Discus and salt?

[wer34]

Is it ok if i put a little bit of aquarium salt in my discus tank? im new to owning discus and I wasnt sure.

 

[freddyk]

Discus are freshwater fish. Is there a specific reason why you want to use salt?

 

[ramesses]

That's exactly what I wanted to ask.......Why do people still insist on using salt?
Discus don't need it.You would most certantly not find salt in the amazon,so why use it?
I would say no,don't use it on discus or any other specie that lives in fresh water lake/river.

 

[natron1968]

Salt helps generate slime on discus. Works great as a bath when they're sick. Some discus owners use it in their tanks also, but I haven't yet. I'm currently giving one of my discus several salt baths a day.

 

[simonbrown403]

It's ok to use a salt bath for treating fungus, fin rot and to a lesser exstent controling gill flukes. (untill you can get the proper meds)
But i would't recomend using it in the aquarium as discus dont tolerate salt for long.
high and varieing levels of desolved solids (ie salts, minerals, metals, etc) can weaken there amuin systems and open them upto the nastys in the aquarium

 

[freddyk]

Natron has a point, but so does simonbrown. The idea is knowing when to do it. Is it necessary to use salt to enhance the slime coat of a fish that is having no problem doing it himself?

 

[John_Nicholson]

Salt does not hurt discus in the least. Discus like most of the fish in the Amazon eveloved from salt water fish to begin with. That is why so many of them have such bright colors. Also twice a year the ocean will back flow into the Amazon region putting loads of salt water into the system. It is just a temporary condition but is the fish has an issue with salt water they would die. Having said that I would not use salt on an everyday basis but it should be the first thing you reach for if the fish gets sick. Normally 2 heaping tablespoons of rock salt per 10 gallons of water for 10 days will cure most illinesses. Replace the salt that is lost though water changes. And yes I did say rock salt, don't waster money on aqauirum salt. There is no need.

-john

 

[simonbrown403]

Salt does not hurt discus in the least. Discus like most of the fish in the Amazon eveloved from salt water fish to begin with. That is why so many of them have such bright colors. Also twice a year the ocean will back flow into the Amazon region putting loads of salt water into the system. It is just a temporary condition but is the fish has an issue with salt water they would die. Having said that I would not use salt on an everyday basis but it should be the first thing you reach for if the fish gets sick. Normally 2 heaping tablespoons of rock salt per 10 gallons of water for 10 days will cure most illinesses. Replace the salt that is lost though water changes. And yes I did say rock salt, don't waster money on aqauirum salt. There is no need.

-john

i agree but most discus these days are not use to sudden and high levels of desolved solids,
this is due to being bread and maintained in sterile controled condistions for 1000 of generations, its been bread out of them

 

[John_Nicholson]

Salt will not hurt discus at all. Their ability to deal with it has not been bred out at all. In fact most discus like a little salt in the water. I do not use it unless I have a reason but that is because I am cheap.

-john