:?: How much salt ...

[Fishy]

I am a newbie to a freshwater tank. How much salt do you add to your water? I have heard conflicting advise. All of it positive to add the salt but nobody seems to have a standard for me. Thought I would post and get your thoughts. I have a 30 gal hex and right now I am trying to get rid of a case of ick using the heat method.

Thanks.

 

[e-cat]

1 table spoon per 5 gal is what the back of the container said for my "fresh water salt". dont use table salt or marine salt.

 

[Allivymar]

I generally don't add any, except if I use it for treating ich (and no longer do that as heat seems to do the trick all by itself). There is no documentation the supports the use of salt in a FW tank, although there are lots of opinions.

 

[sweetsuvvyb]

Have you read the article on ich on this site? If you are using strictly heat, you don't need any salt.

Salt is pretty unnecessary in a FW tank (unless you are keeping fish like mollies) Alli probably has the references on hand...the best I've read is courtesy the Skeptical Aquariust. Basically, there is no evidence that salt plays any beneficial role in a tank on a day to day basis.

It can be used as a mild treatment for scrapes or ouchies, as nearly all fish can tolerate it at some level, or length of time (I've used a salt dip before, but because I keep goldfish, who really actually don't like salt, I switched to melafix)

 

[e-cat]

i think that salt is not needed in a fw tank, iv never read that it hurts fish , just isnt really needed.

 

[Fishy]

Thanks Everyone. Yes, I read Allie's article and I am using the heat method (she helped me on the unhealthy fish thread). Just wanted to ask though. When I tell someone I set up a new tank they all have a piece of advice and my head is just swimming

 

[Allivymar]

Heres one of the articles I came up with when researching salt n fishtanks:

http://www.aaquaria.com/aquasource/salt.shtml

 

[lyquidphyre]

I had the same question about salt, yay- thanx!