Salt...

[Blue Lobster]

They were advising using it in a tank with neons...

haha, hey buddy, you got beef with me?

Salt/heat is IMO the best way to get rid of ick. Its much better than using meds because meds usually end up killing more fish and causing more stress than salt/heat.

As for treating scaleless fish, catfish, and loaches, salt is not harmful for them for treatment periods (a few weeks). It is not recommended you add salt for long term use with them.

No, i was just asking others if there were any exceptions when using salt with certain fish thats all...
If i were trying to stir up trouble i would've named you and put in some other comment about your knolege of fish or somthing etc, i said early on in the thread that i was only trying to sort out the issue not argue anyways.

Calm down boys, it's just salt.

 

[troutfly]

I think using salt on fish is great, especially when they are breaded and covered in pepper....Oh sorry guys....My mind wondered....

I have only put salt in one tank to treat ich, it didn't work to weel so I resorted back to using ick-cure and water changes.

Whether you use salt or not is up to you, if it works it works.

Brackish fish need it.....

'nough said.

 

[rrdrummer5]

i put aquarium salt in my first fish tank(read somewhere that it was good to always have a little salt, pshht) and the next day my clown loaches were dead. Ive never used salt since.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The only thing i'd like to add is SALT DOES NOT CURE EVERYTHING! I just see so many people recommending others to use salt on all kinds of deseases which it is not capable of curing or will only make worse or will not be as effective as a med specifically designed for the desease.

Salt, salt, salt, salt...Please think at least 3 times before you recommend to it somone in treating somthing, please!

 

[Lateral Line]

Many of the fish commonly kept in aquaria evolved in salt free environments. When salt is added to the water of these species, it is a pollutant. It forces the body chemistry of the fish out of balance, (osmotic pressure), and forces internal organs, particulaly the kidney to work harder then normal to keep the internal electrolytes balanced. The kidney thus burns out faster then it would otherwise killing the fish. How long that takes depends on the salt concentration, the species, and to a certain extent, the individual fish.

Salt is also toxic to many aquatic plants which similaly evolved in salt free environments, and have no real means of removing it from their systems.

Fish that naturally come from coastal/deltaic regions have larger kidneys to accomodate the excess.

I do not believe salt should be routinely added to fully freshwater tanks. It has certain uses in a hospital tank.

 

[abstract]

personally i think the idea of using salt to cure diasease is a bit over rated. why use salt and heat to get rid of ICH in 10days when you can get rid of it in a couple of days using a good medication....

and many people believe that introducing completely foreign medications into tanks is over rated...not to mention expensive, and, just like salt, potentially harmful to other fish

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

The majority of meds available will state what fish they cannot be used with and what effects they will have on the ecosystem, unfortunatly salt more than ofetn does not.
Fish med technologys are getting better and better every day and at least their take into account the effects they have on the fish's organs- unfortunatly salt hasn't realy moved on from the day it first arived on earth and it is true while it may be doing good to some parts of the fish it may also be doing bad to other parts.

One of the things i don't like about salt is that when you use it, it doesn't just affect the fish and desease it is treating but everything else in the tank- plants, water quality, fish's organs, bacteria in the tank etc; many meds are now made so they only deal with the particular desease and fish affected.