• Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar
  • Home
  • Bettas 101
    • Acclimation
    • All About Water
      • Nitrogen Cycle
      • Ph & Ammonia
      • Water Changes
    • Betta Fish Anatomy
    • Betta Vases
    • Choosing a Tank
    • Feeding Bettas
      • Food Myths
      • Frozen & Live Betta Food
    • Tankmates for Bettas
      • African Dwarf Frogs & Bettas
      • Apple Snails & Bettas
      • Neon Tetras & Bettas
      • Otocinclus Catfish & Bettas
      • Quarantine New Fish
    • Plakat Betta
    • Rosetail Betta
    • Veil-tail Betta
  • Sick Betta
    • Diseases and Treatment
    • Aging Bettas
    • Bloating and Constipation
    • Cotton Wool Disease
    • Dropsy
    • Fin Rot and Fin Loss
    • First Steps
    • Gill Hyperplasia
    • Ich
    • Popeye
    • Septicemia (Infection)
    • Swim Bladder Disorder
    • Sick Betta Symptom Checker
    • Velvet Disease
    • Wounded Betta
    • Fish Tank Granuloma
  • Behavior
    • Bubble Nests
    • Skittish Bettas
    • Tail Biting
  • Breeding Bettas
  • Equipment
  • Q & A
  • Other fish
  • Contact

Fish Care

Everything You Need to Know About Betta Fish

You are here: Home / Water Quality / Ammonia / Ammonia, Nitrates & Nitrites OH MY

Ammonia, Nitrates & Nitrites OH MY

When people are talking about their fish, any non-fish hobbyiest can pick up that ammonia is a bad thing. They may even get the feeling that nitrites and nitrates are bad. They might not understand the how’s and why’s of it, but they definitely know it’s bad.
aquarium nitrogen cycle
First, definitions:

  • Ammonia is the by-product of bodily waste and decayed food/plants. When something begins to rot in the water, ammonia is what you get in return.
  • Nitrites are the byproduct of little nitrofying bacterium. The bacterium can begin to live when their nutrient source becomes available and that nutrient source is ammonia. See the connection? With this comes the nitrogen cycle.
  • Nitrates are the other step in the nitrogen cycle. Now that ammonia is present the nitrofying bacterium can live to produce nitrites which, in turn, nitrobacter is mainly responsible for converting nitrite into nitrate. Then, the other bacterium convert the nitrates back to nitrites… Not a good cycle as this is toxic to the inhabitants of the freshwater tank.

What do all of these have in common – they all spawn from poor water conditions and they can all harm or kill your betta. It is a fact that the nitrite and nitrate making bacteria strive better in warmer waters with more neutral pH levels and guess what the betta prefers? Give up – the exact conditions these little bacterium strive in. This is where the betta owner’s work is cut out for them.

How can these harm your betta? Anything that causes you betta stress will break down his stress layers and with deteriorated stress layers comes illness. Fin rot is the most common illness to set in once the above listed levels have harmed the fish’s stress coat. Popeye also results very easily.

Since ammonia, nitrates and nitrites are all caused from the same things, then the best way to avoid these things is to keep your bettas water conditions at an optimum level. Doing your regular water changes will keep the levels down as well as remove any waste that might begin to cause you a problem.


Filed Under: Ammonia, Nitrate, Nitrite

Reader Interactions

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Primary Sidebar

Search


Recent Posts

  • Cool Betta Fish Tank Ideas
  • How Long Do Betta Fish Live For? – 5 Helpful Tips For a Long and Happy Life
  • 3 Gallon Fish Tank for Betta
  • 10 Gallon Aquarium Stands and Cabinets
  • How Much Do Betta Fish Cost to Buy and Care For?

NippyFish Facebook Page

Visit the NippyFish Facebook Page

Featured Posts

Complete Guide to Betta Fish Diseases and Treatment

This complete guide on Betta fish illnesses and diseases from A-Z will help you pinpoint what is wrong with your Betta and how to treat it.

The 4 Most Common Signs of Illness in Betta Fish

This article focuses on the 4 most common signs of illness in Betta fish.

Betta Fish Tank Setup – A Detailed Guide For Beginners

This article will be providing a detailed beginners guide on how to setup a tank for your Betta fish.

Top 12 Betta Fish Toys

This article has a list of some of our favorite Betta fish toys. Don’t have a bored Betta.

Setup an Aquatic Plant Environment For Your Betta

Having a healthy plant in your tank will help to improve the water quality by filtering out waste and removing some of the CO2 that’s produced by your fish.

Copyright © 2025 All Rights Reserved | NippyFish | Privacy Policy

Nippyfish.net is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.