Walmart Rescue

[squeekness]

I was told by my LFS guy to add aquarium salt regualrly to my tank. He said it would make my irridescent sharks quite happy. I believe I told him I had a clown loach and he said nothing about it being sensitive to aquarium salt. So far my loach seems to be fine but now after reading coldmachine's post, I am wondering if I should keep putting the salt in there. *confused*

[hsherman1986]

i wouldn't. It is a waste of time honestly. All I use my salt for anymore is to hatch BBS. I would quit adding the salt to your tank if I were you. Its pointless to do on a regular basis.

[coldmachineUK]

squeekness, the only two times I'd be adding aquarium salt (note, we're not talking marine salt here which is used for maintaining water salinity in brackish and saltwater tanks) are:

1. To assist in a treatment plan vs. ich
2. To relieve the stress of newly introduced fish

It has been proven (scientifically, by Cech and Moyle) that the addition of aquarium salt can help relieve the stress of a fish being transported/re-homed.

So hsherman is right: I wouldn't be adding it on a regular basis without a reason.

[hsherman1986]

hmm, i did not know that about the salt and transporting fish. I will have to remember that the next time I take fish in for store credit (i breed guppies for trade in value and/or feeders for my cichlids)

[squeekness]

Originally Posted by coldmachineUK

squeekness, the only two times I'd be adding aquarium salt (note, we're not talking marine salt here which is used for maintaining water salinity in brackish and saltwater tanks) are:

1. To assist in a treatment plan vs. ich
2. To relieve the stress of newly introduced fish

It has been proven (scientifically, by Cech and Moyle) that the addition of aquarium salt can help relieve the stress of a fish being transported/re-homed.

So hsherman is right: I wouldn't be adding it on a regular basis without a reason.

I was only adding it because my LFS guy said it added electrolites into the water that didn't occur naturally in tap water. If it isn't doing anything useful, I won't add it anymore.