Poisonous substances in aquarium water: causes of fish death!

Aquarium water becomes dangerous to fish when it’s over-saturated as a result of the nitrogen cycle in the water. In this short article, we shall look at the causes and the simple way to limit continuous death of aquarium fish.

As we are all aware, atmospheric air is made up of about 23 per cent oxygen and 76 per cent Nitrogen together with a host of other gases in very minute quantities. It follows that when we put on the airflow system of our aquarium, the air pumped in contains a little oxygen and a lot of nitrogen.

This atmospheric nitrogen can be lethal to fish when the water is over-saturated (over 100 per cent) saturation with this gas.

Research has shown that nitrogen embolism otherwise known as NITROGEN GAS BUBBLE DISEASE can occur with 103-118 per cent nitrogen saturation and cause a lot of fish casualties.

This condition can affect an aquarium fish when one is replacing the old aquarium water with slightly warm fresh water. The infection is characterized by the presence of small bubbles of nitrogen beneath the skin in the fins, tail or mouth, behind the eyes, and in the blood vessels.

One can prevent the disease by aerating the water to be introduced for a while in order to clear the excess nitrogen. Affected fish would be placed in a small bucket of water into, which has been passed an airstone device to properly aerate the water. The fishes are bound to recover spontaneously if the aquarist takes an immediate remedial action.