salt

[gr8kingrat]

I added some salt to my new freshwater 55 gallon tank. Are there certain types of fish that cannot tolerate salt at all?


-dave

 

[wuvmybetta]

Hi
I can't give you much info but I've learned by experience that plecos & tetras don't like it, mine didn't die from it or anything but I removed as much as possible after learning that

 

[gr8kingrat]

thanks!

hmm...i added a little bit of salt to my tank...and i'm planning on getting some neons. Do you think i'll have problems?


-dave

 

[Jimthefish]

The only fish that need salt in their water are brackish water or marine fish. Salt is sometimes recommended as an aid for treating various diseases but if there is no disease and no brackish or marine fish, why add it?
Many soft, acid water fish are intolerant of salt. That is most tetras, cory catfish, most plecs and algae eaters, barbs, danios, gouramis.
Even very hard, alkaline water fish like malawis don't like salt much.

 

[Tanked]

loaches don't like it either, basically any scaleless fish do not take well to salt.

 

[gr8kingrat]

so i guess i should do a water change huh?

 

[Tanked]

if you want to add tetras it would be a pretty good idea to change the water

 

[gr8kingrat]

partial? or complete?

sorry..i guess i should have asked this before...

 

[wuvmybetta]

Just partial I would think, you don't want to lose your good bacteria, when I found out it was a no-no (I only added it to treat ich on my platies,who I ended up taking back after they recovered ) that bit, but anyway, I changed out maybe 20 percent a couple of times that week just to dilute

 

[playfulalliecat]

We have platys, swordtails, black skirt tetras, tiger barbs, clown loaches and a plecostamus in our 55 gallon and we do have salt in it as well. The trick is adding it slowly at a smaller dose than recommended. Fish are adaptable creatures and will adapt to most water conditions if done slowly. Ours have done just fine. We have only had one outbreak of ich and that was when we first started up the tank back in February. Other than that, we have had no other diseases or real problems. I wouldn't recommend the amounts recommended on the containers of salt as that could be too much. Many of our fish were already in the tank when we introduced the salt but some like the clown loaches were added afterwards with no ill effects. I know that many people will not agree but all I can say is it is working very well for us. A lot of fishkeeping comes down to trial and error, what works for some will not work for all. As some water supplies are just harder to work with when it comes to trying to regulate the parameters. We have just been very very lucky with our fish!

 

[gr8kingrat]

We have platys, swordtails, black skirt tetras, tiger barbs, clown loaches and a plecostamus in our 55 gallon and we do have salt in it as well. The trick is adding it slowly at a smaller dose than recommended. Fish are adaptable creatures and will adapt to most water conditions if done slowly. Ours have done just fine. We have only had one outbreak of ich and that was when we first started up the tank back in February. Other than that, we have had no other diseases or real problems. I wouldn't recommend the amounts recommended on the containers of salt as that could be too much. Many of our fish were already in the tank when we introduced the salt but some like the clown loaches were added afterwards with no ill effects. I know that many people will not agree but all I can say is it is working very well for us. A lot of fishkeeping comes down to trial and error, what works for some will not work for all. As some water supplies are just harder to work with when it comes to trying to regulate the parameters. We have just been very very lucky with our fish!

I added one tablespoon of salt per 10 gallons of water. I have a 55 gallon tank...

too much?

 

[playfulalliecat]

With neon tetras as fragile as they seem to be, I would be leary of putting any salt in with them. The black skirt tetras like we have are pretty hardy. Clown loaches, if you intend to have them, are very sensitive to salt. They are one of the more sensitive fish and therefore, are more difficult to keep successfully. Ours has been diluted down with water changes and we do not add salt at every water change. How new is your tank and where is it in the cycle? What are your water parameters and do you have any fish in it? If it hasn't really started the cycle yet and you have no fish then go ahead and do a 75% water change to get rid of most of the salt........if you do have fish, please list the type of fish you have and Les Gerber or I will get back to you on how to do this.

 

[gr8kingrat]

With neon tetras as fragile as they seem to be, I would be leary of putting any salt in with them. The black skirt tetras like we have are pretty hardy. Clown loaches, if you intend to have them, are very sensitive to salt. They are one of the more sensitive fish and therefore, are more difficult to keep successfully. Ours has been diluted down with water changes and we do not add salt at every water change. How new is your tank and where is it in the cycle? What are your water parameters and do you have any fish in it? If it hasn't really started the cycle yet and you have no fish then go ahead and do a 75% water change to get rid of most of the salt........if you do have fish, please list the type of fish you have and Les Gerber or I will get back to you on how to do this.

My tank is only 2 days old. I'm using live plants...no fish yet.

 

[playfulalliecat]

Then go ahead and do a 75% water change, this will get rid of enough salt to be ok for most any fish you get. Watch for getting anything like a pictus cat or fish with a big mouth as if you get those neons, they will be a nice snack. We got some one evening and by the time we got up the next morning all but one (and it was in the filter) had been eaten. We haven't tried anymore of them. If it was me starting up again, I would get some platys or IMO feeder goldfish to cycle the tank with. The platys are pretty hardy and the goldfish are cheap and good to take care of the cycle. That way you don't lose a lot of money. If you don't have one, invest in a kit to test ammonia, nitrIte, nitrAte, and ph. Those water parameter tests can save you a lot of heartache in the future when fish get ill and with your cycle. Some people talk about a fishless cycle where you use food but I don't know a lot about that, as I have never tried it. Now I take media from existing tanks and for the most part can skip the cycle. Our black skirts rode out our cycle just fine and so did our platys. With hindsight being 20/20 to do it over again, we wouldn't have started out with about 20 fish in the tank but we didn't know a lot about the cycling process. Boy, have we learned a lot since then!!

Feel free to ask either Les or I anything you wish to know, we will be more than willing to help as much as we can.

 

[gr8kingrat]

Thanks for all your help! I'm learning so much here!