Vallisneria and Seachem Excel

[Ramba Bamba]

I have Leopard Vallisneria in my 30g tank. When I first put it in they melted but then began to grow back strong and have side shoots. I have since noticed an outbreak of BBA. I tried using H2O2 but it only worked so much. I have now began dosing Excel. I am on my 3rd day only dosing 20ml in my 30 gallon tank. The Leopard Val has now started to melt aggressively. Should I power through and hope the grow back like they have in the past or stop dosing Excel immediately? 

[RickHunter]

Vallisneria is known to be very sensitive to the active ingredient in Excel and other "liquid carbon" products. I have heard some people where the Vallisneria will melt back aggressively and come back stronger once it adapts to encountering the chemical but I've also heard the inverse where they melt off an never come back (but that also may be a product of the circumstances of those setups. such as them melting aggressively and then not being tall enough to reach enough light to bounce back from the bottom)

I would say in the end it depends on how attached to your Vallisneria you are and how much you want to stop the BBA. Another option would be to cut your dosing and see if the Vallisneria tolerates that better until it possibly adapts to the Excel. You could also try a spot dosing method using a pipette to target the most stubborn BBA (this also acts as a way of reducing the dosage the Vallisneria is getting if you don't approach it as hitting everything at once)

[Ramba Bamba]

Yeah I’m not super attached to the Val. I would trade my Val for no BBA any day. Also a lot of the BBA is on the Val itself and the Java moss. I just wanna have my cake and eat it too, but I think I’ll continue and see what happens. 

[Colu]

Recommended dose for flourish excel is 5ml for 10gallons I would lower the the amount you are puting in the tank to 15ml 

[Ramba Bamba]

Sorry I typed the wrong thing. I am dosing 2ml in my 30 gallon tank and it’s still melting. The 5 ml per 10 galllns is the loading dosage. The daily dose is 1 ml per 10 gallons. Am I’m only doing 2 ml for my 30 gallon

[Colu]

You right I read the instructions on  the bottle wrong its 5ml for 50gallons

Edited February 5, 2021 by Colu

[Ramba Bamba]

Maybe there’s another reason to the Val melting but they were growing so well until the 2nd day of dosing Excel. And I dosed so little. So idk if it works that fast  or what but I’d rather not lose my Vallisneria. 

[RickHunter]

Id say given the timing and that you just did a loading dose its probably the Excel.

Remember the active ingredient in Excel is glutaraldehyde which is used also used as a disinfectant (its essentially the part that's choking the algae)

From what I know Vallisneria is on the more simple end of the plant spectrum in terms of the bio complexity. glutaraldehyde affects the simple things (algae) more than it would something more complex. Since Vallisneria is so simple compared to other plants it makes sense that it would take a hit from that chemical more than other plants. That also why its better to take the less is more approach since if you dosed high enough it would start to break down the other plants as well.

Bottom line, less is more with chemicals.

[Ramba Bamba]

Yeah and that’s why I specifically did not do a loading dose and only dosed 2.5ml day one. Got worried and pulled back to only 2ml but have still seen significant melting. I guess I’ll just keep my routine of 2ml and see if the Val can bounce back. 🤷‍♂️ 

[Colu]

I have better results when stop treating BBA with flourish excel

[Ramba Bamba]

Alright I’m gonna stop. The Seachem rep I spoke to told me to stop too. He said I must have over dosed and Ben tho it was 2.5 ml