Aquarium Salt

[tttnjfttt]

Recently in the emergency section, another memeber and I ended up talking about salt, and I was amazed at the differences in what we both had heard. You can find the link http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=99631

Out of curiousity, I went to Google and did a search on aquarium salt. I found so many different opinions on this topic, ranging from don't waste your money to it is a good thing to keep in your tank on a regular basis. In the other thread, Boxcar Muzzdogg said he had read that 2 tbsp/5 gal was good for neons, and other sites I visited said neons don't handle salt well. Also other sites were saying no salt for scaleless fish (cats) while some were claiming they kept theirs in a low salt concentration.

When I looked at the reasoning behind contradicting articles, the logic in both articles made sense, and I couldn't really find too many holes in it.

What I want to know is, what have you experienced with salt? Do you find it useful? Do you use it regularly? How much do you use?

My experience is I will use it to help fish when they are stressed or sick. I can't say if it helps or not because I was told to do this by a LPS when I started with my fish.

 

[Teelie]

I've used it in the past with cories and other fish with no problems whatsoever and I still have some though I rarely ever use it. I tend to forget it's there.

 

[Dubby]

IMO it definitely helps reduce Osmotic stress and thus gives the fish a fighting chance to cope with the illness. Also probably helps by making it difficult for the attacking organisms such as parasites as they cant cope very well with increased levels of salt.

 

[Jules H-T]

I used to use it and then not use it intermittently, and never noticed a difference to anything to be honest. As soon as I got Clown Loaches I stopped as I too heard the scaleless rule.

Still have the tub of Dr Wellfish's aquarium salt, can't see myself ever bothering with it again though, clowns or not.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Scaless fish that i can remember at the top of my head;

tetras i.e neons, cardinals, lemon, black tetras etc etc
danios
Clown loachs including other loachs like chinese algae eaters and khuli loachs etc
corys i.e albino, peppered, bronze, panda etc etc
Plec i.e common, sailfin, bristlenose, rubbernose, candy etc etc
Barbs i.e tiger, rosy, white clouds etc etc

I think those are the main salt intolerant fish groups, if i've missed any or got any wrong please feel free to correct me .

Salt helps kill fungal infections like columnaris, fungus and finrot- it also kills parasites like whitespot and can help aid the cure of such deseases/conditions like septicemia- mollys, black ones in particular, often get slime coat disorders when somthing in the water is irretating their skin or there is issues in water quality and salt can also help cure this.
Say your cory has finrot though and you decide to use salt to treat it- it may cure the finrot but you are putting the fish under great stress and because it damages the skin, you are also leaving the fish open to other deseases.
Salt can kill any salt intolerant fish and it often does though.
I've done a couple of salt baths before, but i have never treated any of my tanks whole with salt because i have so many salt intolerant fish.

 

[tttnjfttt]

tetras i.e neons, cardinals, lemon, black tetras etc etc
danios
Clown loachs including other loachs like chinese algae eaters and khuli loachs etc
corys i.e albino, peppered, bronze, panda etc etc
Plec i.e common, sailfin, bristlenose, rubbernose, candy etc etc
Barbs i.e tiger, rosy, white clouds etc etc

Thats interesting. I have never heard not to use it on danios or barbs. I have both and they seemed to tollerate salt OK.

 

[Squishiebabe]

Out of my experiences, salt does help. It helped finrot, got rid of velvet, and I find my fish perk up a bit if they aren't looking so good, after a water change and just a tablespoon of salt. Now, my friend and I used salt in a tank with 2 plecs, and it was okay, we used 1/4 of the reccomended dose for her tank, and it helped get rid if the ich. We watched carefully, and the Plecs seemed fine, I think a tiny amount very rarely wont kill them, but only in serious emergency.
Overall, I think salt is great for helping meds work, and it definately makes a difference with my fish. Although i want some cats, so I'll have to abandon the habit, and figure something else out, lol.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

With so many other meds available for fish deseases you will always find a med that can replace the use of salt in a desease scenario- meds can be stressful for fish, but salt can be very stressful for salt intolerant fish and you will have just as much success with meds as you will with salt.

Personally i would never risk salt on salt intolerant fish, i know cases of salt intolerant fish surviving the treatment are not uncommon but cases of them being wiped out are still very common and most often out weigh the benefets of the salt- i knew a guy once who had whitespot in his fish tank and amoungst his fish he had 15neon tetras- the day after he treated the tank with salt all the neons were all dead. I have also heard many similar cory and plec storys too.

 

[Fish Buddy]

I use salt in combination with tea tree oil and find it pulls my tanks out of sickness ok.
I use to use salt regularly when I first started into fish keeping-the recommended dosage on the back of the package -but then stoped as I thought it was not really needed. And I haven't really noticed a difference.
I know salt increases elecrtomagnetic function in the fish -better use of muscels and brain-but I also know that too much salt can burn the skin of the fish.

 

[mellowserra]

I have used salt in the past to reduce stress my eel may have been under when he paled out.

I also used it concurrent with meds when treating a large community tank for a small ich outbreak. The use of salt with freshwater fishes can be very beneficial as it acts as a mild skin irritant, stimulating an increased production in the slime coat. I very slowly added salt, just a little at a time, and my two plecos were not the least bit distressed. My plants were all unaffected as well, with two weeks worth of salt.

 

[Miss Dib Dabs]

I don't and won't use salt with freshwater fish. If it doesn't occur in their natural enviroment then it is not a natural thing to expose them to. Granted living in a tank in my living room or similar isn't natural either but one does ones best.
Using anything unnatural on any fish or, indeed, ourselves or other pets, is not good. I found out last year that a herb I grow in my garden will get rid of your headache damn fast and it's entirely natural. Just by eating a fresh leaf from the plant. Granted it tastes very bitter and not at all pleasant but it works. So where possible I like to use remedies that would mimic their natural enviroment. Obviously this is not always possible but like I already said, salt for a fish that lives it's entire life in fresh water = no.
Hugs,
P.

 

[Dubby]

I don't and won't use salt with freshwater fish. If it doesn't occur in their natural enviroment then it is not a natural thing to expose them to. Granted living in a tank in my living room or similar isn't natural either but one does ones best.
Using anything unnatural on any fish or, indeed, ourselves or other pets, is not good. I found out last year that a herb I grow in my garden will get rid of your headache damn fast and it's entirely natural. Just by eating a fresh leaf from the plant. Granted it tastes very bitter and not at all pleasant but it works. So where possible I like to use remedies that would mimic their natural enviroment. Obviously this is not always possible but like I already said, salt for a fish that lives it's entire life in fresh water = no.
Hugs,
P.

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I suppose we are all talking about using salt only as a form of medication. We wouldnt want our freshwater fish to adapt to salt water conditions

 

[Teelie]

Salt does occur in the natural environment though. Many African lakes have a high salt content, so do marshes. Most of the Amazon is salt free though and a few other isolated places but most bodies of water contain some salt. I don't think it's essential to all fishes health but saying it isn't natural isn't right either.

 

[Lynz781]

I've never understood what fish have scales when I can actually see scales on danios. Why are they in the list as scaleless fish? Am I missing something?