ammonia trouble in Betta tank

[OhioCatman]

It's a single beta..... Don't ever even check levels. As long as he's visually fine just do a full water change every other week if its a 5g. If its anything smaller then full water change once a week.

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[Taffy1]

In most cases I would say that might be safe. But, in this case we know the ammonia levels would be off the charts - literally. By the time the fish shows sign of ammonia poisoning, effects are often permanent. So, are you certain that waiting two weeks, or fish shows distress is safe?

 

[ecoli73]

What's your PH?


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[ecoli73]

Also you can just drop a hardy plant like java fern attached to a rock in the tank...it will take out a little ammonia if you have at least medium light(just room)


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[Pomatomus]

Good question about the pH. The more acidic the water, the more ammonium exists as opposed to ammonia. Ammonium isn't really toxic. You can calculate your unionized ammonia if you know your total ammonia, temperature, and pH.

And the API test kit almost always looks slightly more greenish than yellow. Even in well-established tanks. And I do think that it gets more prominent with age. The saltwater samples are usually even more difficult to discern! I might consider a constant value of 0.25ppm to be 0. Plus 0.25 really isn't that bad for a betta if it cycles fairly soon.

 

[Taffy1]

Good question about the pH. The more acidic the water, the more ammonium exists as opposed to ammonia. Ammonium isn't really toxic. You can calculate your unionized ammonia if you know your total ammonia, temperature, and pH.

And the API test kit almost always looks slightly more greenish than yellow. Even in well-established tanks. And I do think that it gets more prominent with age. The saltwater samples are usually even more difficult to discern! I might consider a constant value of 0.25ppm to be 0. Plus 0.25 really isn't that bad for a betta if it cycles fairly soon.

PH is about 7.6.

I have a couple of small plants in there for him, which I stole from one of my other [established] tanks. Temperature is 78. Ammonia today would be closer to 0.5 - since I didn't do a water change yesterday. If I do not do a WC again today, the ammonia would read about 0.75 tomorrow....or somewhere close to that.

I have never seen ammonia rise that fast, even when I have had 2 fish in there. I swear, this fish is different somehow.

Oh, and I did notice that about the API tester. But, when testing the tap water, the color does not change from the time I put the drops in and shake to the time I read the test. In this tank, it definitely does get darker.

 

[Taffy1]

Good question about the pH. The more acidic the water, the more ammonium exists as opposed to ammonia. Ammonium isn't really toxic. You can calculate your unionized ammonia if you know your total ammonia, temperature, and pH.

And the API test kit almost always looks slightly more greenish than yellow. Even in well-established tanks. And I do think that it gets more prominent with age. The saltwater samples are usually even more difficult to discern! I might consider a constant value of 0.25ppm to be 0. Plus 0.25 really isn't that bad for a betta if it cycles fairly soon.

Okay... Did more testing tonight. API test kit claims to give total ammonia. And where there is ammonia, there is also less toxic ammonium. Correct?

Temp was at 77. PH is difficult to read exactly, but using 2 different test kits, it appears to be closer to 7.7. Total ammonia was a bit shy of 0.5. A google search seems to show that 2.77% of the total is actually ammonia.

Does this mean that the toxic NH3 is only 0.0013?

so maybe it's not the end of the wold... And not so likely to burn out the poor fish? ...and I can worry just a little less?