Salt Vs No Salt

[justupgraded15]

I have always kept aquarium salt in my water with scaleless fish and my fish are happier than ever. I even had a fisheries biologist who has been fishkeeping for 30 years that it is good and I should keep it in the water even with the scaleless fish. (plecos and corys) Why is it that there is an ongoing argument and criticism over salt usage and suggestions to fellow aquarists over salt usage? Please put in some input.
J.R.

 

[CFC]

Personally i dont use salt at all, its not a matter of whether a fish is scaleless or not but one that if the fish i keep wanted salt added to the water they would have been collected from brackish waters. Many of the tropical fish we keep are farm bred and have been for many generations so the use of salt doesnt affect them, however when it comes to dealing with wild caught fish that come from areas where the water has no measurable salt content adding salt to the water could have disasterous consequences.

The decision to add salt or not is down to the individual and opinions on this will always differ, if it works for you then stick with it but if youve never used it and havent had problems then if it aint broke then dont fix it.

 

[thecichlidaddict]

I've used it and not used it. I don't use it anymore since I never found a benefit. All fish really need is clean water.

 

[semper fi]

salt is good for sick fish imo. salt helps with gill function that can be handicapped during illness. only time i use salt is when treating fish.

agree with cfc though, if it is not broke don't fix it.

sf

 

[Cheese Specialist]

I have used salt with cories and plecs, before I knew that it was 'bad'. They didn't seem to react badly but then how would I know?

I would rather not use it now which is a shame as I do think it can be beneficial for sick fish to help stress and aid the medication.

 

[babsrocks]

I've only been adding it with sick fish.
One question though, how long does it take to get all of the salt out?

 

[semper fi]

have to remove the salt with water changes since it is not removed with carbon. depends on the size of the tank and the amount of salt. that is why if you do do water changes, you only add salt for the amount of the replacement water, not the total tank capacity.

 

[BigSteve]

I use a little bit of salt simply because some folks with alot more experience
than me say it's beneficial. Can't say I've observed any great advantage, but my fish
seem to do OK.