Aquarium Salt

[m1ste2tea]

if you're trying to treat the ich, do get the temperature up, at least 86 degrees, and I have twice also went up to 90 degrees with no problem. Just add A LOT of aeration and water movement.

as far as regular salt use for water changes, I dont add it every time, maybe every 3 water changes. and definetly not the "tablespoon per 5 gallon" ratio as recommended on the box. More like a tablespoon for 20 gallons.

your water may already be rich in minerals depending on your water source.

 

[FUEGO]

I've always used one teaspoon of synthetic sea salt per gallon for all my freshwater tanks without no adverse side effects for many years. Helps prevent all kinds of parasites and fungus from establishing themselves. Plus helps maintain healthy gill function and slime coat.

 

[Laticauda]

I've always used one teaspoon of synthetic sea salt per gallon for all my freshwater tanks without no adverse side effects for many years. Helps prevent all kinds of parasites and fungus from establishing themselves. Plus helps maintain healthy gill function and slime coat.

This is just plain bad advice. Mis-information is prevalent on the intrawebz. I hope that this thread will start to help people understand that keeping salt in your tank regularly is bad for your fish. It does not maintain healthy gill function, and irritates the fish, which is why they produce more slime.

If you have clean water (nitrates <40) in a well-cycled tank (ammonia 0, nitrIte 0) then you have no need to add salt to the water to "protect" your fish from anything. (And as always, make sure you are administering the nitrate test correctly, there's a lot of shaking and timing that MUST be done in order to ensure an accurate result, otherwise you get a "non-answer" that *looks* like a false negative, or between 0-5.)

It's the dirty water that creates problems, not lack of salt in the water. Ask Petco to test their water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates, and you will see that their fish are already in less than favorable conditions. Yes, salt resistant strains of ich DO exist. The small amount of salt most people put in their tanks (even the few people who have commented on how much salt they use regularly) is not even close to the theraputic levels required to KILL ich protazoa.

To treat for ich using salt, the water has to be very concentrated, 3 teaspoons per gallon (added over the course of a few days, as not to shock the fish.) And even this concentration should not be kept for more than a few days, which is why you raise the temperature, to speed up the ich life cycle (they are only vulnerable to being killed in their free-floating phase between bursting from the skin, and re-attaching to another fish.) Not using enough salt to kill the ich, makes them more tolerant to salt being present in the water.

Similar to antibiotics. If you don't take the recommended dosage, or stop taking them too soon, then the bacteria you were attacking does not die, and becomes resistant to that particular antibiotic.

It's not rocket science.

 

[MyFishEatYourFish]

alright then.
i don't think the average amount of salt used in freshwater aquariums will do much to create resistent strains of ich because, like laticauda mentioned, we don't use enough. as far as reccomending small amounts of salt in a freshwater aqaurium being bad advice, you can't just say that flat out. african rift lakes are not straight fresh, they have salt. your ground water has salt. all rivers have salt. fish need electrolytes too. test it. put a goldfish in straight ro or distilled water and it will slow and die. i have always used 1 tablespoon per ten gallons and will not stop. i feel that my fish have benefited from it.
as i mentioned before, petco uses ridiculous amount of salt and medication and i have never had trouble curing "their" ich.

***salt resistent ich cannot be created, or already exists, by this reasonin[/B]g:
rivers flow to the ocean.
ich infested fish undoubtedly frequent brackish and marine environments, it may actually be a natural instinct to move down river when a wild fish gets infected.
there is not a salt water ich that i am aware of. (marine "ich" isn't the same as freshwater ich)
this process has continued for millions of years.
therefore, salt resistent ich cannot come about or already exists, either way, no need to worry.
what we do need to worry about is creating medication resistent ich. in fact, i believe it already exists. so, salt should be used over medication.

anyone want a dedicated thread?

 

[FUEGO]

This is just plain bad advice. Mis-information is prevalent on the intrawebz. I hope that this thread will start to help people understand that keeping salt in your tank regularly is bad for your fish. It does not maintain healthy gill function, and irritates the fish, which is why they produce more slime.

If you have clean water (nitrates <40) in a well-cycled tank (ammonia 0, nitrIte 0) then you have no need to add salt to the water to "protect" your fish from anything. (And as always, make sure you are administering the nitrate test correctly, there's a lot of shaking and timing that MUST be done in order to ensure an accurate result, otherwise you get a "non-answer" that *looks* like a false negative, or between 0-5.)

It's the dirty water that creates problems, not lack of salt in the water. Ask Petco to test their water for ammonia, nitrite and nitrates, and you will see that their fish are already in less than favorable conditions. Yes, salt resistant strains of ich DO exist. The small amount of salt most people put in their tanks (even the few people who have commented on how much salt they use regularly) is not even close to the theraputic levels required to KILL ich protazoa.

To treat for ich using salt, the water has to be very concentrated, 3 teaspoons per gallon (added over the course of a few days, as not to shock the fish.) And even this concentration should not be kept for more than a few days, which is why you raise the temperature, to speed up the ich life cycle (they are only vulnerable to being killed in their free-floating phase between bursting from the skin, and re-attaching to another fish.) Not using enough salt to kill the ich, makes them more tolerant to salt being present in the water.

Similar to antibiotics. If you don't take the recommended dosage, or stop taking them too soon, then the bacteria you were attacking does not die, and becomes resistant to that particular antibiotic.

It's not rocket science.

Lighten up! I submitted what has worked for me with over '40' years of fresh and marine fish keeping experience. Instead of regular aquarium salt for my fresh water aquriums I use synthetic sea salt, which contains important major, minor, and trace elements necessary for the health of aquarium inhabitants. I've never observed any adverse side effects and have grown out a variety of healthy fresh water specimens. Nothing replaces a strict regiment of regular water changes, not over feeding, and quarantining new inhabitants. Again, personal experience is what I go by. Want to call it "OLD SCHOOL", so be it!

 

[Spiritofthesoul]

I only add like 1 teaspoon per 20g of API aquarium salt when the recommanded dosage was 1 tablespoon per 5g. So that i don't risk creating those salt-resistant ich while adding sufficient electrolyte for healthy development