Bioremediation of Nitrogenous Compounds
Nitrogen applications in excess of pond assimilatory capacity can lead to deterioration of water quality through the accumulation of nitrogenous compounds (e.g., ammonia and nitrite) with toxicity to fish and shrimp. The principal sources of ammonia are fish excretion and sediment flux derived from the mineralization of organic matter and molecular diffusion from reduced sediment, although cyanobacterial nitrogen fixation and atmospheric deposition are occasionally important (Ayyappan and Mishra 2003). Nitrification proceeds as follows: