Orange Treatment For Ammonia

[KingPiranha]

A manager at my LFS recommended slicing an orange and leaving it for the fish...not only does it provide them with Vitamin C but the Vitamin C component does a good job at removing ammonia.

I was wondering if anyone else tries this - at the store every other tank has a floating orange or cucumber. If so, what exactly is the role - does it act in removing ammonia like the granular activated carbon or simply neutralize the toxins? (I was wondering if this would interfere with the bacteria community). Also, how long would you recommend leaving the orange slices?

 

[Bignose]

A quick browse of the literature makes it seem to me to be little more than a "good luck charm". I didn't find anything on how vitamin C or citric acid and ammonia react. The only thing I can think of is that the citric acid would lower the pH slightly which would shift the ammonia-ammonium balance slightly more to the less-toxic ammonium. But, it won't shift it much, citric acid is a pretty weak acid. I also don't think that fish need a lot of VItamin C, it isn't something that would be plentiful in their natural habitat so they have probably adapted to do with only a little amount. I'm going to try to find a fish's Vitamin C requirements.

Maybe someone else can find some evidence of what vitamin C (or citric acid) is supposed to do to ammonia. At the moment, I am very skeptical that it does much of anything, however.

 

[Syphoniera]

Speaking off the top of my pointy little head, I'd wonder what the sugar content would do regarding populations of undesirable bactieria/moulds/fungi within the tank.
Apparently some people do periodically feed fruit to various fish, but I'd think any constant supply of sugars within the tank water might have unwanted effects.

 

[kribensis12]

I can't think of why it would work. I can say this though, if it did work, we'd all have them in our tanks!

As far as Vitamin C goes, the only fish i can think of that needs a substantial amount is the Blood Parrot. Ofcourse, they are a Hybrid, and do not Naturally Occur in Nature.

 

[OldMan47]

I have no clue about using vitamin C for ammonia but it is a known way to remove chlorine from what I have read. No idea what the dosing would be but apparently it does work. The question that I would have is what effect it would then have on the fish.