The Beneficial Bacteria

Having an aquarium may seem an easy thing to do, but we have to understand that there are a lot of things to do and to consider when having an aquarium. We need to consider a lot of things when we're trying to mimic the natural habitat of the fish that we will purchase. It can be a little hard work, maintaining an aquarium because you have to be well informed about the size of the aquarium that you need to buy, the heater that you need to use, filters, air pump, covers, light fixtures and the other organisms that will help you maintain your aquarium.

Yes, you heard that right. We have to have other organisms in our aquarium to maintain its whole balance. We are actually talking about bacteria, specifically, nitrifying bacteria. These bacteria can be found almost in all corner of the earth, but they are more plentiful in soil and water which contains a very high amount of ammonia.

Even in our own little aquarium, ammonia is present, because fish and other things in the aquarium produce ammonia. So we should not be worried of the fact that right now, there are nitrifying bacteria inhabiting your aquarium. They are not foes; they are friends that help your fish survive.

Nitrifying bacteria or nitrifiers to some people are actually harmless or beneficial bacteria. They are present the moment you have successfully established a new cycling tank. They act as biological filters in your own aquarium, and they work for free! We have to thank these bacteria because if it weren't for them, our tank will surely be like a toxic waste dump because of ammonia. They are also known as water bacteria treatment

We all know that ammonia can be used industrially and it is beneficial to us, but we have to bear in mind that it has to be in controlled amount so we can maximize its potentials. Ammonia can be a threat to our lives in great amounts, so as to our pet fish. Excessive amount of ammonia can be poisonous to our fish. They can do great damage on the fish's tissues, especially on their gills and also on their kidneys. When fish are physiologically disturbed, they can be more prone to diseases, or even dying.

Nitrites can be also poisonous to our pet fish. It can do serious damage by actually prohibiting red blood cell to take up oxygen. It is more common to freshwater fishes.

To keep the balance in our aquarium, we have to thank nitrifiers for being there. They actually convert ammonia to nitrite. These nitrites will be then converted to nitrates that can be used by other organisms in our tank.

There are actually two kind of nitrifying bacteria living together in the environment. They cannot live without one another. They work as a team, the first kind of nitrifiers will convert ammonia to nitrites. Then the second nitrifiers will then convert nitrites to nitrates.

We really need to take a lot of things into consideration so we can prevent what we call "New Tank Syndrome", or the case wherein fish in an aquarium will be poisoned because of too much ammonia in it.