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	Ammonia in Betta tank
Nick Fish Addict 33 Posts: 553 Kudos: 668 Votes: 509 Registered: 09-Aug-2004	in a tank that you do 100% water changes in every week...is a level of .25 ppm of ammonia fatal to a betta...i keep the tanks clean, do water changes every week, use a water conditioner.. everything i am supposed to do. i was under the impression that a tank that has 100% water changes weekly, never really has a chance to set up a nitrogen cycle anyways which is why you can get away with not filtering the water (or else the ammonia would go through the roof).F.Y.I the tanks i am referring to are 2.5 gal glass tanks with medium sized rocks as a subsrate.any input would be appreciated
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
solublefish Fish Addict Posts: 562 Kudos: 850 Votes: 40 Registered: 27-Feb-2004	With that size tank doing 100% waterchanges weekly should be fine. One reason I could think of the ammonia is that it is comming from your tap water. Take an ammonia reading for your tap water.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
Callatya Moderator The girl's got crabs! Posts: 9662 Kudos: 5261 Registered: 16-Sep-2001	whats the ammonia content of your tap water? possibly overfeeding could be an issue. If you find that you want to filter, in that size tank, you could. If you want to add zeolite or another ammonia detoxifier, that is another option. For animals, the entire universe has been neatly divided into things to (a) mate with, (b) eat, (c) run away from, and (d) rocks. - Terry Pratchett
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
Nick Fish Addict 33 Posts: 553 Kudos: 668 Votes: 509 Registered: 09-Aug-2004	tested tap water...0 ppm as i thought..i think i'll be fine doing weekly water changes. After 1 week the worst reading out of all of them was 0.25 ppm, and was getting a water change that day. Thanks for the advice all.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
mike77ca Hobbyist Posts: 89 Kudos: 89 Votes: 0 Registered: 07-Jun-2004	IS a 100% water change common in small beta tanks? I would have thought that the rules of the ammonia cycle would still apply, and that some of the water would have to remain to perpetuate the nitrogen cycle.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
mer_maiden Enthusiast Posts: 273 Kudos: 163 Votes: 0 Registered: 03-Sep-2003	Did you test your water before or after using dechlorinator on it? This can have an affect, if your water's treated with chloramine, instead of chlorine. It's really hard to keep much under 5 gallons cycled it seems, and bettas are usually kept in these, so yeah 100% changes are the norm.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
Nick Fish Addict 33 Posts: 553 Kudos: 668 Votes: 509 Registered: 09-Aug-2004	I tested the water before I used a dechlorinator...I tested it right out of the gallon jugs I keep it in until I do water changes.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
mer_maiden Enthusiast Posts: 273 Kudos: 163 Votes: 0 Registered: 03-Sep-2003	This is not exactly related to your original question, but still an important thing to examine: Do you add any water conditioner at all to your water? If your tap water is treated with chloramine, it will not lose this via letting the water set out, as it will with chlorine. Many municipalities are switching to chloramines, so you would want to check into this, if you don't treat the water (unless maybe you use well water or something else). Also there are heavy metals and such that are important to treat for, which can slowly poison fish over time if not treated.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
Nick Fish Addict 33 Posts: 553 Kudos: 668 Votes: 509 Registered: 09-Aug-2004	Aquasafe is what i treat the water with which takes care of chlorine, chloramine and all harmful metals in our tap water. [span class="edited"][Edited by Jessnick42503 2004-08-18 12:42][/span]
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
mer_maiden Enthusiast Posts: 273 Kudos: 163 Votes: 0 Registered: 03-Sep-2003	If it treats for Chloramine but not Ammonia you could still be in trouble. Do a test on the water after you treat it, and see what you come up with.
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48
Nick Fish Addict 33 Posts: 553 Kudos: 668 Votes: 509 Registered: 09-Aug-2004	Thank you to all i have resolved any ammonia issues i have
Posted 26-Jan-2006 11:48


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