aquarium salt

[sarah-j]

Hi, Im kind of a newbie to fish keeping. I went to my local pet store about 3 weeks ago to get my water tested and they said i had a water problem i.e my ammonia level was up etc but this was because my tank was cycling at the time, I was only a beginner and they never bothered to inform me . However she gave us aquarium salt and we used it, it says you can use it as a stress reliever and for buffering ph. is this true and does it harm any fish?
I have 3 Platy's, 2 albino catfish, 1 pimelodella angelicus catfish, 7 tetra's, 1 swordfish and 1 remaining male guppy(i lost the rest, they were pregnant)
Any advise would be appreciated.

 

[The-Wolf]

oh no!
catfish are intollerent of salt as they are scaleless fish.
I suggest lots of large water changes(30-40%) starting now every day for a week.

 

[sarah-j]

oh no, i hope i have not damaged them, they seem quite happy and at the time they did not seem to mind. will it have hurt them? they ate the salt is that normal?

 

[The-Wolf]

salt and scaleless fish has the same
effect as us and heat, it burns them.

the lesson here is never, ever, trust the lfs untill
you have verified the infomation they give you is correct.

 

[sarah-j]

we looked into our tank and something like a bright green haze flitted through the water, what on earth was this? it was like green smoke? any ideas it completely frightened us

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Salt is extremely bad for catfish and tetras and other types of "scaless" fish; i suggest you do a large 60% water change straight away otherwise your fish's condition will realy start to deteriotate.
What were your ammonia stats? the best way to remove ammonia is by water changes although anything larger than an 80% water change is bad.
Have you tested for other stats like nitrates and nitrites recently? How many gallons does the tank your fish are in hold?

 

[sarah-j]

I will never trust my lfs ever, ever again. my albino's mean the world to me, I love them to bits. The lfs also lost me my betta splenden as they said it would be okay to put him in with tretra's but they killed him. I was so sad to lose him yesterday but so angry at my lfs. I was furious. there is so much conflicting advise. This was the only place I felt i could come for advise even though I know some people can give bad advise. but thank you to you all who have helped.

 

[sarah-j]

My tank is a 68 litre tank, thats about 14 gallons I think. My ammonia was up at 2.0 ppm, nitrite was at 1.5ppm and my nitrate was at 0ppm that was when she told me to put in salt. however my tank has had water changes and is cycling but im not sure when it will finish. my ammonia level shot up but now its come down and my nitrite levels have increased and my nitrate levels have too. I would hate to hurt any fish any more and continue to do water changes. when will the cycyle finish. nitrite at moment is 0.35ppm and my nitrate is about 1.0ppm. i know this is bad but im sorting it out with water changes. but definitly no more salt i've only done it once.

 

[Bloo]

I know you didn't know this at the time, but that's a massive amount of fish you have for that size tank - not to mention an unestablished tank that size Especially if you consider that your catfish probably all have lots of growing still to do.
Yes, 68 liters = 15 Imperial Gallons or 18 US Gallons.
Have you still been using the salt recently ? It seems that you used it 3 weeks ago, and I would take it that you've been doing lots of water changes since then ? That really is the only thing you can do until your fully stocked tank is cycled.....

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

your nitrate levels are fine, and nitrite will sort itself out as the tank cycles, the ammonia can be got rid of with water changes; avoid buying anymore fish until your tank is cycled although im not sure if the angelicus catfish will outgrow your tank or not.
Do you test your own water or get the lfs to do it?
Water changes are esential right now to try and remove the salt from the water, if you have anymore questions just ask
There are some good stickys on cycling tanks in this section if you need anymore info about cycling

 

[sarah-j]

I have bought a full aquarium pharmacuticals test kit with all the tests for ammonia, nitrites, nitrates and PH low range and high range. I tested it just now and my levels are okay, the ammonia has definetly went down which is good. My PH is neutral maybe slightly over like ph 7.1. I wont be adding any more fish for a while until everything settles down. I have had enough casualties and I feel really guilty. At least next time there hopefully wont be any. However i feel really annoyed at my lfs as they gave me bad advice and a betta lost his life. Im not sure if my guppy's died because of the water or because they were ill, they were all pregnant and one died during birth.

 

[sarah-j]

will my albino catfish get much bigger? they are about 1 inch and a half at the mo? they are gorgeous was wanting to get more eventually but if they get ****** maybe i should leave it. in total i have 15 fish is that too much or is that okay for 15 gallons?

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

No the best rule to go by is the 1inch of fish per gal rule(of course there is more to take into consideration than this) but you have to messure what the fish will become when fully grown and not what it is currently, albino corys/catfish grow to about 3inchs max, so...

 

[sarah-j]

yeah we had tried to work out that rule and we calculated that we could have about 15-20 small fish. So my albino's may get bigger was what I meant to say earlier. I miss spelt by accident. i will just wait and see how things go. thanks for all yuor help. by the way does anyone know what the green haze was flitting through my water? i mentioned it earlier but no response

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Green haze is probably algae which can also be got rid of by water changes if its just in the water on not on tank decor and stuff- use a clean sponge that hasn't had contact with any cleaning chemicals to remove it if its growing on things.
What are you feeding your fish currently? corys will need to have catfish pelets in their diet as they can't rely on flakes alone, and its also good to feed your fish cooked de-shelled peas or algae wafers every now and then to help prevent constipation in them and keep them healthy
Each fish should get between 2 and 4 flakes each a day but no more than that.