why?

[Happy Fish]

I wanted to ask you 1 quick question.
In your regular tank or community tank (I assume you
have one with pearls and others) Do you add any salt?

My local fish guy says he puts some salt in all his
tanks the amount varies every time I talk to him.

I have two "two spot" and two pearl and a betta plus
some neons a few others in a tank with a good amount of real
vegetation. (yes they all get along) I can't seem to keep anybody alive for
more than a year. They never die of anything I can
see they just fade in health for a week or so then die.

I have had others come over and look and I have seen
ick and bloat and thats not it. all else is good per
several books...ph is 6.9 temp is 74F and I use Pure
reverse osmosis water.

The local fish guy has me doing 1-teaspoon salt per
gallon (yes the right kind of salt).

I'm at the end of my rope, no book says anything about
salt in fresh water ....but after I started doing it
the neons and some others did better but not the
gourami's please help if you can...
thanks......or just answer the salt question and Ill
take it from there...thanks again

 

[Sinuhe]

Based on what I've been told, salt can damage the labyrinth organ, and hence shouldn't be used for Gouramis and Bettas. That you have trouble keeping your fish alive most probably isn't because of lack of salt. Salt is an old trick that can sometimes help preventing or treating disease for a certain time, and some freshwater fish can handle it, but it's not recommended for labyrinth fish. What are your ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, general hardness and carbonate hardness levels? What is the size of your tank? What kind of filtration? How often do you perform partial water changes?

 

[Happy Fish]

ok a missunderstanding
I know I dont NEED salt in the tank..but I have been told by many many people that they put some salt in. As is seems to help in the overall health of the tank.

The question was how much do some of you guys/gals use

years ago when I was not a fish keeper a friend had a huge tank and I recall being there when her dad did a change and he put some salt in too.
I dont recall what types of fish he had ...and I know that my neons and swordtails seemed to be better and brighter after I added some...but then I added some bettas and gouramis to the tank...now ...salt? howmuch ? do any of you do it?
tank 40gal. ph 6.8... soft to medium hardness (its been awhile). temp 76. Plants and rocks and things.

 

[Mamaschild]

From all my experience and reading and research in general, none of the fish you mentioned should have salt. Unless, of course it's for medicinal purposes. I don't use salt in any of my tanks and have no problems.....I have all the fish you mentioned.

One thing I did notice from your post is that you said "I use Pure reverse osmosis water. " I have always been told NOT to use pure RO water because it does not contain any minerals. Fish need the minerals found in water to survive. If your tap is VERY hard (or of VERY poor quality), then I understand why you are doing it. BUT, it is not a good idea, or at least some of the minirals need to be put back in. I guess I should ask WHY you use RO water???

Try using part tap and part RO. I have heard of great results with that, but it will mean testing and testing and testing to make sure you are not stressing the fish by changing the perameters too much.

HTH

EDIT: Forgot to mention, salt is also going to be hard on your plants....

 

[Cali]

I know I dont NEED salt in the tank..but I have been told by many many people that they put some salt in. As is seems to help in the overall health of the tank.

The question was how much do some of you guys/gals use

My beatiful pink betta female was on death's door. She was bloated and kinda fluttering at the top of her bowl...kinda lopsided.

I added about 1/2 tea spoon of dissolved table salt to her tank and within 30 minutes she was fine and swimming normally. By the next day, the swelling had completely gone down. That was about 2 months ago. I have not had that problem again.

Now I don't know how salt works (or doesn't work) for others, but I swear by it when it comes to my bettas. And, yes, I did say ''table salt''.

It's just what I do (did), I am not saying everyone should do it. B)


EDIT: I don't add salt during regular water changes, I add it just for medicinal purposes...I've used salt for my pink female (as I described above) and when my red male got fin rot. The salt cured them both.

 

[White Whale]

So adding a pinch of sea salt will harm my bettas?

 

[Inchworm]

Hi Happy Fish

Adding salt to a tank is an old practice that has fallen out of favor. It used to be used as a sort of tonic to perk the fish up. Since I keep corys and loaches, along with gouramis and other fish, I no longer use it for that purpose.

I believe you can use up to 1 Tbs. per 5 gallons of water, for short periods of time.

Nothing you can add will overcome problems caused by poor water or inadequate cleaning, however.

Try 20-30% water changes, weekly, and see if that helps. When you change water, be certain that you remove the water by siphoning it up from the bottom to remove excess fish wastes at the same time.

 

[FishHeads]

I use a little bit of salt with every water change for my Betas, my tropicals and my goldfish. I actually found that my Mollies hate the salt and don't handle it as well as my Gouramis do....My Betas like the pinch of salt and my goldfish absolutely THRIVE on it. Salt is also working well on my new albino beta who's fins are sticking together and all gunky. (Collodial Silver is working wonders too. ) Make sure that the salt is non-iodized salt if you do decide to use it.

 

[Inchworm]

From all my experience and reading and research in general, none of the fish you mentioned should have salt. Unless, of course it's for medicinal purposes.

Hi Mamaschild

I have never heard that salt was harmful to labrynth fish. Please cite some of your sources for this information. I would like to learn more about this.

Thank you.

 

[OscarCichlid]

I have two "two spot" and two pearl and a betta plus
some neons a few others in a tank with a good amount of real
vegetation. (yes they all get along) I can't seem to keep anybody alive for
more than a year. They never die of anything I can
see they just fade in health for a week or so then die.

how did you manage that. 4 Territorial Gouramis, and Blue Gouramis getting along with a betta. Thats amazing. I hope it lasts...

 

[FishHeads]

I have two "two spot" and two pearl and a betta plus
some neons a few others in a tank with a good amount of real
vegetation. (yes they all get along) I can't seem to keep anybody alive for
more than a year. They never die of anything I can
see they just fade in health for a week or so then die.

how did you manage that. 4 Territorial Gouramis, and Blue Gouramis getting along with a betta. Thats amazing. I hope it lasts...

I have gouramis and Betas together in the same tank and they get along fine.

 

[OscarCichlid]

Glad to hear it .. I tried to keep a blue with a betta in a 29 and it didnt work out very good. The betta wound up with no fins within a day. I had to remove the Gourami to a 20..

 

[Sinuhe]

Where I heard that salt is bad for the labyrinth organ was from an elderly, experienced fish store keeper would breeds some of the fish (livebearers) he sells at his store. I'll have to look for some comfirmation elsewhere if other sources agree...

 

[Happy Fish]

wow lots of replies:
first ...thanks fishhead: as I see I’m not totally by myself. and to explain yes
my tap water is screwy so its pure RO for me ...yes the fish need minerals and such in part that is why the salt...

two blues ..two pearls ...betta I always have one big betta in the tank first and add others to it usually betta stakes a claim to the upper and mid and front of tank and if he is agressive enough pushes all others around ...I like that so far my betta seldom actually makes any contact with anyone else just stares them down. .. by doing so all other fish seem to be second place and don’t bother to fight among them selves too much. also this has not always worked but 80% or more it has.
Also if you don’t get two of the gouramis that’s trouble too as they (single ) have no one to play with...(really)...and will start to pick on the betta. ...alas if they ever manage to nip him the fight is over as the betta goes to cover and stops being king to the tank. at witch point I move him out. also most of the gouramis I have gotten were rather small/young and once fish get used to each other they seem to be ok.... rem. plants and rocks and things are needed not too many but enough to break up the tank to many little spots semi hiding spots...the dwarf blues seem to be extra aggressive and I have not gotten it to work with them...also this was started because my first betta was a round tail and quite aggressive to all fish so I
was looking to get fish just a bit bigger but calmer and found sunsets gouramis to be ok with him ...then I added two honeys and with very little aggression it all worked in fact the betta started to adopt the little honeys and chase the sunsets away at feeding. where as before the sunsets would chase the honeys it was all so damn cutie... any way 40gal seems to be enough for betta and four gouramis
if socialized??? Id try it if in doubt as the gouramis's slap fights are a good source of fun...(not real fight they just face each other and seem to hit each other with the long pokey feeler fins) then go on off to look for food? Sorry for the book but I feel the way the fish behave is very interesting. Again no real fighting is allowed in my tank or somebody goes to my small tank with guppies.