Salt and Water Changes?

[SkiFletch]

Hey all, I've been reading a lot lately about the benefits of the use of salt in freshwater setups and have been doing so with my newly re-started freshwater tank. When setting up the tank I've used teh good old one teaspoon per 5 gallons approach as per all the reccomendations I've read.

My question however is regarding waterchanges. I usually do a one gallon per day change on my tank (20gal) as that tends to keep the ammonia level down enough (still starting my cycle). Should I be adding a large pinch of salt to the gallon of water I'm adding, or should I change with complete freshwater? my knowledge of chemistry says I should put the salt in the water I add since i'm taking away the same amount, it will have the same amount of salt in it. If I'm way off, please let me know.

Thanks,
Mike

 

[dwarfgourami]

Hi!

Most fishkeepers nowadays do not agree with keeping salt permanently in the water unless they have fish which come from brackish water (e.g. some mollies).

For non-brackish fish, there is a risk of stressing out their kidneys in the long run (like feeding a baby salty food), as they are not designed to cope with salt. It is definitely not to be recommended with scaleless fish, like loaches and catfish, as it might damage their skin.

Some of the older school believe salt works as a low-level anti-infection device; most of us would say it is better to keep infection at bay by providing good clean water instead. I see it a bit like keeping animals permantently on low dose antibiotics, which may be necessary in intensive farming (because conditions are so awful), but should not be necessary for a pet, where you can go the extra mile to provide better conditions. I'd rather save the salt for a medical emergency, where it does have its uses.

If I were you, seeing as dwarf gouramis are not brackish, I would slowly phase out the salt by not replacing it in the water changes. Btw who told you dwarf gouramis were suitable fish for cycling a tank? They are not recommended for this purpose and often very sensitive these days (inbreeding), so keep a close eye on your water stats.

 

[Clairel]

I have mollies in my tank, and 1 gourami, and i DONT have any salt in there.

Mollies can live in freshwater just as happy....and it doesnt stress the rest of your fish out by having salt in there....

I would take the advice from the poster above...

Good Luck

Claire x