Salt in a freashwater tank

[waterboy]

Just would like to know the thoughts on the use of salt, in a freashwater tank, for a parisite problems. I have read articles saying that it is great for use, then I have read one other article that is totaly against the use of salt and says that it does nothing and should not be used for nothing other than Nitrite poisoning.

          Can anyone shed any light on this subject or has any opinion in the matter? Thanks for your replies. :)

[guppymax]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

Our water is pretty hard already. If its not broke don't fix it. Do you have parasites?

max

[SCOTT]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

OK, this is an old question which has never really been answered. Here is the current train of thought, you draw your own conclusions.
Some say that salt aids in the development of the slime coat, others say it doesn't. Some say that salt will make it more difficult for parasites to thrive in your tank, others say thats bs. Some say that salt will ease stress in your fish, others say it has no effect. You get the idea, no matter the claim, and there are a bunch, there are people who say it does no good at all.
Here's my opinion, for what it's worth. Small ammounts of salt certainly will not harm your fish. By small ammounts I mean something on the scale of 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons water. In my personal experience, I don't know if it does make the slime coat stronger and/or help the fish fight off disease, but, when using salt I have never had so much as 1 fish contract ich or any other illness. That is a good enough argument for me, it may not be for someone else.
The way I utilise salt is in varying the ammounts I add. The reason for this is pretty straight forward. If salt is indeed effective against parasites and disease, then we are after simple celled organisms. As such, these are life forms with very little tolerance on the whole for changes in environments and lack the ability to adapt quickly. By varrying the salt concentrations we are changing the parameters in which these organisms would need to propogate, by doing so, we effectively, or so my theory goes, keep them from establishing themselves in the tank. One water change I may add 1 tbl of salt per 10 gallons, the next no salt at all. The key is not to wind up with a brackish water tank by continually adding salt and just topping off the tank with fresh water as the old evaporates, your tetras deffinately wont like this. If in doubt, don't add any salt. Salt can and probably will raise your Ph and Dkh, if raising cichlids, no big deal, however if you are raising something like cardinal tetras, again, not so good.
Now, here comes the really confusing part. You can get the same results that I just attributed to salt by raising and lowering the temperature in your tank 4-6 degrees. The drawback here rather than raising Ph and Dkh is that if done to quickly can cause stress and an outbreak of ich in your fish. Basically, both methods work, one has a chemical side effect, the other an environmental side effect. Both can be used to control disease, or to kill your fish. Remember, these are small animals and as such require gradual changes to their environment. Any change, no matter if it is benificial or not, if made to quickly can kill them.
Just because you use heat doesn't mean you can't use salt as well, when combined they are an effective deterent to certain diseases.
I hope I didn't confuse you even more, but like I said, this is an old topic with no clear cut answers. Look at it like insurance. Is it worth the $5 in salt to potentialy thwart an ich outbreak? Or conversly, if this is all BS, do you want to blow that $5 on something which has no effect whatsoever. Personally, give me the insurance.

[HFBfounder]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

:clap: Well put!

[charliefoxtrot]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

I don't have any strong opinions although I've never used any salt.  I've heard those that say you pretty much have to add salt to a livebearer tank but I've got three tanks full of livebearers that are all thriving and have never added salt.

However,...in retrospect I probably could have used some salt in my first livebearer tank.  For about two or three months after it was fully cycled, it was still touch and go.  I had an ich outbreak and then I lost a few swordtails to a cause I still haven't determined (they'd show up dead with a red spot in their midsection.  At the time I thought it was bullying by an unusually aggressive molly but in retrostpect I'm not so sure).  It occurs to me I might have avoided some of those problems had I added about a teaspoon of salt when I first set up.

"That it works shall be your proof."

[PhishPhreek]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

Mollies are native to the brackish water along the gulf coast.   As are other livebearors.   When you take a brackish water fish and put it in a fresh water tank its immune system suffers.

Thats why mollies are plague rats and are so often blamed for spreading disease to the other fish in your fresh water tank.

If you are going to keep brackish water fish, you need to add salt to reduce the stress in their environment.

[waterboy]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

:emtthumbs: Thank you Scott, that was very well put. Just to clearafiy, no I do not have a problem in my tank. I was just wanting to know what the opinoins were here on the forum and with the great answer that I got for the water changing ??? I knew that I would get a like answer to this ???
    I was confused with all the info. that I have read on the net and in books that it was ok to use salt, that when I came across this article about the salt not being good to use, well i had to ask.
               Thanks again for the great info.   And thank you Scott for the wonderful answer.

[waterboy]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

Oh, and to let everyone know, I am from Indianapolis, Indiana. :)

[ken/mark]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

While we are on the topic of salt if you need some cheap you can by a 10lb. bag of drive way salt for the price of a carton of aquarium salt and its the same thing.In case you want some for brine shrimp or salt fish.
directions,go to walmart the isle with table salt bottom shelf its in a blue bag.

[rrocket2002]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

I've been using salt for my tanks for the last 5 years with no ill effect.  I use some when establishing a tank or doing a water change.  I consider it a stress relief tool for the fish.  I believe if you use a solution called Stress Coat or Stress Zyme or something comparable you will see Salt in one form or another as an ingredient.

I personally recommend it.  

Rrocket(Raul)

[ilgt]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

Is salt harmful to freshwater plants? I have a pretty heavily planted tank.

[HFBfounder]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

For the amounts we're talking about here, it shouldn't hurt anything.

[RonR.]

Re: Salt in a freashwater tank

I keep a colony of 10 Moba Frontosa, 3 nics, 3 bristlenose plecos, a South American freshwater flounder and an African orange-spotted eel in my 180g tank.  I do a 50% weekly water change and add declorinator and a cichlid buffer recipe mix I got from the cichlid-forum website.

The cichlid buffer recipe mix includes epsom salt, baking soda and Instant Ocean salt.  I add the recipe for only the amount of water I change which is 90g.

The epsom salt aids with my fish' digestion.  The baking soda helps raise my pH from 7.2 up to 8.3.  I think the Instant Ocean helps with my fish' slimecoat and acts as a good first aid when they scratch themselves on rocks........

I have been using salt in my tank for over 18 mos and my fish are healthy and breeding pretty regularly.

I buy my epsom salt from CVS in the 5 lb bag.  My baking soda from Sam's in the largest bucket they sell and my Instant Ocean (biggest bucket) was purchased at Petsmart at their website price (reduced).

Hope this info helps.