Out of interest would you have a link on this?
I do not have a link for the exact study that I was talking about before, I rea about that quite a while ago, before I got this computer even, I don't remember exactly how I stumbled upon it or what the site was.
However, there is a different link that I happen to have bookmarked that shares some similar views, and there is an article attached (which I haven't read yet) that apparently talks about a study done using salt with channel catfish to increase survival rates. Survival from what, I'm not sure, because I haven't read that far yet. But what I've read so far is pretty interesting.
Anyway, here it is: Salt use in Freshwater Aquariums
Hope you find it useful, or at least interesting.
Old school way was to add 1 tablespoon of Aquarium Salt per 5g.
I used to set up all my tanks that way.
But now I have planted tanks. And many plants are intolerant of too much salt. I also keep Corydoras. Experts tell me they are sensitive to salt. I have a club member that breeds them.
One of the issues adding salt to a tank is that at low levels it is hard to measure exactly how much you have. And over time salt builds up.
I currently never add salt to my tanks.
If I had an outbreak of Ich, I would isolate the fish and use heat and salt to treat it as a temporary measure.
I sometimes have rare plants in my tanks. I also keep tiny species of Coreys. So I will always aim for ideal conditions for these fish. I also breed Shrimp.
I use a teaspoon per 10 gallons in tanks with catfish and sensitive plants. In tanks with hardy plants I use a little more. A couple times a year I do a double dose of the usual amount of salt with the cats and then I don't add more for the next few water changes (until its back to containing the usual amount, I have to do the math every time)
I certainly have seen what a constant high amount of salt can do to cats, particularly corys and otto cats (I haven't noticed an unusual death rate with any of the shrimp or plants however, but I'll pay more attention now, maybe I'm just missing it), I've warned against it, but to no avail. And currently I haven't kept any corys or ottos, but after I move my 2 comets into a pond in late spring I plant to convert their 30 gallon into my catfish tank. I'm going to have 3 corys, 6 glass cats, and 3 ottos. It will also be fairly heavily planted. Thats technically (at least from books I've read) 9" over stocked once everyone's full grown, but with all of the plants it will have plus the water agitation I plan to add with the filter and bio wheels, I think everyone will breathe just fine. Its still just an idea, I may decide to have less. Anyway, I will certainly keep this in mind, but I think I will still add small amounts of salt and see how they do.
I do have a couple of armored sucker mouth cats (bristlenose sp.) however, and I have had them both for almost 2.5 years now, they are doing really well as far as I can tell, and that is with using constant low salt levels plus an occasional double dose. They've never been sick, I got them at not even 2" long and now they are both about 5". Active too. So, I'm not extremely worried, but I'll see what happens.
I'll have to read more about the opposing side of this issue, I didn't realize how many people don't treat their cats with salt at all, for some reason I was under the impression that most people just used small amounts.
Thanks for the info.