Ammonia,
pH, and nitrates
(Water Quality)
Ammonia
Ammonia is extremely toxic, and even small amounts
can cause harm to fish. Ammonia is produced by
a number of things: fish metabolism, decomposing
food, waste, and dead fish. In a lake or a river,
ammonia is quickly dissolved, but in the confines
of an aquarium or small pool, ammonia levels can
rise rapidly. You should test for ammonia at least
once a week.
Symptoms
of Ammonia Poisoning:
If a tank has a sub-lethal amount of ammonia in
it, fish will respond in numerous ways, such as
rubbing against objects and acting lethargic.
Also, there may be a high death rate in the tank
or pool.
Treatment:
Testing kits for ammonia level are sold in pet
stores and I recommend you keep one on hand. They
also sell "ammonia chips" which help
reduce ammonia levels. Additional ways of reducing
ammonia levels are : reducing amount of food given
to fish (therefore there will be no food left
over to rot), and changing water daily. Don't
aim to completely rid tank of ammonia (because
it ain't gonna happen, and even if it does, it
ain't gonna last!) Just try to get ammonia down
to a safe level.
For those of you who didn't take chemistry......pH
measures the acidity (acid) or alkalinity (base)
of a substance: fish tank water in this case.
Different fish require different levels of pH,
therefore it is wise to keep fish of similar pH
levels only in a tank.
*The
more plant life you have in a tank, the more basic
the water will be.
*The
more fish, the more acidic the water will be.
*A
pH of 7 in neutral (pure water). Most fish like
a pH that stays basically neutral. The lower the
number, the more acidic. The higher, the more
basic.
Symptoms of pH problems:
High acidity or alkalinity can cause problems,
like damage to skin, gills and eyes. Fish become
stressed, and life span can be severely shortened.
Death rates will rise.
Treating
pH problems:
You can buy a pH test kit (cheap) or a pH meter
(expensive) to test pH levels. Once you determine
pH level of tank, you can buy "chips"
that will raise pH (so tank is more basic) or
lower pH (so tank is more acidic.) Aquarium Pharmaceuticals
makes a product called Proper pH which
you can toss in in your tank to make pH a specific
level. Make
sure you know what pH level is appropriate for
species in tank
Nitrates
:
Nitrate is produced when biological filter bacteria
break down waste.Nitrate is not toxic at low levels,
and .is mainly a problem in ponds. Nitrates do encourage
the growth of algae: the bane of fish owners. If
nitrates are limited, then algae growth won't be
so much of a problem.
Treating
Nitrate problems:
You
can prevent nitrates by limiting number of the
fish and the food given to them, will help.In
terms of actually treating it, frequent water
changing and keeping ammonia levels low will help.
Info
on nitrates taken from: http://www.ntlabs.co.uk/techinfo.htm
. Check there for more detailed information.
Water
Quality
It's important to keep a high standard of water
quality for fish in the tank.
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