# Dummy question #001: Fish waste --> Ammonia?



## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Ok, this is the first of a series of questions that I intend to post. The idea of doing this is to make at least some people think about what we do in our planted tanks. The hobby in the US is stuck in a state of semi-ignorance because we don't discuss things like we used to uhmm... 5+ years ago. Hopefully my threads will lead to discussions which will bring money to the owners of this forum and an immense, priceless, satisfaction of the hobby to the rest of us.

Sarcasm aside my real goal is to get people to understand more about planted (and not only) aquariums.

So! Here it is - question #1:

*How does fish poop turns into Ammonia?*

If some genius wants to respond "Bacteria, dummy!" I suggest you save the effort. There is more to it. Much more. 









So let's see some answers/opinions.

--Nikolay


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## geeks_15 (Dec 9, 2006)

I was grasping for some long forgotten physiology in the recesses of my brain and then I started looking with google.

I came across this:

http://search.barnesandnoble.com/Nitrogen-Excretion/William-S-Hoar/e/9780123504449

Now I am all for learning and very much enjoy the fish keeping hobby, but 358 pages on nitrogen excretion in fish just struck me as horrible and hilarious at the same time as I remembered such specialty books from college. To each his own. I'm sure the book is full of great info. If someone wants to read this book and present a book report, I'm sure we would all learn a lot.

I look forward to someone's synopsis (hopefully in less than 358 words) of nitrogen excretion in fish.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Oh yes! Geeks_15 is so right - we can end up talking about a million things that are completely useless for running a planted tank.

So let's ask the original questoin after giving some perspective:

We all are concerned about the NO3, NO2, and NH4/NH3 in our tanks. We know about the "Nitrogen cycle", "cycling a tank" and so on. We are also concerned about the amount of PO4, the reaction of PO4 + Fe and a bunch of other miraculous transformations.

The conversion of NH4 to NO3 is episode 2 of our own soap opera.

I'd like to talk about episode 1 - *"How does fish poop turns into Ammonia?"*

I don't get confused by biochemistry so don't even try. No "but before episode 1 there's much more". No "all I care about is having nice plants".

--Nikolay


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## jas1w124 (Dec 18, 2009)

Plant matter or nitrogenous animal matter, whatever the fish food is made of begins to decompose and break down into simpler forms of matter. Putrefying bacteria turn nitrogen proteins found in the fish waste into ammonium compounds. The ammonia is then dissolved into the water. Ammonia is also excreted from aquatic animals when urinating. 
These statements are to the best of my knowledge and may not be 100% accurate. They should be backed up by your own research.


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## Natalia (Sep 15, 2008)

Here is my guess:

Ammonia is produced when amino acids are converted into energy. The first step in this reaction is removal of amino group (NH2) which reacts with hydrogen in the water (H) thereby producing ammonia (NH3). In fish ammonia is secreted out through the gills. This is by far the major source of ammonia in aquarium.


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## niko (Jan 28, 2004)

Jas and Natalia thank you very much for the good and to the point answers!

So:

1. *Bacteria* turns the Nitrogen from proteins in the fish waste into Ammonium (NH4).

2. Ammonia (NH3) is *also secreted directly* from the gills of the fish.

*Bacteria turns fish poop into Ammonium (NH4). Also fish release Ammonia directly in the water (NH3).*

Two NH3 react with each other and make NH4. This NH4 is then used by bacteria to make NO2 and NO3.

Great! We always care about the bacteria that turns the dangerous Ammonia into less-dangerous Nitrate. We make sure we have a nice big canister filter, that it doesn't get clogged and so on. Nice! Good boy! No algae!

No algae? Not so.

Before blaming the light, the water, and everything else let's take another look at the basics:

Dummy Question #002:
*How do we care for the bacteria that turns the fish waste into Ammonium?*:
http://www.aquaticplantcentral.com/...on-002-bacteria-turning-waste.html#post513494

--Nikolay


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