# Do shrimp shells cause ammonia??????



## RedBelly Dom (Mar 22, 2005)

I was wondering if shrimp shells cause ammonia. I feed my p's shrimp and sometimes there is some shells left over and they are hard to fish out and i'm wondering if i don't have to keep fishing them out???????????????????????????


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## yourhead (Jan 22, 2006)

Gravel vac a lot. Anything extra is going to eventually decompose and produce ammonia. Even tiny pieces of fish and shrimp can send your ammonia levels up. I just recently had a spike and discovered a nasty piece of shrimp decaying in the back corner under a rock. I also had a planaria bloom. The ammonia and planaria led me to look for a nasty piece of decay.

Regards,

Brian


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## rocshield70 (Jan 23, 2006)

Arent u supposed to take the shell off the shrimp??


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## Judazzz (Jan 13, 2003)

rocshield70 said:


> Arent u supposed to take the shell off the shrimp??


It's adviced when you have small piranha's (so it won't get stuck in the throat), but it's perfectly fine to feed larger piranha's shrimp with shell. Actually, it's the shell that contains the most color-enhancing elements.

And yes, shells do cause ammonia to increase - _anything_ organic that is decaying produces ammonia!


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