pull my vals out of my tank easily, but I can pull my Crinum out. I was thinking about pulling this plant out, putting it in a bucket, and dosing the crap out of it with Excel. I can't dose it in the tank because I have shrimp. The last time I did high doses of Excel it killed some of my shrimp. I have decreased the light time. I have increased my ferts and I have tried to scrap the staghorn off the plant by hand. (DID NOT WORK!!) So....what do you guys and girls think? Will I kill my $16 Crinum calamistratum if I high dose it with Excel???:icon_eek:
 
Darkblade48

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#2 ·
While you probably cannot overdose Excel without risk to your shrimp and/or Vallisneria, you can probably try spot dosing the Crinum with normal doses of Excel instead. Turn off your filter and let things settle for about 10 minutes, and then spot treat the Excel onto the Crinum using a syringe. Let it work for about 10 minutes, and then turn your filter back on.
 
T

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#3 ·
What did you try to raise as far as ferts go? What's your NO3 level?

I ask because as I'm sure you have read elsewhere, raising NO3 often makes easy task of ridding a tank of staghorn (the thick, clearish looking stuff). Shame it's not looking as easy in your case... New tank?

As far as Excel goes, I've had pretty good results ridding algae using the standard dose, it just takes longer... might be an option, specially if the tank is small, wouldn't cost much to dose Excel for a month or so... Not sure how effective it is on staghorn though, I have been lucky to date just raising NO3 to eliminate staghorn.

Hope you solve it!
Giancarlo Podio
 
T

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#5 ·
I was thinking of suggesting H2O2 myself but I haven't tried it with your particular plants or any shrimp in the tank so I hesitated... Might be worth a try if 15-20ppm of nitrates don't help, perhaps remove the shrimp if possible during treatment, H2O2 has a very short life in the tank so it wouldn't be a long isolation. Most rooted plants do well with H2O2, the ones that I killed with higher doses all grew back as the root structure was protected from the H2O2. Floating plants on the other hand pretty much got wiped out at high levels...

Cheers,
Giancarlo Podio
 
xmas_one

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#6 ·
tuvix72 said:
I was thinking of suggesting H2O2 myself but I haven't tried it with your particular plants or any shrimp in the tank so I hesitated... Might be worth a try if 15-20ppm of nitrates don't help, perhaps remove the shrimp if possible during treatment, H2O2 has a very short life in the tank so it wouldn't be a long isolation. Most rooted plants do well with H2O2, the ones that I killed with higher doses all grew back as the root structure was protected from the H2O2. Floating plants on the other hand pretty much got wiped out at high levels...

Cheers,
Giancarlo Podio
Click to expand...
I dosed mine with shrimp and nerites in the tank with no problems/losses.
 
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Mr. Leg
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