# duckweed dieing?



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

The other day I had some bad hair algae on a tall plant and I dosed it with excel directly with a syringe. Then I left the light off for a few days. Today I turned on the light to check things out while I fed the fish and there are hundreds of one inch threads floating around in the tank and it clogged up my filter intake. You would think a bunch of egeria died or something but I don't have any in the tank. The only thing I can think of is the duckweed that has covered the surface. It must be the roots of the duckweed from a mass die off of the duckweed.

So, does duckweed die fast without some light or is it very sensitive to excel? I cleared of the filter intake for now, but tomorrow I have some work to do to clean all this up, wish I wasn't too tired right now to do it.

I also had two dead mollies which is very unusual. One would be fine, possibly old age, but two has me concerned. I did do a quick ammonia and nitrite test in case the filter intake has been clogged for a while but both show 0.

Also that crypt didn't like being dosed directly with excel, but the plant should be fine and looks like I killed all the hair algae at least.

Another interesting thing is the leaves of all the crypts are pointing up. They must be trying to reach the light.

I am just amazed at the number of one inch threads floating around, must have been a few thousand. 

Anyone know what the cause was? Light or excel?


----------



## pyrrolin (Jan 11, 2012)

I'm thinking the two deaths were possibly caused by the fish getting the roots stuck in their throats or gills or something


----------



## perfectgravity (Nov 27, 2012)

Not sure about the duckweed as I never had any. 

Excel has been known to cause fish deaths if over dosed. If you want something less harsh use Hydrogen Peroxide direct injection on the algae. It takes more applications, but it's just as effective.


----------

