# seachem Flourish Excel Overdose



## jlennon (Oct 10, 2011)

On Sunday 2/2/14 I realized I overdosed my Tank with Seachem's Flourish Excel in my 125 gallon, planted tank. During my adventure I figured I would take some notes in order to educate anyone in the future who has the misfortune of this event. 

-In no way do I want to bash of slander Seachem or their products. I am very happy with their products and if I fallowed directions and was more careful I would not be in this situation.-

How did I OD my tank:
I hooked a Tom Aqua Lifter AW-20 Vacuum Pump on a digital timer. I had one end of the pump in a bottle of Seachem Flourish Excel and the outlet in my 125. The timer was set to run for six minutes, with the amount of head and the length of hose turned out to deliver est. 10 ml of liquid to the tank. I worked out this equation over a course of a week. When I was ready to set the timer to come on 45 minutes after my HO lights and dose the 10 ml for six minutes daily I changed the timer but I set the timer to run for twelve hours and six minutes. Needless to say the bottle emptied and the pump continued to run until I turned it off. 
My best guess of the amount of liquid dumped in my 125 was anywhere from 10ml to 300ml.

Effects on the fish observed during Excel OD:
*dead fish
*patches of scales that were pale(ammonia burn), 
*eyes cloudy, 
*fins were clamped, 
*fins were tethered, 
*chaotic swimming,
*lethargic 
Effects on the tank observed during Excel OD:
*film on water surface,
*cloudiness,
*adverse effects on biological filtration(destroys BB),
*algae blooms(multiple colors),
*plant melting

Recommended steps to fix the issue:
*At least 75% water change within the first 12 hours, 
*continued large w/c for the next 24 hours(replace it as fast as you can condition it),
*limit the amount of light,
*add activated carbon to the filtration,
*be aware of Chlorine and Chloramines,
*have a good amount of beneficial bacteria on hand,
*treat tank with antibacterial remedy to heal open wounds & abrasions and something to promote regrowth of damaged fin rays & tissue. I recommend Melafix 5%.

These steps have not been proven as of yet. I have lost a total of six fish, and the plants are TBA. I wanted to get this information out there dealing with a large excel OD. When I did my searches all I found was BBA treatment, and OD in a couple ml cases. 

Here are some links:
http://www.oscarfish.com/article-hom...hem-excel.html

http://www.seachem.com/Products/prod...rishExcel.html

http://www.seachem.com/support/FAQs/FlourishExcel.html

http://www.seachem.com/support/MSDS/...hExcel.doc.pdf


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## ipkiss (Aug 9, 2011)

Man, sorry to hear about your misfortune and thanks for sharing another possible pitfall of the hobby.


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## mooncon1 (Oct 12, 2011)

Man it sucks when we make the mistakes that kill our fish.It seems like everytime I have a big mishap its my fault due to human error.Sorry to hear about your fish,but it happens and we learn from it.


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## dprais1 (Sep 12, 2012)

sorry, that sucks.

I'm not sure melafix at this point would be helpful, after all Excel is a very good antibacterial, adding more would probably mess with any attempts at re-establishing good bacteria. Adding salt to reduce stress might help...

then again crossing your fingers might be just as effective


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## jlennon (Oct 10, 2011)

dprais1 said:


> sorry, that sucks.
> 
> I'm not sure melafix at this point would be helpful, after all Excel is a very good antibacterial, adding more would probably mess with any attempts at re-establishing good bacteria. Adding salt to reduce stress might help...
> 
> then again crossing your fingers might be just as effective


I currently have the melafix in the QT tank and adding a lite dose to the main tank. I think the salt would stress the fish out more then anything else. That and crossing my fingers.


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## NeonFlux (Apr 10, 2008)

Sorry to hear about your losses. Freak accidents sucks.. It's a bummer. 

Thanks for letting us know that OD excel way too much, is not a good idea.


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## aquatik (Jan 21, 2014)

Thank you for posting your experience. I dose excel daily but never know whether the plants are utilizing enough of it for it to not build up in the tank over time and i'm getting paranoid. This helps knowing what symptoms to look out for.

Also, I thought excel overdoses killed algae, so the algae outbreak is interesting.


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## dprais1 (Sep 12, 2012)

aquatik said:


> Thank you for posting your experience. I dose excel daily but never know whether the plants are utilizing enough of it for it to not build up in the tank over time and i'm getting paranoid. This helps knowing what symptoms to look out for.
> 
> Also, I thought excel overdoses killed algae, so the algae outbreak is interesting.


I believe excel has a 10-12 hour half-life, so in 24 hours it will all be gone. so it does not build up.

probably not a outbreak, probably existing algae dying and hence the different colors he mentioned


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