???Using salt with freshwater catfish???

[necrocanis]

First I have to say that I would have just went on with what I had been told by others and by what I had read on salt products in stores had I not decided to listen to Tokis-Phoenix a very knowledgeable member here on MFK. Tnx for opening my eyes to this problem.

To say the least guys I am feeling pretty horrible right now. I don't know why I did not do more research into this subject in the past. I have been researching this subject all night and I can only come to one conclussion!!!!! Salt is very harmfull to freshwater fish. Especially scaless fish such as catfish. I will post two of the most informative articles right here for you to read, but to shorten it for everyone it basically says that fish have an osmotic pressure greater than that of the fresh water around them and in order to maintain that pressure they must keep a
greater concentration of salt internally than what is outside of them. This is only true for freshwater fish. The reverse is true for saltwater fish. Increasing the ammount of salt that a freshwater fish is exposed to will result in the fish becomming dehydrated. The freshwater fish is designed to expell water and hold salt so if you increase the salt levels above what the fish hold internaly it will pass out more water than it asorbs. The result is a strain on the internal organs, and possible liver and kidney failure, and kidney stones. Freshwater fish urinate constantly to maintain the ballance of water in their system. Salt water fish do the reverse they drink saltwater to regulate
their osmotic pressure. In saltwater the water is constantly trying to pull water out of the fish, and in freshwater a fish is constantly pulling water in from a freshwater source. You can do great long term dammage to your freshwater fish by using salt for long periods of time. Salt should only be used in emergency situations where nitrite poisoning is in effect. To prevent this it is recommended to use 1 teaspoon of table salt per 300 gals of
freshwater. That's right table salt. The iodine in the salt is so miniscule that it actually helps the fish rather than hurts it. Iodine in low doses helps prevent iodine deficiency in freshwater fishes, which can lead to goiter. This said I am in complete shock that I have ever used salt in my freshwater aquariums. It should only be used in extreme cases of parasites. I plan to slowly lower the ammount of salt in my aquariums. I will from now on only use the equivalent of one teaspoon per 300 gals of water recommended
for treatment of nitrite poisoning only. That is the max that can be put in freshwater without upsetting the osmotic ballance of freshwater fish.
Here's a few helpfull links, and also a helpfull pic from britanica.com

http://groups.msn.com/Breedingtropicalfish/osmoregulation.msnw


http://www.marietta.edu/~mcshaffd/aquatic/sextant/excrete.htm


http://www.aquascienceresearch.com/APInfo/Salt.htm


http://www.algone.com/salt_in_fresh.php


http://www.marietta.edu/~mcshaffd/aquatic/sextant/excrete.htm

Hope that this is helpfull to my fellow catfish keepers.

 

[necrocanis]

Another interesting thing to note is that freshwater fish constantly urinated to balance their osmotic pressure, and saltwater fish rarely urinate and when they do it is highly concentrated. Just thought that was an interesting side note. I think that I get too involved with knowing the individual fish sometimes without thinking about their environment. This little lesson learned has me thinking about other aspects of my fishkeeping and I would hope that my research along with others will help others on this site to keep their fish more healthy.

 

[Scorponok]

Thanks for such an informative post. No I don't use salt for catfish because it makes them breath really fast like crazy.

 

[necrocanis]

This information is true for all freshwater fish except for livebearers such as mollies and charchins. These freshwater fish are found in both salt and freshwater, and have different mechanisms for regulating osmotic pressure in their bodies.

 

[Bgonz]

Thanks for such an informative post. No I don't use salt for catfish because it makes them breath really fast like crazy.

Thats funny......About 3 months ago one of my RTC's started acting kinda funny and was breathing HEAVY. This went on for about 2-3 weeks and completely stopped when I decided to ADD salt. Within 2 days of adding the reccomended amount of aquarium salt he was better than ever I never used to use salt in freshwater but figured I'd try it. I had definate good results.



bob

 

[DrZacharyus]

ive always added salt after waterchanges. just a little amount.

 

[rlheugel]

Any recommendations for testing your water for salt? I have been treating a tank I want to add a RTC to and think that I have got all the salt out, but I am unsure. Any tips?

 

[necrocanis]

Should be fine after a few large water changes. Not saying to never use salt just have to be severe situation where there is no other option and for no more than 3 weeks. After that your fish will dehydrate and could get kidney stones and or failure of that and the liver.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

Thankyou for believing me and my info necrocanis .

When i first found out about salt use on freshwater fish and the negative effects of it a couple of years back, i actually kinda found it out by accident during my research. My fish were ill back then and some people advised that i treated my fish with salt, so i went down to my local fish store and bought some of that "tonic salt" stuff for aquariums.
Anyway the salt didn't work at all, and i found out that it was because the tonic salt was a different type of salt or something like that (as far as i am aware its more of a mineral supliment than anything else), so i started to do more research on the subject and it was only then that i started to really become aware of what salt did to freshwater fish etc.

Don't feel bad about what you did- we all make mistakes, and this forum is here not only so we can learn more about our fish and meet other enthusiasts in the hobby etc, but we can put our knowledge together and become better informed fishkeepers overal etc.

Your fish are going to live much longer and overal healthier lives now that you know better, you are a good fishkeeper and i know you care a great deal about your fish, i know you have helped many people here (including me) with their fish, your thread here will also continue to help people and better inform them on salt use on freshwater fish .

Thats funny......About 3 months ago one of my RTC's started acting kinda funny and was breathing HEAVY. This went on for about 2-3 weeks and completely stopped when I decided to ADD salt. Within 2 days of adding the reccomended amount of aquarium salt he was better than ever I never used to use salt in freshwater but figured I'd try it. I had definate good results.



bob

Heavy breathing can be a symptom of many things in fish, from water quality problems like ammonia to gill fluke parasites infesting the gills of fish etc.
If your fish was breathing heavily because it had a gill fluke infection, then the salt would have killed the parasites off and make the fishes breathing easier, which would explain what happened to your RTC.
Continually treating your fish with salt in the long term though will definately have negative effects on the inner health of the fish, and either way, there are always meds other than salt for treating external parasites with .

 

[Bgonz]

Heavy breathing can be a symptom of many things in fish, from water quality problems like ammonia to gill fluke parasites infesting the gills of fish etc.
If your fish was breathing heavily because it had a gill fluke infection, then the salt would have killed the parasites off and make the fishes breathing easier, which would explain what happened to your RTC.
Continually treating your fish with salt in the long term though will definately have negative effects on the inner health of the fish, and either way, there are always meds other than salt for treating external parasites with .

Fish Doctor I am not Is it possible to get gill flukes in an established aquarium that hasnt seen a new fish in well over 8 months ?? Either way he is doing fine now and thats all that really matters. I will not be adding any more salt as its a pain in the ass anyways

Thanks for all your helpful information



bob