am i missing something here

[aberdeen aquarist]

In my short time here, I have noticed a lot of people put salt in their tropical freshwater tanks. Is there any good reason to do this, I always thought that salt would be damaging to fish that don't come from sea/brackish water.

 

[Fishy Jon]

I have never put any salt in my tank and my fish are fine. I wouldn't, butr get more advice from other people on the forum.

 

[Pufferpack]

I have seen salt recomended as a general tonic (FW salt as opposed to Marine salt) to help with the fishes slime coat, and also for livebearers as a tonic. Salt is also a good Ich treatment (combined with elevated temps) as long as there are no salt intollerant species in the tank (scaleless fish).

 

[Pufferpack]

Edit: Double posting glitch

 

[cheirodon]

I use it mostly to break the ich cycle. I have only guppys, and they seem to like it. In any case, I've been using coarse salt (no additives) at the rate of 1 gram per liter, which is below the recommended dose... Very mild!

 

[CFC]

Salt is for marine and brackish aquariums, IMO there is no need to add salt to a FW set up except maybe for medicinal purposes like treating ICH/whitespot (not with scaleless fish).

 

[floater]

Certain fish, like livebearers and of course brackish water specimens (those that inhabit waters with significant salt levels) like monos, scats, puffers and fiddler crabs seem to have far better survival rates and fewer disease problems when kept with salt. Many others, like most barbs and tetras, seem more indifferent. A few, notably Corydoras catfish, are said to have very low tolerance for salt