Which is more toxic, Ammonia or nitrite?

[SilverDollar_03]

title explains it all, just wondering, because my ammonia is at 0, and my nitrite is at 2, and i have alot of happy fish!

 

[fish_r_great]

Your nitrite will go to 0 and then you'll have nitrates and then you have to do a water change. It goes first is amonnia from fish waste then that turns to nitrite and that turns to nitrate which is lees harmful than the other 2 and thats when you have to do a water change.

 

[silver]

Well...

They say that ammonia is the deadliest....I suppose because even low levels of ammonia can harm fish in a very speedy manner.

Then comes nitrIte....I guess maybe because fish can tolerate it a tad better...but not my Silver Dollars that's for sure....they do NOT do well with elevated nitrIte levels at ALL so they are just as harmful to some fish.

Then I guess nitrAtes...fish can go a while with elevated nitrAtes but believe me they CANNOT live with them forever. I speak from experience. Below 40 is optimal for all tanks I believe But I've had mine at 80 and even 200 ppms before....thus ran into MUCH problems!

HTH

 

[nightlife20]

iv had mine at 50 and it hasnt caused any problems (nitrates that is) but it was only for a short term basis.

ammonia is the deadliest to the fish. nitrite comes a second.

 

[tekknocolor]

Well...

They say that ammonia is the deadliest....I suppose because even low levels of ammonia can harm fish in a very speedy manner.

Then comes nitrIte....I guess maybe because fish can tolerate it a tad better...but not my Silver Dollars that's for sure....they do NOT do well with elevated nitrIte levels at ALL so they are just as harmful to some fish.

Then I guess nitrAtes...fish can go a while with elevated nitrAtes but believe me they CANNOT live with them forever. I speak from experience. Below 40 is optimal for all tanks I believe But I've had mine at 80 and even 200 ppms before....thus ran into MUCH problems!

HTH

I totally agree. I even read while researching fish diseases that they can get ammonia burn and it'll look kinda like finrot except red on the edges...

 

[Tropjunky]

Ammonia is the worst trace ammounts are bad for fish but nitrite is just a little bit less toxic it goes ammonia, nitrites and then nitrates. do a 10% waterchange everyday till ir nitrites goes down to 0

 

[SilverDollar_03]

yeah, i know what all you are talking about. my nitrates are at 20. im new to the hobby but i know the whole chemical process and everything, ive done tons of research. anyways, i did a water change, and everything seems fine. the fish seem very lively and happy, and i even added 5 aeneus corydoras today, and they seem very happy and lively too. as long as the fish dont seem lathargic and lazy, its ok. when they look lazy and lathargic, thats when im worried.

by the way, i had 2 gouramis that died earlier from a nitrite spike (went to 4) but my silver dollars were fine. is it true that gouramis, being small scaled fish, are more sensitive to nitrites and nitrates?

 

[silver]

Silver Dollars are also a species that have....I don't want to say small or thin scales...but it's something like that!! Must be why they are sensitive!!

 

[SilverDollar_03]

yeah, mine are kinda different. they seem to be very hardy fish. i used them as my cycling fish, and only 1 (of 7) died of water conditions. the other 2 that died got stuck on the filter. the poor silver dollars have so much surface area on them because they are flat, making it easy for them to get stuck on filters.

 

[eSUng15]

i dont know about all that, but i have this like ointment that takes away ammnoia, nitrate, chlorine, chloramine, and other things. It's really, really good. It's called PRIME. It's a little bottle and the outside cover is like burgandy red. Doesn't cost much either! about $5.00 in the U.S.

 

[SilverDollar_03]

thats awesome. if i found any of that i would definetly buy it. i have like a different bottle for removing each instead, haha. instead of 1 bottle i have like 7!