Ammonia and what it does

[boxfishpooalot]

Just wondering if anyone can tell me besides the obvious what ammonia does at certain levels to fish.

I have read somwhere that it causes internal bleeding(hemmoraging) of the slime producing glands?

I know ammonia is dagerous but what sighns from your fish would you expect to see. Because after all your fish are the best water test kit!

Any detailed infomation on ammonia will be helpfull. thx

[boxfishpooalot]

ok since nobody is posting i will write what i learned:

Effects of Ammonia on fish

-Causes internal hemmoraging(bleeding)
-Causes loss of "breath" by burning gills
-Causes skin damage making them suseptible to parasites!
-Causes poisoning

Symtoms:

-scratching
-gasping at surface for air
-darting as if in danger
-color fading
-gill and skin damage
-always hiding(providing other fish have symtoms too)
-body deformities over time

Sources that cause Ammonia:
-rotting food
-rotting plants
-dead rotting fish/any animal
-dirty mechanical filter floss
-dirty sand bed
-tap water not conditioned
-living fish exhale Ammonia and urinate it
-dissoloved organics
-bioballs covered in organics (rotting things)
-live rock dying

Ways to reduce Ammonia or eliminate it
-Chemicals(temporary)
-ion exchange resins(temporary but long term)
-natural plant/algae growth harvested for export(can be used permently)
-clean of replace your filter floss
-protien skimming to remove dissolved organics(gets rid of rotting stuff)
-Feed less
-syphon out detris build up on sand bed
-water changes(lots of them)

if anyone has anything to add please do!

[johnpoole]

you'll see signs of acid style burn from my experience.yellow tangs seem to show signs before any other fish. the edge of their fins and gills turn red them brown. i test weekly but yes the fish are the best test kit. problem is the signs may occur after the tank is posion. i perfer catching problem before the fish start swimming with the current

[boxfishpooalot]

thats true but from my ex yellow tangs have been very strong fish! I will not say what happened as its embarrasing and unfair to living things. The mistake i made should have never happend.

[sulp]

box- Looks to me like you answered you're own question.

[boxfishpooalot]

ya i have found alot of info but its not scientific enough for me. I want the chemists and fish biologists to give me real data. I wanna know how toxic Ammonia really is!

[Pike]

Originally posted by boxfishpooalot
ya i have found alot of info but its not scientific enough for me. I want the chemists and fish biologists to give me real data. I wanna know how toxic Ammonia really is!

Here's my answer:Effects of Ammonia on fish

-Causes internal hemmoraging(bleeding)
-Causes loss of "breath" by burning gills
-Causes skin damage making them suseptible to parasites!
-Causes poisoning

Symtoms:

-scratching
-gasping at surface for air
-darting as if in danger
-color fading
-gill and skin damage
-always hiding(providing other fish have symtoms too)
-body deformities over time

Randy Holmes-Farley & dr. Ron Shmeik are the resident chemistry/biology experts. Perhaps a search of their forums is in order for a more "scientific" explanation.

Ammonia in marine aquaria becomes lethal at concentrations >.5ppm. It is an irritant & can contribute to long-term damage, discomfort, & pre-mature death at levels lower than this, based on length of exposure.