New here and need help ID illness

[anewbie]

Make sure to use Aquarium salt.

salt is salt - you can use non-idonie store salt and it is a lot less expensive. Some say idonie doesn't hurt but i'd still go with the non-idonie to be safe.

 

[gwand]

salt is salt - you can use non-idonie store salt and it is a lot less expensive. Some say idonie doesn't hurt but i'd still go with the non-idonie to be safe.

The protocol i provided uses tablespoons as the measurement for chunky aquarium salt. A tablespoon of aquarium salt is not equivalent to a tablespoon of fine grain table salt. You would have to dose by weight.

 

[TropicalThemeUK]

Hi all. I have grabbed some API Aquarium salt and about to dose my main tank but the API packaging suggests a dose of 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water (20 litres) and the guide posted here says 1 tablespoon per 3 gallons (11.4 litres) -- that seems like a big difference so should I start with 1 per 20l and work up, or is that too low a dose?

Thanks for the support

 

[Essjay]

Use this dose rate

You can add rock salt (often sold as aquarium salt), sea salt or swimming pool salt to the aquarium at the dose rate of 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres of water. If there is no improvement after 48 hours you can double that dose rate so there is 2 heaped tablespoons of salt per 20 litres.

 

[TropicalThemeUK]

Use this dose rate

Excellent. Thanks

 

[TropicalThemeUK]

Hi All,

3 month (almost) update. It always bugs me when people don't come back to update how treatments went, so-
Have been keeping up a weekly small water change followed by monthly 70% water changes where i can get into all the nooks and crannies and vacuum the substrate. I've slowly reduced the amount of salt and now down to 1 tablespoon per 20 litres and the photos below show his eye is looking much better, but the injury and missing scales continues to refuse to heal.

As always, suggestions are very much welcome.

 

[GaryE]

You may be looking at a degree of scarring. I have seen that with Cichlids, and it generally goes away. But if water conditions slip, those are the weak points where you see it develop again.

I doubt that was from a bite. So you'll have to watch it.

 

[anewbie]

I would cease all salt and any thing else you might be adding that makes the water hard; the fish should do better in very soft water.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I suggest folks have a read of an article by RTR aka Robert T. Ricketts. When I entered the hobby in Jan 2001 he was already legendary. Back then there was no social media, there were only Forums like this one but most had active live chat rooms. I was very fortunate to find a find site where RTR was a member.

He wrote a number of excellent articles which are still available. One is entitle The Salt of the Earth, the salt from the Sea... and can be found in the Aquarium Wiki and the Puffer Forum in the Puffer Library. They have this paragraph on him:

Author: Robert T. Ricketts​

Retired research scientist (biochemistry and physiology, pharmaceutical development) and senior process analyst.Started fishkeeping in the dark ages (1950s), first SW tanks in the mid-60s, first puffers in the early 60s. Started with two tanks and never less than multi-tanked excepting some periods in college and grad school. Specialty if any would be filtration and water management. Primarily species tanks, planted whenever possible/practical and some where it not really practical.Ran something on the order of >150 tank-years* in studying optimum tank conditions for F-8 puffers, the largest tank study I have done. Other studies have been significantly less. Alternate canister use was mid-40s, OERFUG just over 60, veggie filters only about 25 to publication, but still going on less intently. If it had been known that the F-8s would live so long, it probably would not have been started at all.*One tank-year is one tank for one year.

You can read his article on using salt here https://www.thepufferforum.com/forum/library/water-filtration/thesaltoftheearth/#more-137 If you prefer to try the Wiki site the article is here: https://www.theaquariumwiki.com/wiki/The_Salt_of_the_Earth

If you do read this article you will learn why table salt is safe to use in our tanks. He ex[plains why Iodized salt is safe to use and why anti-caking agents are not a worry either. Basically, he tells us that before the amount of these things in table salt that would reach levels where they would be a concern we would have pickled our fish.

RTR's article is why in the article on this site (which I wrote) entitled Rescuing a Fish-in Cycle Gone Wild, Part II states it is safe too use table salt to block nitrite from entering a fish. In the case of nitrite the amount of salt needed to protect fish from it is quite small. The reason for using salt for nitrite is because of the chloride component in sodium chloride.

Incidentally, in the RTR article. he also explains why regularly adding salt to most fresh water tanks is not a very good idea.