To Add Salt Or Not To Add Salt. That Is The Question.

I just got a 37 Gallon tank for Christmas. I've had a 10 gallon tank for about 3 months, I study biology, and absolutely love fish.
I got the tank at a local pet shop that is family owned and they really care about their pets. Not one of those crummy places where everything is half alive and decrepit. I also plan to get all of my fish and plants from them in the future. I do trust their judgment. I am just a little curious about this salt thing.

My tank is planted with live plants, has a sandy to medium fine gravel, some drift wood, and a couple large rock structures.

The owner of the pet shop keeps all of his tanks with some salt ~1 Tbs per 10 Gallons. The water in this area is fairly hard and at pH 8.2
All of the fish at the shop are healthy and active and the plants look great too. They test the water for free and so far everything is going well.
I started my tank with 6 Danios. I am not worried about being ripped off or the owner trying to get money by selling me salt. I also want to keep my fish in an environment as close to the one to which they've been acclimatized. However, after reading some info about adding salt to freshwater tanks many people are adamantly opposed to it.

I haven't decided on what other fish to add once the tank is established but I do want to have it operate as close to a natural ecosystem as possible.

I am open to any tips, ideas, and advice since I am new to this and I do not want to cause any unnecessary stress to my fish.

Thanks!!

Unless there is disease or it is brackish don't add salt. Just my opinion.

Man of fish said:

Unless there is disease or it is brackish don't add salt. Just my opinion.

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+1

Fishy friend2 said:

Man of fish said:

Unless there is disease or it is brackish don't add salt. Just my opinion.

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+1

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Thank you

Have it on hand in case the fish show signs of stress. The best thing you can do any time fish are stressed is a water change. Second is add some salt.

I don't agree. Going back and forth with and without salt is, IMO, like fooling around with the pH. Also, some fish would be harmed by adding salt, such as corydoras or other cats.

One other thing, it's great that you found a LFS that you trust, but please be careful when taking their advice. Keep in mind that their goal at the end of the day is to make a profit. Not to sound like a Negative Nellie here, but the collective experience of the people on this forum far outweighs the opinions of the shopkeepers.

That is not true. When the fish are stressed salt (along with water changes) can be all that is needed to completely fix the issue. This can help avoid chemical medications which are definitely more harmful than salt. Adding half a dose at one time and then adding the other half about 12 hours later will help the fish acclimate to the increase in salinity.

This applies to soft water fish too, like cories, plecos, and even discus. All can benefit from adding salt when they are stressed. I have seen it many times. This may not apply to wild caught cories or discus that were in the amazon a couple weeks ago, but in general it is safe and beneficial.

Years ago (30+) I was told that mollies needed salt in the water however, this is an old fashioned view and not one that is carried out today.

Fresh water fish means exactly that!
I wouldn't add salt unless its to treat a problem and even then there are other treatments available.

I read a sign in an LFS saying dwarf gouramis required salt. Don't believe everything your told or read.

It's all opinions really, as is most of this hobby, everyone will have a different opinion depending on their experience with using salt or what they have read.

There doesnt seem to be any real wrong or right, if the shop keeper decides to use salt in the shop, it might not necessarily be a bad thing as it will reduce parasites, fungal and bacterial growth and stress related problems to an extent which is great in shops that stock far more heavily than we do.

There will only be a really low salinity in the shop and the difference between that and freshwater with no salt wont make much difference to the fish.

Personally, with the exception of the obvious brackish fish and mollies, i wouldnt run salt in the tank long term, i would kep it handy and use it as and when needed. I use it in combination with changing the temperature to treat some problems or in conjunction with medications (check lables first as some meds react badly to salt!) as they reduce the stress of the medication on the fish.

And as we all know, salt is used to help heal, like bathing wounds in salt water or gargling with salt water. Its old fashioned but that doesnt mean it doesnt work and without any proof that it doesnt work, i will continue to do what i do as it works for me.

EDIT: When I was younger, i fell right into a patch of stinging nettles wearing only a halter top and shorts and rollerskates. I was stung from my chin to my toes and had a bad reaction to so many stings. I was in so much agony and an elderly neighbour (94) sat my on her work bench when my friends mum told me to get over it.. and wrapped me in vinegar and brown paper.

Had to be one of the weirdest treatments ever and very old fashioned and i smelled awful for ages... however... it worked right away!

Took me ages to work out where i had heard of the treatment

Jack and Jill went up the hill to fetch a pail of water
Jack fell down and broke his crown
And Jill came tumbling after.
Up got Jack, and home did trot
As fast as he could caper
He went to bed and bound his head
With vinegar and brown paper.

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Not all old fashioned treatments are nonsense I learn better from experience and nowadays would use 'waspeze' for stings but not if it was really bad like i had it that time.

It is a FACT not an opinion that FRESHwater fish come from FRESHwater. It is a FACT not an opinion that they have evolved in and adapted to FRESHwater for their recent natural history (hundreds of thousands to millions of years).

When shops use salt they are still following the idea that it should be used when the fish are stressed. Those fish have very recently been shipped from the fish farm, to the wholesaler, to the retailer. The fish they are adding salt to are only under their care for a short period of time, not the life of the fish. So they are not forcing higher salinities on fish for their entire lifespan the way an aquarist adding salt all the time is.

Salt is NOT a good preventative for disease. This is like taking antibiotics all the time to keep from getting sick. You sill still get sick, only now that antibiotic is not effective at all.

The standard dosing of salt is one tablespoon per five gallons. The dosing for cichlid lake salt for cichlids from Lake Tanganyika (one of the hardest and most alkaline bodies of freshwater on the planet) is 1/2 tablespoon per 10 gallons. This means the standard recommended dosing for aquarium salt is FOUR TIMES that of Lake Tanganyika. That is a huge difference for FRESHwater fish.

Mollies go in to brackish and full marine under their own will, for short periods of time in search of food, and return to freshwater. They do not stay there all the time. Forcing higher salinities on them all the time is not natural at all for them and can cause harm long term.

We gurgle saltwater to kill bacteria that have evolved in and adapted to conditions that are not saltwater.

Salt in the freshwater aquariums should be reserved to treat stress and specific illnesses, NOT added all the time.

"There will only be a really low salinity in the shop and the difference between that and freshwater with no salt wont make much difference to the fish."

Try telling my clown loach that one.
I've not used salt for 30+ years and aint going to start now.

And dock leaves are the best thing for nettle stings and always next to a patch of nettles, just in case.

Thank you everyone, for your input.

I ended up adding half as much salt as he recommended so that the fish weren't put into extremely different water conditions. It seems best to slowly adapt any fish to a new environment. Also, these fish while they look happy and healthy to me, maybe they are were stressed or had an infection so probably best to help get rid of it. Or at the very least it will make their transition that much easier. I won't necessarily add salt with each water change but I have a small jug (cost $3.00) handy in case it is needed in the future. I also did the math/conversions the salt I added my water and what the shop owner recommended are both still in the freshwater range of 0-.5ppt (parts per thousand). So, it shouldn't strain or harm any of my fish.

Honestly, I don't think that he was really trying to make a profit from me by suggesting salt. I spent quite a lot more money there and $3 is nothing! I also go to this pet shop quite often and have for many years. Everything is always happy and healthy looking. I have never seen a dead fish in any of the tanks. (Doesn't mean that fish haven't died but at lease they take care of it to make it look good.) I was dealing with the owner of the shop, he has a reputation to keep since this is a small community and his clientele is mostly local. Word spreads like wildfire in this area.

Yes, of course I do not believe everything I am told by an LFS or read on the internet. I will trust my judgment. I just wanted to hear from some other people their experiences, advice, and opinions. It seems to be kind of a case by case scenario and really depends on the fish.

Thanks again!

Is your tank cycled? How long has it been running? How many fish, etc.?

I don't want to give advice, if the bigger issue might actually be ammonia. If this tank has been newly set-up, then please read through the fish in thread in my sig.


As far as the salt goes, I would slowly wean the fish off the salt. I would do small water changes fairly frequently with no salt. Each time you did a water change, it would lower the salt content slowly, to the point that it would be basically the same as your tap. (BTW, in your calculations, you assumed that the tap water has zero salt, right? So, the range that the fish are currently in may not fall into the range you proposed.)


If, however, your tank is not cycled, then you will need to do large water changes fairly soon anyway. If so, then I would just hold the concentration at the level it is with each water change and then slowly wean them off the salt once the cycle is complete. (The presence of the salt might help keep them safe from secondary infections while exposed to higher levels of ammonia/nitrite.

eaglesaquarium said:

Is your tank cycled? How long has it been running? How many fish, etc.?

I don't want to give advice, if the bigger issue might actually be ammonia. If this tank has been newly set-up, then please read through the fish in thread in my sig.


As far as the salt goes, I would slowly wean the fish off the salt. I would do small water changes fairly frequently with no salt. Each time you did a water change, it would lower the salt content slowly, to the point that it would be basically the same as your tap. (BTW, in your calculations, you assumed that the tap water has zero salt, right? So, the range that the fish are currently in may not fall into the range you proposed.)


If, however, your tank is not cycled, then you will need to do large water changes fairly soon anyway. If so, then I would just hold the concentration at the level it is with each water change and then slowly wean them off the salt once the cycle is complete. (The presence of the salt might help keep them safe from secondary infections while exposed to higher levels of ammonia/nitrite.

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You are correct I did assume my tap water has zero salt. So, my calculations are most likely off(didn't think about that this morning). My tap water is the same as the tap water the shop owner uses so the salt concentration in my tank should still be slightly less than the salt concentration there. But I did just look up the water quality report for the area and even with the salt in our water supply the amount of salt is still well within the freshwater range.

My tank is 39 gallons and has not been cycled. I am cycling it with fish in (6 Danios) it is the first week and is planted with lots of live plants. I added a water conditioner (API- Stress Coat +) as per the instructions as well as a bacteria supplement (API-Stress Zyme+) Also, just about 1/2 of my substrate contained live cultured bacteria. I do not have a water test kit... I am color blind and cannot tell what the colors are or match them up on the key. (I tried to use them with my boyfriend's 10 gallon tank and couldn't tell what colors they were. I've also had many problems in Chemistry classes for this reason and always asked my neighbor what the colors are on pH test strips etc.) But the pet shop owner does free water tests (as do most fish supply stores) and it is only down the road. So, for now I will have my water tested at the shop. At least until I can figure out a solution to not being able to read the water test results. I will be taking in a water sample next week and will probably do a water change then or the week after.

I will keep the tank at the same concentration of salt until my tank is cycled, then like you said, wean them off.

Thanks for the link to the fish in cycling thread and for the info.


Picture of my tank!