Algaefix toxicity test on Red Cherry shrimp

Tom Barr

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Jan 23, 2005
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I have so many Fires and RCS I feed them to fish etc.

I had gotten some Cladophora infested moss and has induced some hair algae, Spirogyra, out side in a shallow tray with some Xmas moss that grows on my redwood burl.

I wanted to know if I could clean up the Moss by using this product that claims it will kill the green algae but not the plants or fish.
They state it will KILL inverts.

Undeterred, I added 10 RCS and dosed the 3 treatments and then a 4th.
1-2 treatments did not seem to cause any death or issues.
3, some started acting dead, but would swim off if you try and net them out.
4 treatments(one every 24 hours), finally knocked off all the shrimp and a few still where kicking....but look to be dying soon.

Many folks have moss or other plants that get infest with various Green algae, and a simple quarantine tank with an air stone with a little light is all that's needed.
After the plants are cleaned up, you can return them.

They said it was toxic to shrimp/inverts, it appears so, now I have a good method to get rid of pest RCS's but that does not harm the plants, even mosses.............or fish.
Note, this will no grow plants, you still need to address that and it's 95% CO2 issues of some sort for the green algae near as I can tell.
It took longer to kill the Spirogyra and other green algae however, took about 1 week total time.

I added some Syg. "belem" to a tray outside for 4 days and it was covered quickly with green algae. The Algaefix also had no adverse effect on the plants and managed to kill off the algae.
Controls had no Algaefix added and the algae was still very much present, but softer.

So if you have shrimp etc in your tank, you can remove the troubled plants, add to a small tank, treat etc.
If you lack shrimp, then you can hit it in the tank.

Still you need to work on CO2 likely.
So this only helps to clean things up while you do that.
 

Bill

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Hi Tom,

I have a little bit of Spirogyra on my UG and HC, by little I mean a 3x3 area. I didn't see it anyplace else in the tank, if it's there I'm missing it.
Do you think it would take a week to take out that small amount?
Also the dosage states to use 1ml per 10g every 3 days. In your post above you said >>4 treatments(one every 24 hours)
 

Tom Barr

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I think a single dose ought to knock back minor issues if you catch them soon. Also, dose the region when you do a water change with no current around the area, then refill the tank after a few minutes.
I doubt anyone needs more than this for the green species of algae.

Tougher cases, might take 2 doses, but realistically, you have other issues if it comes back after a single dose.

Fix the root issue, this is just to reduce the last bits of the algae issue.
 

puopg

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Hey just wanted to add to this thread...

I have dosed the recommended for 3 days in a row and i saw no RCS deaths. This was about a month ago. I had a bit of hair algae on my heater so i said "ah what the heck, ill just spot treat with algae fix". 1 recommended dose during a water change later, i lost quite a few shrimp. I am not sure if maybe an increase in GH or CO2 might have also been a player in this death. However, my fish when i come home are near the bottom of the tank so I am guessing the CO2 is alright during the day. I came home during lunch 2 days ago and the fish were fine. I rule out CO2 also since i have had CO2 to the point where my fish have gasped and still no RCS died. Combination effect? maybe.

Also, I dose excel with UG. Have spot treated a bit. No issues. I tried spot dosing algaefix on UG, it did not like it. The few blades I treated melted. Not sure if anyone else has had experience with these chemicals on UG but i think UG is pretty sensitive so just an FYI.
 
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