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This article was co-written by Pippa Elliott, MRCVS. Elliott is a veterinarian with more than thirty years of experience in veterinary surgery and pet treatment. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1987 with a degree in veterinary surgeon. She has worked at a veterinary clinic in her hometown for more than 20 years.
This article has been viewed 12,523 times.
Ammonia is extremely toxic to fish and other aquatic animals. The safe concentration of ammonia in water is 0 parts per million (ppm). As long as this concentration reaches 2 parts per million, it can cause fish in the tank to die. [1] X Research Source By assessing the water in your tank and making the necessary adjustments, you can reduce the ammonia concentration in the water to a level that is safe and suitable for fish to live in.
Steps
Reducing ammonia levels in the aquarium
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Change part of the water in the tank. Partial water changes in the tank are a great and effective way to reduce ammonia levels and keep the tank clean. You should partially change the water in the tank about once a week or more often depending on the condition of the tank. To check, you can use a fish racket to evenly spread the substrate in the tank, if there is a lot of dirt floating, you need to change the water more often. [2] X Research Source
- Let the clean water sit out overnight to reduce the chlorine concentration in the water, or you can treat the water with dechlorinating agents.
- Wash hands thoroughly to remove all residue of soap, lotion, and other possible contaminants, then dry hands with a clean tissue.
- Disconnect all electrical equipment near the aquarium to prevent the risk of electric shock. You should only plug it in after you’ve done the water change and make sure everything is dry.
- To ensure the quality of the aquarium, you should change about 30% of the water in the tank. For example, with a tank with a capacity of 38 L, you need to change 11.5 L of water.
- You don’t have to move the fish to another tank when doing a partial water change, just be careful not to startle the fish when you put your hand in the tank.
- Scrape off the algae growing on the tank walls. You can buy a professional algae scraper or simply use an old bank card to do this.
- Use the suction hose to bring about 30% of the water in the tank into the bucket or another nearby tank, then slowly pour the clean, dechlorinated water into the tank.
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Remove all excess organic matter in the tank. Rotting organic matter is an important factor in increasing ammonia levels in the tank. You can use a fish racket to scoop out all the excess in the tank (basically everything but fish and live plants that you want to keep) to reduce and prevent ammonia levels in the tank. tank increases. [3] X Research Sources
- Leftover food contributes significantly to increasing ammonia levels in the tank.
- Decomposing fish waste also increases ammonia levels.
- Dead plants or dead fish in the tank will release a fair amount of ammonia.
- You need to pay attention to cleaning the water filter to avoid the accumulated organic matter being pushed back. However, you should not change the filter pad to avoid unbalanced bacteria in the water.
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Reduce the amount of food and frequency of feeding the fish. If the fish is not eating all of the food, the amount of food left in the tank can be the cause of the increased ammonia levels. You can minimize this risk by limiting the amount of leftovers your fish eats.
- Make sure to provide the fish with the necessary amount of food. You should talk to your veterinarian or fish specialist to find out how much to feed your fish.
- Note that changing fish feeding habits will not reduce high ammonia levels in the water; however, this will help prevent ammonia levels from building up after you’ve changed the water in the tank.
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Bringing probiotics into the water. Probiotics are usually concentrated at the bottom of the tank and help convert ammonia into relatively harmless nitrogen components. [4] X Source of Research If the aquarium is new or the beneficial bacteria in the tank have been significantly reduced, what fish experts call “new aquarium syndrome”.
- Some aquarists introduce probiotics into the tank by adding one or two inexpensive fish to the tank to take advantage of the beneficial bacteria from their waste. If you want to apply this method, you can put goldfish in a cold water tank, barbs in a warm water tank, or sea bream in a salt water tank.
- You can also introduce beneficial bacteria into the tank by spreading some gravel from the old aquarium to the bottom of the new aquarium.
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Lower the pH in the tank. Ammonia exists in two forms: un-ionized (NH3) or ionized to ammonium (NH4+). Non-ionized ammonia (NH3) is the form that is harmful to fish and is usually most concentrated when the pH in the water is alkaline (high on the pH scale).
- Using a pH adjuster (bought at the pet store) is probably the simplest way to lower the pH in your tank.
- Lowering the pH won’t remove ammonia, but it will help curb its harmful effects if you can’t change the tank water right away.
- A simple way to keep the pH in your tank low is to use real gravel as a base layer on the bottom of the tank. A substrate of crushed coral or coral sand will release calcium into the water, causing the pH to rise. [5] X Research Sources
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Increase water circulation. Ammonia in the form of NH3 is a toxic gas that is highly soluble in water. Increasing water circulation in the tank can help diffuse ammonia gas from the water into the air.
- Increasing water circulation is not effective for large ponds but can help control ammonia levels in the aquarium.
- You can purchase an aerator pump at most pet stores or online.
- If you regularly close the tank lid, when aerating to increase water circulation, you should open the lid because ammonia gas needs a way out of the tank to diffuse into the air.
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Use neutralizing solution. You can use this method to temporarily adjust the ammonia levels in the tank. [6] X Research Source Neutralizing solution is available at most pet stores or you can order it online.
- In fact, the neutralizing solution does not remove ammonia from the water, but only helps to neutralize its toxins, reducing its harmful effects in the water.
- You will still need to use a biological filter (containing bacteria) to convert the ammonia into nitrite and nitrate.
Identify the cause of high ammonia levels in water
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Check tap water. It is rare for tap water to have too high a concentration of ammonia because most local water systems have tested the concentration of chemicals in the water, such as ammonia, to make sure the water is safe to use. used as drinking water. However, you should still double-check if you’ve adjusted everything and the ammonia levels in the tank still haven’t dropped. [7] X Research Sources
- You can use aquarium water ammonia test kits to test tap water.
- If you find that your tap water has high levels of ammonia, talk to your local water authority.
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Check for decomposition in the aquarium. Decomposed substances in the aquarium are one of the biggest causes of high ammonia levels. You will probably find a solution to the problem by examining the types of matter in the tank. [8] X Research Sources
- All decomposing organic matter, including aquatic plants and microorganisms, can cause ammonia levels to rise when their protein structure is disrupted.
- Leftover food can also cause ammonia levels to rise as it decays in the water. [9] X Research Source
- Quickly remove all excess material from the tank. You need to take care of the tank regularly by changing all or part of the water.
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Know that fish release ammonia. If you see a lot of fish waste floating in the tank, that could be the cause of the high ammonia levels. Fish waste will gradually decay, just as organic matter decomposes, causing ammonia levels in the water to increase. [10] X Research Source
- You can control fish waste by removing observed solids from the tank and changing all or part of the tank water regularly.
Measure ammonia concentration accurately
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Purchase an ammonia test kit. You can buy this kit at most pet stores. This kit will test for all ammonia levels (including ammonia and ammonium), but won’t tell the difference between the two so you may not know the exact level. toxicity of tank water. [11] X Research Source
- Usually, if you have fish and active bacteria in your tank, you won’t be able to measure the ammonia levels in the water with a test kit.
- If the test kit detects ammonia levels and you’re sure there’s bacteria in the tank and no organic matter, then the problem may be with the tank’s filter.
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Measure the pH of the water. The pH of the tank can directly affect the ammonia concentration in the water. By measuring the pH regularly, you can ensure ammonia levels are not at toxic levels. [12] X Research Source
- The pH of water affects the number of ionized and non-ionized ammonia molecules.
- Besides adjusting the pH, you will still need to treat the water differently, as increasing the acidity of the water will not break down existing ammonia molecules.
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Test the water at the right time. Depending on when you test the water in your tank, the measured high ammonia levels may not be accurate. The best time to test the water is just before feeding the fish when the new food has not yet decayed. [13] X Research Source
- Ammonia levels will reach their peak about 90 minutes after you feed the fish.
- Testing the water immediately after the fish has finished eating (and is excreting the residue) can result in inaccurately high ammonia levels.
Advice
- Make sure you don’t have too many fish in the tank.
- Do not give the fish too much food and make sure to use a good filter for the aquarium.
- You should create a nitrogen cycle for your new aquarium before releasing the fish.
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This article was co-written by Pippa Elliott, MRCVS. Elliott is a veterinarian with more than thirty years of experience in veterinary surgery and pet treatment. She graduated from the University of Glasgow in 1987 with a degree in veterinary surgeon. She has worked at a veterinary clinic in her hometown for more than 20 years.
This article has been viewed 12,523 times.
Ammonia is extremely toxic to fish and other aquatic animals. The safe concentration of ammonia in water is 0 parts per million (ppm). As long as this concentration reaches 2 parts per million, it can cause fish in the tank to die. [1] X Research Source By assessing the water in your tank and making the necessary adjustments, you can reduce the ammonia concentration in the water to a level that is safe and suitable for fish to live in.
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