Salt in Freshwater Aquariums - How do you use it?

Segrest Farms just put out a recent blog on the role of salt in freshwater aquariums...interesting read.  Who does what here?  Anyone add salt regularly or do you just add it for illness?  Me...I used to add it regularly then read an article saying not to so went that direction and only use it now for illness.  I'd be interested to know if anyone is using salt regularly in their freshwater tanks, what kind, how much and how often?

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I think I could agree with that article. I'm not sure if i'd keep just normal NaCl in there at all times. But our water is so soft near seattle etc that some type of salts to help harden the water a bit I think is beneficial.

Ive only used it for medicinal purposes. But I have read that a bit of salt can be beneficial. But how much?

NaCl none, nada, never! I have on rare occasion used a salt dip/bath for individual fish. I do add seachem equalibrium and baking soda with water changes to my very soft tap water.

plaamoo wrote:NaCl none, nada, never! I have on rare occasion used a salt dip/bath for individual fish. I do add seachem equalibrium and baking soda with water changes to my very soft tap water.

  

Me too, except I pay more for Seachem brand baking soda (alkaline buffer).  

What about Marine Salt? It has much more in it than just salt...lots of trace elements. Just wondering if that might be good or bad?

When I added salt before I used to do that in my mbuna tank and they never seemed to mind it. That was just the aquarium salt. I probably wasn't adding enough to make much of difference but I wonder if a little is better than none now? And I don't need anything to harden my water as out of tap is 8.2...some tanks settle to 8.0 others stay at the 8.2 range. Not sure what makes the difference...maybe stones or decor or such.

I used to add sea salt, but I don't bother with it any more. I don't know if it was helping anything or not.

There are so many differences of opinion that it's hard to know what to do!

I add a little bit of salt after water changes it seems to keep my platies happy.

Seems there are different uses for salts in aquariums by reading above. I used it in the past to buffer but do not anymore. I will use aquarium salt if one of my pets develop an external infection, open sores, or that fuzzy stuff that grows on open sores. From past experience those things heal up faster when I use salt in the aquarium.

For those of you that THINK that the salt is what is healing the wounds or helping your sick fish; could it actually be the frequent water changes you do when your fish get sick?

The salt myth has been around almost as long as the hobby itself. It goes like this ... "You should always add salt to your tank water because it reduces stress, adds electrolytes, improves gill function, speed disease recovery and more."

The quantity of salt you are told to add, seems to vary with the poster and the local mythology, but generally is on the order of one tablespoon per five gallons. This advice seems to be given with no questions asked about water hardness, species of fish kept, presence or absence of live plants, or even water volume of the tank.

The "use salt" prescription is presented as one of the great revealed truths about captive fish husbandry, it's universal and it's rarely if ever qualified or restricted. IT'S NOT BASED ON SCIENCE. In fact, it goes against many of the principals of aquatic biology as we know them.

The statement that "salt helps fish regulate their osmotic balance" is patently ridiculous! All fish are different in this regard, depending on where they live. Some species are native to "soft water/low dissolved solids" habitats while others inhabit hard and alkaline biotopes with high salt concentrations inherent in the water. The species inhabiting these very different environments have developed metabolic processes which take advantage of the specific chemistry of that water. To add salt in the misguided attempt to "help regulate osmotic balance" may actually upset that very balance you are erroneously trying to help.

Does adding salt reduce stress? does salt reduce YOUR stress? Have you EVER asked your fish if they feel better? Of course not and there's no evidence that it does. In fact, in many species of fish it may actually increase it.

Salt adds electrolyte? salt is sodium chloride, period. Yes, those are "electrolytes" but unless you have extremely soft water, you can be certain that it already contains both sodium and chloride and a host of other ions as well. Do your fish need more? what evidence is there to support this "theory"?

Your fish are much better served by leaving them alone and allowing them to regulate their own osmotic balance ... something they have been doing without your help for thousands of years.

The idea that salt is a tonic for fish when it is kept in fish tanks at moderate levels (~ 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons) needs to be taken with a "grain of salt". If your fish are the most commonly kept community fish such as tetras, corys, angels or even the rasboras and most anabantids, these are fish largely from soft, acid, low-TDS (total dissolved solids) waters. The average tap water in the U.S and Europe is at least moderately hard and alkaline and is certainly not improved by increasing the "salt" concentration ... that very thing in which our water already differs most from the natural waters of these fish. Certainly many of these fish adapt well to our local water conditions and I am an advocate of adapting non-breeding fish to local conditions. This is far better for both fish and keeper than constantly battling see-sawing water parameters. Acclimation to your tap water is one thing .... making your water worse than it already is by adding salt however, is quite another.

 The prophylactic use of salt to avoid common pathogens and parasites of fish by keeping some level of salt in the tank is also fraught with difficulty. True, the use of salt, usually accompanied by increased temperature, has been known to be an effective treatment for one of the most common ectoparasite, which beginning aquarists encounter ... Ich. However, only the free-swimming form of this parasite is treatable. Neither the fish-embedded growth phase, nor the encysted multiplication stage that rests on or in the substrate is readily attacked by salt or any other medication. Thus prophylactic treatment is useless as it makes little sense to treat a non-infected tank on a chronic basis. Further, any treatment for parasitic infestation is a "medication" and thus the use of salt differs little from the use of any one of the other available Ick medications available at any LFS. The biggest difference in my opinion though, is that of all the medications available, salt is probably the least effective by comparison. As far as the use of salt to prevent bacterial pathogens .. BUNK!

Another fallacy is the addition of NaCl for livebearers. These fish as a group are native to estuarine environments where the waters are likely to be hard and alkaline at least and may even be brackish. The addition of sodium chloride (i.e., "salt") does absolutely nothing to match these species native waters since salt as comprises only a small portion of the total "salt" concentration -- the more significant elements are calcium, magnesium, potassium, boron and silicate salts.

It's important to note that the term "salt" isn't limited to sodium chloride. Calcium and Magnesium salts of carbonate, silicate, phosphate and borate are actually more important to the biology of brackish water fish. If your water is at least moderately hard (GH and KH 8-12) then the addition of some NaCl will do no harm. On the other hand if your water is soft and acid the addition of sodium salt will do little good. You need increased buffering capacity as much as the addition of minerals to the water and NaCl alone does absolutely nothing in this regard. You will need to add crushed coral or aragonite, both of which are primarily calcium carbonate salts, in addition to 'salt' as sodium chloride or better still, use marine salt mix which contains the whole range of cations and anions (positively and negatively charged ions, such as Na+, Ca ++; Cl-, CO3--) found in the sea. This will adequately buffer your water and more closely match the native waters of most live bearers in question.

In a nut shell, "salt" is an old myth that needs to be poured down the drain.

Thanks for the post Madness. That was generous of you.

Madness wrote:For those of you that THINK that the salt is what is healing the wounds or helping your sick fish; could it actually be the frequent water changes you do when your fish get sick?

I'm not so sure on this Madness. I had a fish I recently moved from one tank to another. He got beat up in the process. I do once weekly water changes, 50%. I had just done a water change before I put him in the tank so I didn't do another one. He did not seem to be getting better so I added some salt. Voila...2 days and he was like new.

As for the regular addition of salt to the tank...I'm still open to learning what others think and appreciate your input. I agree with some of what you said but don't feel knowledgeable enough to agree or disagree with other parts of what you said. Given that, I'd still like to know what others are doing as I'm sure many are like me. Anyone else have any thoughts?

I don't think there is anything I can add after Madness' post, except that again, I never figured that NaCl alone was a good idea. I occasionally use a tablespoon of API 'freshwater aquarium salt' that I bought when I was a n00b, which I think has other stuff madness was mentioning, but I don't make a habit of it. I have really noticed no difference in fish behavior or health- although they are usually healthy in the first place so who is to know really

I recommend instead using crushed coral, again as Madness suggested, as it will slowly add hardness and probably some salts to the water, and it won't be as sudden as dumping salt in with water changes. I have had good luck so far with a mostly crushed coral bottom in my guppy tank- no illness even with quite a bit of overstock in the little 10 gallon

I fully agree with Madness's take on salt.
I have rarely used salt for illness or healing.. plenty of water changes on injured fish has worked for me in the past.
I do keep in mind I do Keep SA species who reside in low pH low TDS waters.

cichlid-gal wrote:

Madness wrote:For those of you that THINK that the salt is what is healing the wounds or helping your sick fish; could it actually be the frequent water changes you do when your fish get sick?

I'm not so sure on this Madness.  I had a fish I recently moved from one tank to another.  He got beat up in the process.  I do once weekly water changes, 50%.  I had just done a water change before I put him in the tank so I didn't do another one.  He did not seem to be getting better so I added some salt.  Voila...2 days and he was like new.  

As for the regular addition of salt to the tank...I'm still open to learning what others think and appreciate your input.  I agree with some of what you said but don't feel knowledgeable enough to agree or disagree with other parts of what you said.  Given that, I'd still like to know what others are doing as I'm sure many are like me.   Anyone else have any thoughts?

I can almost guarantee you that it was not the salt. The next time I have 2 fish with similar injuries I will do a study/video on this.

I understand your efforts to ask the hobbyists what they do, but remember, like myself, we have all been taught from way back that adding salt is a good thing. There are several websites and retailers (because they want you to buy it ), that tell you salt relieves stress, heals, cures parasite and bacterial issues. But not 1 of them back any of that up with any scientific facts.

As I started getting heavier into keeping and breeding the more rare species, I wanted to know more. Why do we add de-chlorinator, what exactly is it doing? What is ICH? What are parasites, and how do they attack our fish and why? How do we eradicate these parasites? Why do they say use salt? What does it do? Why does my hot water tank have so many high traces of metals? Is this healthy for us humans or our fish? What are the long term effects of these metals? What are my options?

Sure we can go onto Google and read articles on this, but most of those articles are written by the average hobbyist with absolutely no scientific evidence for backing there claims. For example, the dreaded ICH confusion. The idea that ICH lives dormant in your tank is completely FALSE. But so many believe this, because that is what they were taught or told once. We should never be so close minded in anything we do, that prohibits us from learning newer ideas, new ways, new truths. I have learned to surround myself with some very knowledgeable individuals in this hobby, for the sole purpose of learning all that I can, so that I can be successful in raising and breeding these beautiful fish, and also because I love talking and teaching the hobby. The more things I know, the more I can help.

I understand that you will get answers like, "I have been doing this for years", or "thats what I was told to do by the LFS person", or "thats what I read". There were no scientific facts to back up the claim or debunk it many years ago, but today we have that ability. All it takes is asking the right people, scientists, ichthyologist, or anyone in this field of expertise.

I could ramble on-and-on about things we all new to be the gospel once, but over the past few years have learned, that what we have always done, is not what we should continue to do.

I, too, never use aquarium salt in my tanks other than for ick (never had bloat thankfully *finds wood to knock on*) though the next time ick rears it's head, I'll try one of the newer meds that have been developed.

Now, some peoples' central american cichlids and rift lake cichlids in the northern US will develop gout due to the lack of iodine in our water supply, as I understand it the glaciers scoured the rocks of the iodine. In those cases, some of the newer rift lake 'salt' mixes may be appropriate as they are no longer just sodium chloride as they first were when they came out ... but a mix of different salts ie: magnesium, calcium, and iodine. This has seemed to be less of a problem lately with the introduction of better foods now (vs 20+ years ago) though so it may not really be needed either. I too prefer to use crushed coral to raise hardness on the few times I keep something counter to my tap water.

Most of my fish I tend to keep are blackwater, where the pH is often 5.5 (and often even lower) and zero hardness. Fish from these types of water just do not handle salt well at all.

Back when I first started in the hobby, I did of course add it to my community tank but didn't notice any benefit. Quite the contrary, once I quit adding salt after reading an article by Dr. Paul Loiselle about how unnecessary it is, I had my first spawns ... of course, since the species that spawned where software angel fish and kribs, I guess that's not a surprise. The platies still seemed fine, but then So Cal tap water is liquid rock to begin with.

THE WORLD IS FLAT I SAY!

I am sure there are many scientific studies in controlled environments, the results are all out there for us to read. One scientist says this, and another study says that.  All i know is somewhere i read or i was told that aquarium salt/water softener salt can eliviate external infections. So  my poor little fishy with the fuzz growing on him, or some other external infection has been swimming around for weeks as I watch it get worse and worse hoping it'll heal up on its own, I finally make the decision to add
salt. Within 3 days the infection is near gone. Was it the salt? Was it Devine intervention?  Who cares, adding the salt worked in my opinion and has worked many times. And I'll use it again, and recommend it to others.

fishNAbowl wrote:THE WORLD IS FLAT I SAY!

I am sure there are many scientific studies in controlled environments, the results are all out there for us to read. One scientist says this, and another study says that.  All i know is somewhere i read or i was told that aquarium salt/water softener salt can eliviate external infections. So  my poor little fishy with the fuzz growing on him, or some other external infection has been swimming around for weeks as I watch it get worse and worse hoping it'll heal up on its own, I finally make the decision to add
salt. Within 3 days the infection is near gone. Was it the salt? Was it Devine intervention?  Who cares, adding the salt worked in my opinion and has worked many times. And I'll use it again, and recommend it to others.

for infections, some parasite etc..yes salt can help.
the part about osmoregulation(osmosis) is true..cells in the body try to reach homeostasis..that means the osmosis regulation is affected by the addition of 'salts'.
bacteria are sensitive to pH(read acid), as well as levels of 'salts'
in the matter of parasites it can stop the parasite in controlled conditions either often affecting some stage of the parasite. btw , heat can be just as effective providing the species can handle the heat.

Heat and parasites opens a completely new can of worms. there are so many parasites and bacterial diseases that thrive in warmer temps. So another topic for a different day. "What we once thought about raising temps to ward off issues, may not be all its cracked up to be".

@Chad-- Just because we do or have done something and got good results does not mean it is something we should do every time. There are sooooo many other things that could have been the reason your fish got better. Just like with humans, our first day with the flu is not the worst, its usually day 2 or 3. Maybe your fish was in the recovery stage, maybe it was the fresh water. I highly doubt it was the salt. Maybe a little bit, bought not much.

I will have a friend of mine stop by and chime in. He is a very well known hobbyist that prides himself and specializes in illnesses, disease, medicines, and water conditions.

LOL! "Well it could have been the salt, but I doubt it". <--- This is called back peddling. It either IS, or IS NOT. You can't one minute claim NO with a bunch of copy and paste from a Web site, then ALL of a sudden say maybe, then thrown in a I doubt it....

My EXPERIENCE with external infections and the use of salt spans about 6 years. Through those years of raising large aggressive cichlids there have been many bouts as you all big cichlid lovers are aware that happens.  The use of salt added to water has helped. This EXPERIENCE followed me into dwarf cichlids and many smaller fish.


As long as it's not Conway Stevens coming in here with his nose in the air, scientific bla bla. He starts blaping BS on here I am gone!

Well Chad I'm not sure of why the hostility towards Conway really not sure if something went on between you and him in the past, regardless the man is well educated and very knowledgeable, myself, you, and everyone else could learn quite a bit from him. I could get Paul Loiselle on here to speak about it, or how about Alf Stalsberg or maybe somebody from aquarium pharmaceuticals.  Just because they have a name that is well known and Conway does not, does not mean he is less educated regarding this topic.

And on a side note I really hate posting on my phone the damn thing never works right. Lol

I'd hate to see a little bit of information cause you to leave, but it is what it is I guess. I am sorry that you have such a dislike for him there's nothing I can do about that.   

I use salt almost every day here at the shop in the quarantine room. For treating bacterial and fungal and some external parasites I find it to be a great tool.

People can claim what they want. I can only do what is working for me in my own store.

Madness wrote:

cichlid-gal wrote:

Madness wrote:For those of you that THINK that the salt is what is healing the wounds or helping your sick fish; could it actually be the frequent water changes you do when your fish get sick?

I'm not so sure on this Madness.  I had a fish I recently moved from one tank to another.  He got beat up in the process.  I do once weekly water changes, 50%.  I had just done a water change before I put him in the tank so I didn't do another one.  He did not seem to be getting better so I added some salt.  Voila...2 days and he was like new.  

As for the regular addition of salt to the tank...I'm still open to learning what others think and appreciate your input.  I agree with some of what you said but don't feel knowledgeable enough to agree or disagree with other parts of what you said.  Given that, I'd still like to know what others are doing as I'm sure many are like me.   Anyone else have any thoughts?

I can almost guarantee you that it was not the salt.  The next time I have 2 fish with similar injuries I will do a study/video on this.    

I understand your efforts to ask the hobbyists what they do, but remember, like myself, we have all been taught from way back that adding salt is a good thing.  There are several websites and retailers (because they want you to buy it ), that tell you salt relieves stress, heals, cures parasite and bacterial issues.  But not 1 of them back any of that up with any scientific facts.

As I started getting heavier into keeping and breeding the more rare species, I wanted to know more.  Why do we add de-chlorinator, what exactly is it doing?  What is ICH?  What are parasites, and how do they attack our fish and why?  How do we eradicate these parasites?  Why do they say use salt?  What does it do?  Why does my hot water tank have so many high traces of metals?  Is this healthy for us humans or our fish?  What are the long term effects of these metals?  What are my options?  

Sure we can go onto Google and read articles on this, but most of those articles are written by the average hobbyist with absolutely no scientific evidence for backing there claims.  For example, the dreaded ICH confusion.  The idea that ICH lives dormant in your tank is completely FALSE.  But so many believe this, because that is what they were taught or told once.  We should never be so close minded in anything we do, that prohibits us from learning newer ideas, new ways, new truths.  I have learned to surround myself with some very knowledgeable individuals in this hobby, for the sole purpose of learning all that I can, so that I can be successful in raising and breeding these beautiful fish, and also because I love talking and teaching the hobby.  The more things I know, the more I can help.  

I understand that you will get answers like, "I have been doing this for years", or "thats what I was told to do by the LFS person", or "thats what I read".  There were no scientific facts to back up the claim or debunk it many years ago, but today we have that ability.  All it takes is asking the right people, scientists, ichthyologist, or anyone in this field of expertise.  

I could ramble on-and-on about things we all new to be the gospel once, but over the past few years have learned, that what we have always done, is not what we should continue to do.  

I appreciate your input and sharing Madness and you obviously feel very "convicted" about your findings.  I know I am that way too with many topics so I understand.  I do feel though that I have the right to ask hobbyists what they are doing and what works for them. Saying I should not inquire as to what others are doing and what is working for them because you or the scientists have the answers is silly.  I also don't think that other hobbyists beliefs or experiences should be quashed by scientific thoughts on this subject. If we allowed that we would never discover things on our own and would only go with what the scientists tell us, right? Many things are discovered by laymen and proven wrong by laymen. Scientists are not the end to all means...just saying. Hobbyists are in the tanks every day, working with their species and fish under "uncontrolled" circumstances. I think that often stands for more than controlled circumstances that scientists often work within.

My original discussion was based on a post by Seagrest Farms regarding their philosophies on salt and freshwater aquariums.  They even state right out of the shoot that this is highly debated topic. I asked

Who does what here?  Anyone add salt regularly or do you just add it for illness?  Me...I used to add it regularly then read an article saying not to so went that direction and only use it now for illness.  I'd be interested to know if anyone is using salt regularly in their freshwater tanks, what kind, how much and how often?

SOOOOO...lets keep this as an open discussion about salt in freshwater aquariums if we can please. This is an inquiry for future reference and thoughtfulness on my part. I'm open to knowing what everyone is doing. No judgments here folks.

I respect that response and that request Donna.  The help in me sometimes gets the better of me.  I understand what you requested, but I also understand that if I can help educate and/or help someone from doing something unnecessary and learning the hard way, then you better bet I will be helping them.  

I understand that a lot of us do things because it is what we have always done, I just cant help but reply with, "that doesnt mean it is the correct thing to do".  

A lot of people do the raise temps and add salt, that has been proven very ineffective and possibly harmful to some fish.  But there are those that have done it this way forever and continue to give that advice, even though "it is not the correct thing to do".  

Carry on with the OP's question:  Salt in Freshwater Aquariums - How do you use it? Who does what here?  Anyone add salt regularly or do you just add it for illness?

My response to those ?'s,  I dont use it.  lol

  Perfect and thanks for your great input on the topic Madness   

Madness wrote:Heat and parasites opens a completely new can of worms.  there are so many parasites and bacterial diseases that thrive in warmer temps.  So another topic for a different day.  "What we once thought about raising temps to ward off issues, may not be all its cracked up to be".  

@Chad--  Just because we do or have done something and got good results does not mean it is something we should do every time.  There are sooooo many other things that could have been the reason your fish got better.  Just like with humans, our first day with the flu is not the worst, its usually day 2 or 3.  Maybe your fish was in the recovery stage, maybe it was the fresh water.  I highly doubt it was the salt.  Maybe a little bit, bought not much.  

I will have a friend of mine stop by and chime in.  He is a very well known hobbyist that prides himself and specializes in illnesses, disease, medicines, and water conditions.

I agree , salt, heat etc should be administered for the specific parasite /bacteria you are dealing with.

Only ever used salt and by salt I mean NaCl, on an instance of ick. Used heat too. Hopefully I never get it again because by the time it was done my RTS was very angry. Though Idk if it was the salt or the temp. Putting anything in the tank regularly would make me twitch because its already freshwater for my freshwater fish.

Salt is a very interesting topic as is raised temps. I think alot of people have misconceptions or just have heard it pushed on over the years. There has not unfortunatly in aquaria been super stuides with all the different speices of fish. There are many that are intollerant to it. Salt is a chemical. When most speak of salt were normally always talking Sodium Chloride.

I think we should look at some of the claims and cause and effect information.

Slime coat.. Sodium Chloride does not cause the slime coat to increase do to happy things. Its not due to enzymes from it. Its been proven that it acts as a irritant and causes the fish to increase the slime in a means to reduce the irritant. This actually goes against what were trying to help with. Reduced stress. It changes the stress factors.

Then lets look at the function of osmotic balance. Its the balance of sodium Chloride in a fishes body. Water moves from the hypotonic side to the hypertonic side in Osmoregulation, it increases the salt concentration on one side of this flow from and to a fishes body. A fish spends MUCH of its energy regualting this function as high as 40% in most cases. The fish are constatntly trying to reach equilibrium. At equilibrium, both sides of the flow have equal osmotic pressures and this is what the fish is trying to maintain. Fresh water fish are constantly in removeal of slats from the body as well as water in regualtion of osmotic function Throwing that balance off by adding Sodium Chloride causes them to work harder induce higher stress levels as well as irritates the skin and the fishes repsonse is to inicrease the slime coat. Not always the best hings either as it to controls osmotic functio as a membrane. Freshwater fish are hypertonic to their water environment and therefore, water is continually diffusing into the fish through the gill membranes into the blood. The gills are also permeable to respiratory gases, ammonia waste products, and ions. Therefore while water moves in towards the higher osmotic pressure of the blood sodium and chloride ions also diffuse out of the fish moving down their concentration gradients to the external environment. Freshwater fish must expend energy to regulate this ion loss and fluid uptake. Again adding more salt increases this work load. It can have negative effects on ill fish as instead of using energy to heal its now using energy to increase osmoregulation of the body. This constant expenditure of energy to maintain an osmotic balance is a reason why proper nutrition and low stress levels are important for healthy fish. Damage to the kidneys through bacterial infection or other means is often deadly as these organs extract the large amounts of water which continually diffuse into the fish's body. Sodium Chloride has many effects that can create issues for this.


I know many of the people saying Ive done it ive used it I saw results May have also been seeing results of improving factors done by water changes and other things such as improving the fishes Redox potential and free radicals cauing a boosted immune system. Ive seen just as many people if not more with the proper use of lots of fresh big water changes with fish that have had almost no fins left due to aggression or other issues bring them back into perfect health with no inclusion of Sodium Chloride.

There are MANY bacterial issues that salt has zero effect on and can actually in some cases cause an infection to become Septic due to forcing it into the system by the fish trying to increase Osmoregulation efficency. Many forms of flavobacterium and Mycobacterium. Along with issues of areomas. Even in the case of parasites, the ammount of salt needed is that of sea water. a practice seen from use in the past that causes extreme distress in fish under this treatment. Parasites are also evolving agianst treatment with Salt as are bacteria.

There are many fish that are intolerant to it. Live plants do not do well with it. Many of the fresh water shrimps can not tollerate it. Proper treatments for the proper diseases and conditions are very important. A sudden change in osmotic pressure can put great stress on the osmoregulatory system of a fish. Salt does just that.

I know for many it is easy to say. Ive done it it works or whatever... But it doesnt nessacarily make it the best thing to be doing. Lots of things have change. I can remember in my 40 years of this hobby back in the 70's the thing was to NOT change your water. It was believed that the more your water aged the better. How wrong they were as we know now.

I think good discussions on this topic are great to have as well as others its how we grow.

BTW if your curious where Salt -Sodium Chloride was adapted from. It has been froom the Aquaticulture for fish farming for food. Its something that was thought to be able to be used to prolong the life of the fish enough to fatten them up to slaughter and sell later. The health and longevity of the fish were never a concern. It was adapted as a product to sell.

There are many other more benificial products out there. Such as Magnesium Sulfate. It does have various properties for benifical use. It can increase the GH of the water. Its has Diuretic properties if needed. It has properties of a laxative if needed and it has more then 250 enzymes for the water.

Of course I only recommend its use for various ailments.



And for Chad if you have issues with me Im unsure what they are. I would hope you or anyone in the name of the hobby would welcome and and all quality discussion.

There is still much more info on the subject if anyone would like to hear more or discuss further. Im currently working with a College on several aspects of fish and Specifically Cichlids in various things such as Behaviour and the study of intelligence in cichlids. As well as the ability to change colors the way they do so rapidly. And of course My long time specialty diseases and conditions. Its going to be a very interesting research program I do intend on sharing.

I haven't used aquarium salt in my personal tanks for a while now, HOWEVER... I do still have some aquarium salt stashed away for such an occasion... but I usually end up being lazy with using salt, so it kinda just sits there... but, like I said... it's there for a "just in case" bases, and.... if I'm not lazy to use it LOL...

That being said, I guess my fish don't get sick enough for me to really do anything, or to the point where I think salt is needed. I have used salt in the past to treat for ich, but I've also treated ich with a combination of things, be it raising temps, or using Kordon's Ich Attack (not to be confused with Kordon's Rid Ich). Which is hit and miss for some people. So who knows? =P

Going back to the topic, yes we do use salt at Aquarium Co-Op, and I have no objection to using salt for treating certain ailments.

Some people say that platties and mollies prefer living in water that contains trace amounts of salt (while some people even think that mollies can live in full marine water, if acclimated properly. Whoa.)

Great input folks. Given what's been shared and the fact that my fish are super healthy without the salted tank and that I have naturally hard water (9/10 kh/gh) I see no reason to add salt to my tanks on a regular basis.

I do however feel that I will continue to use salt under conditions where I have a fish with superficial injuries like scrapes and such as has been stated and seen by many, the addition of the salt, by causing "irritation" increases the slime coat which in reality assists the fish with abrasions to heal faster.

As for the ICH treatment....I have yet to have a case of ICH so I don't know about that or how it works. I think I would attempt the high heat/salt treatment prior to trying medication options.

I did find the discussion very interesting with regard to fish that are natural hardwater fish and fish that are softwater fish. I maintain fish that like hardwater as I've found that fish needing softwater eventually weaken and die in my water. I also am of the notion that trying to "manage" my water will become more work than I am ready to put into my hobby. Doing 50% water changes weekly it would be very difficult to maintain any type of "adjustment" to my water.

Again...thank you everyone for sharing your thoughts and views on this. As mentioned in the discussion there are always things that crop up that make us question our practices and if what we are doing is right. It's good to hear from other hobbyists what is working for them and what their thoughts are on the subject.

Well said, Donna :-D

Thanks Angelo

fishNAbowl wrote:Your comments are not helping this thread Chad. I suggest refraining from such comments here on the forum. We are here to share ideas and make the hobby better.

-Cory

I couldnt agree more. That is why we are here.

fishNAbowl wrote:Your comments are not helping this thread Chad. I suggest refraining from such comments here on the forum. We are here to share ideas and make the hobby better.

-Cory

Chad...I love having you on the forum and don't want to see you leave.

Often when we are speaking in the forum content things are misunderstood. It's the nature of the new social environment. Having spent years on forums and in gaming groups I've seen the best and the worst. The best happens when we can all move on, recognize that there was a misunderstanding, followup privately to each other to clarify things, keep an open mind, and just continue to have fun.

I too have troubles sometimes but I keep coming back cause its a great place to socialize with other local fishkeepers.

cichlid-gal wrote:I did find the discussion very interesting with regard to fish that are natural hardwater fish and fish that are softwater fish.  I maintain fish that like hardwater as I've found that fish needing softwater eventually weaken and die in my water.  I also am of the notion that trying to "manage" my water will become more work than I am ready to put into my hobby.  Doing 50% water changes weekly it would be very difficult to maintain any type of "adjustment" to my water.

This is a big thing for me to prevent burn out, which as happened once before for me. When you add several hours worth of time tweaking the water for multiple tanks, you get tired of it real fast. Since I'm a lazy fishkeeper (hence prefering HOB or Sumps over those nasty time consuming canisters), lately I still to what works in the tap water. Hence SA and Westie cichlids when I live on the west side of the state, but while I was in Spokane I kept Centrals.