Advice on salt?

[AmyKieran]

I’ve read that using salt regularly in water changes improves the health of the fish. I added for the first time 1 tablespoon of api into a 1l jug of tank water, dissolved it and put it into my 190l tank and the fish look lots more active and healthier! Would you then reccomend I add anymore or just now on water changes?

 

[Naughts]

Freshwater fish do not need sodium salt in the water, it should just be used as a short term medication for nitrite poisoning, protozoa, flukes, bacteria or fungus if required.
Their positive response may suggest that your water is short on the minerals they require, if so it would be better to add calcium and magnesium using a product such as Salty Shrimp GH/Kh+, rather than the unnatural (to freshwater fish) sodium.
What is the GH of the source water and what are your fishes GH requirements?

 

[AmyKieran]

Freshwater fish do not need sodium salt in the water, it should just be used as a short term medication for nitrite poisoning, protozoa, flukes, bacteria or fungus if required.
Their positive response may suggest that your water is short on the minerals they require, if so it would be better to add calcium and magnesium using a product such as Salty Shrimp GH/Kh+, rather than the unnatural (to freshwater fish) sodium.
What is the GH of the source water and what are your fishes GH requirements?

My gh is about 6, I know it’s soft water compared to hard water that my Malawi like. I use ocean rock and crushed coral in filter to raise kh and ph. I was told to add just a tablespoon of salt in the water every water change?

 

[Back in the fold]

@AmyKieran Added salt is something that was routinely done years ago as a standard practice by us old timers. Not a lot ,maybe 1 teaspoon to 5 gallons. Some plants will not tolerate it so you have to watch that. The added salt helps gill function and supposedly reduces stress. It may even prevent minor disease problems. Add the proportional amount with water changes so you don't inadvertently wind up with a marine tank. It is true that freshwater fish do not require the added salt but sometimes a small amount is good. I have been doing this for sometime and have had few losses, robust fish that eat well and my plants are doing alright. I think my added salt did kill my Ceratopteris thalictroides Water Sprite but the Java Moss and Java Fern are fine. Took 6 months to kill the Water Sprite. Just one more thing . . . . breeders of Nothobranchius Killifish swear that keeping them is impossible without added salt. And . . . the sodium is not a contributor to water hardness.

 

[AmyKieran]

@AmyKieran Added salt is something that was routinely done years ago as a standard practice by us old timers. Not a lot ,maybe 1 teaspoon to 5 gallons. Some plants will not tolerate it so you have to watch that. The added salt helps gill function and supposedly reduces stress. It may even prevent minor disease problems. Add the proportional amount with water changes so you don't inadvertently wind up with a marine tank. It is true that freshwater fish do not require the added salt but sometimes a small amount is good. I have been doing this for sometime and have had few losses, robust fish that eat well and my plants are doing alright. I think my added salt did kill my Ceratopteris thalictroides Water Sprite but the Java Moss and Java Fern are fine. Took 6 months to kill the Water Sprite. Just one more thing . . . . breeders of Nothobranchius Killifish swear that keeping them is impossible without added salt. And . . . the sodium is not a contributor to water hardness.

Yeah I’ve been told to do exactly that, add every water change to support gill function and prevent disease

 

[AmyKieran]

@AmyKieran Added salt is something that was routinely done years ago as a standard practice by us old timers. Not a lot ,maybe 1 teaspoon to 5 gallons. Some plants will not tolerate it so you have to watch that. The added salt helps gill function and supposedly reduces stress. It may even prevent minor disease problems. Add the proportional amount with water changes so you don't inadvertently wind up with a marine tank. It is true that freshwater fish do not require the added salt but sometimes a small amount is good. I have been doing this for sometime and have had few losses, robust fish that eat well and my plants are doing alright. I think my added salt did kill my Ceratopteris thalictroides Water Sprite but the Java Moss and Java Fern are fine. Took 6 months to kill the Water Sprite. Just one more thing . . . . breeders of Nothobranchius Killifish swear that keeping them is impossible without added salt. And . . . the sodium is not a contributor to water hardness.

I also don’t keep any live plants. I used to but my cichlids annihilated them lol

 

[Naughts]

My gh is about 6, I know it’s soft water compared to hard water that my Malawi like. I use ocean rock and crushed coral in filter to raise kh and ph. I was told to add just a tablespoon of salt in the water every water change?

Crushed coral could work. What is the GH. KH and pH in the tank?

EDIT: article removed, possible copyright issues

 

[Essjay]

Rift Lake cichlids need hard water - and that is both calcium and magnesium. Coral contains only calcium. Crushed dolomite contains both and can be used in the substrate. With soft water it is more usual to add Rift Lake salts to keep these cichlids and the water should be prepared outside the tank to keep the level constant. With coral in the tank, every time you do a water change, you add soft water which will lower GH before the coral has change to slowly dissolve.

Do you have a GH and KH tester to make sure they are high enough for the cichlids?



Salt was added routinely to a tank decades ago but we now know hat it not good for fresh water fish. This article was written by TFF member Byron

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[AmyKieran]

Crushed coral should work. What is the GH. KH and pH in the tank?

Frequently asked questions on using salt

Salt has been scientifically proven to have a number of benefits. Matt Clarke scours the journals and speaks to industry experts for the latest on the subject.

www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk

Gh is 6, kh 6 and ph 7.6

 

[Rocky998]

Gh is 6, kh 6 and ph 7.6

6ppm or 6 DGH?

 

[Naughts]

6ppm or 6 DGH?

Either way it's too low.
What are the nitrite and nitrate readings like?

 

[AmyKieran]

Rift Lake cichlids need hard water - and that is both calcium and magnesium. Coral contains only calcium. Crushed dolomite contains both and can be used in the substrate. With soft water it is more usual to add Rift Lake salts to keep these cichlids and the water should be prepared outside the tank to keep the level constant. With coral in the tank, every time you do a water change, you add soft water which will lower GH before the coral has change to slowly dissolve.

Do you have a GH and KH tester to make sure they are high enough for the cichlids?



Salt was added routinely to a tank decades ago but we now know hat it not good for fresh water fish. This article was written by TFF member Byron

Contact Support

Would you reccomend rift lake salt rather than plain aquarium salt?

 

[AmyKieran]

6ppm or 6 DGH?

GDH

 

[AmyKieran]

Either way it's too low.
What are the nitrite and nitrate readings like?

Nitrite always 0 and nitrate mostly always 10

 

[Essjay]

That GH is way too low for the long term health of Rift Lake cichlids, I'm afraid.

Rift Lake salts are a mixture of the minerals needed by Rift Lake cichlids, specially designed to provide water close to the Rift Lakes. The salts need to be added to the new water at every water change before it's added to the tank so that the levels remain constant.

Ordinary salt, aquarium salt, is just sodium chloride which does not affect hardness.