AMMONIA POISONING AND NITRITE POISONING?

THE STORY

Figure 1 : Snakeskin Fancy Guppy

      My first aquatic pet was actually groups of Snakeskin tail Fancy Guppies, which are commercially sold in almost every shop. I bought them when I was in matriculation.

      To make it short, I raised them in a plastic aquarium with no landscape or anything, just fish. I raised them for only a day, why only a day? It's because they died on the next day, well, the mortality was so spiking... I wanted to know what happen, and where did it goes wrong.

      I bought new guppies, but now with anti-chlorine. I put those guppies in the water where the chlorine was chelated. Again, it still took them a day before they die. I wasn't that frustrated but somehow curious..

Figure 2 : Random pictures of dead guppies

      I then read from many resources, even taking my time to cyber cafe to google about freshwater fish care. After several readings, I postulated that they die due to either Ammonia Poisoning or Nitrite Toxicity.
Basically, you need to cycle the aquarium in order to allow bacteria,algae,plant to cycle them.
note : Basic cycle usually take 2-3 weeks

      How am I gonna suppose to do that, the tap water is chlorinated, most bacteria die. Algae doesn't grow overnight. My only last hope would be to plant an aquatic plant. Thus, I went to the college pond and only manage to collect Water Hyacinth. Without washing it, I place it in the aquarium with the hope that there were some bacteria on it. I pour some fish feed as a source of ammonia.

      2 weeks later, I bought a new fish and raised them again. Surprisingly, the guppies manage to survive for a week and soon die after that. I found out that my tank didn't had any air pump to supply oxygen bubble that may or may not dissolve in the water, and second, water hyacinth is a SEMI AQUATIC plant, meaning it doesn't provide oxygen with the leaves on the surface, duh.

      In the end, I solved my problem using filter that can both supply oxygen bubble and absorb ammonia.... well, that would be another story folks.

AMMONIA POISONING
occur when the source of ammonia is high for the fish to tolerate.

WHAT MAY CAUSE IT?
- Uneaten feed
- Decayed plants
- Dead fishes
- Overpopulate the fish at a time (excessive ammonia excretion)
- Death of the bacteria ( Nitrosomonas sp.)

CLINICAL SIGNS?
- usually burn and corrosion of the epithelium of the fishes including gills (red gills) and tails, sometimes scales.
    p.s : hitopathologically, there were evidences of  hyperplasia of the epithelium with necrosis in 
    some part of epithelium
- hyperexcitability
- Corkscrew swimming ( toxic to the brain )
- dull
- sudden death

NITRITE POISONING
Usually a sequale of Ammonia Poisoning, which occur simultaneously.

WHAT MAY CAUSE IT?
-Very similar to Ammonia Poisoning with the additional of absent of Nitrobacter sp.

CLINICAL SIGN
- Listlessness, in active.
- May show neurological sign as in corkscrew swimming pattern (due to hypoxia and nerve lesion)
p.s : Nitrites are actively transported across the gills and readily oxidize hemoglobin to form methemoglobin. Methemoglobinemia results in hypoxia severe enough to cause sudden death but often the fish will live until they exert themselves.
 

Figure 3 : Basic Nitrogen Cycle

Referrences :
1. https://www.addl.purdue.edu/newsletters/1998/spring/nitrate.shtml
2. http://zebrafish.org/zirc/health/diseaseManual.php#Ammonia%20Toxicity
3. http://www.savemysickfish.com/diseases/ammoniapoisioning.asp
4. www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/aquaculture/documents/BrownBlood.pdf‎