salt?

[fishdude]

hmm i have 6 golfish in my tank and was told by a free test by petco that my ammonia and nitrate levels are high so they told me to get some aquarium salt. so i did.didn't put it in yet because I'm wondering if my filter will clear out the salt because i'm thinking of adding snails.

 

[smb]

No, the only thing that will get rid of the salt is a water change.

I would try and find the 'reason" why you have high nitrites and ammonia tho.

Is this a new tank? What are your cleaning practices?

 

[Liz05]

Your filter will not filter out your aquarium salt, and salt will likely be harmful to your snails. Try ammolock? for the ammonia levels... I'm not sure what to do about your nitrates.

 

[smb]

Whoops. I thought you said nitrites, not nitrates. Sorry about that.

To get rid of nitrates, just do water changes.

What was your ammonia and nitrate levels?

 

[fishdude]

sorry i meant nitrites. i get them mixed up. i think i know the reason. well you iknow the golfish's waste still have food in it. which goes in the gravel so you have to stir some of the gravel. I've had this tank for atleast 2 months. but i don't have a test kit. so i'm not sure about cycling. my dad did 2 water changes early in the cycle even though i didn't want him to. anyway i'm not sure but i was told by petsmart that. and i needed a water change. so is there anyway later how to get rid of salt. because i haven't put it in and don't have snails yet but are thinking of them once everything is ok.

 

[lordmoose]

You really should do regular partial water changes with dechlorinated water (especially with goldfish they produce a lot of waste).

 

[juliethegr8t]

I am someone who will recommend adding aquarium salt to reduce the toxicity of nitrites. My tank had sky high nitrites for a very long time, and because I added salt and kept replacing it with every water change, I do believe this helped my fish survive. Salt will not evaporate or be filtered out - everyone is right when saying the only way to get rid of it is to do water changes. So I imagine if you did enough water changes eventually without adding more salt you'd have a very low concentration left, one safe for snails. Good luck!