Salt

[Yikes]

I'm lost..

I'd read that salt should be a part of every aquarium...Then read it's silly and old school. Asked at LFS...told 'yeah it's ok' (helpful...oh so helpful )....so I'm lost....I'm wondering what you all think? Should salt be added to a tropical freshwater aquarium? To what end? How to measure it?

 

[chagoi]

I add salt at .3 to a new set up or when adding new fish. With W/C in time there is no salt. But then I'm old school.

 

[Fishguy2727]

These are FRESHwater fish, the only need for salt is to treat illness/stress.

 

[BBradbury]

Good morning Yikes...

I'm an "Old School Water Keeper" and have always added a teaspoon of standard aquarium salt to every five gallons of water change water. All tropical fish originate from slightly "brackish" water and will benefit from a trace of salt in their water. If you'd like a list of the benefits, just PM me.

B

 

[Fishguy2727]

The benefits are short term and some are even anecdotal.

The facts are that long term exposure to elevated salt levels in FRESHwater fish causes damage to their internal organs. Their kidneys did not evolve to handle those levels of salt. For example, cichlids from Lake Malawi (one of the hardest bodies of water on Earth) can have a special salt to help mimic their natural waters. Their dosing is 3/4 tsp per ten gallons. One teaspoon per five gallons is over 2.5 times that of Lake Malawi.

The most important thing is that if you provide high quality water the fish should thrive, without any salt. If you need to add salt all the time you really should be re-examining your water change schedule (and possibly diet).

FRESHwater fish should be able to thrive without salt.

 

[BillD]

.
All tropical fish originate from slightly "brackish" water and will benefit from a trace of salt in their water.

B

This statement is false. Most tropical fish do not come from slightly brackish water. Many come from waters with almost no mineral content of any kind.
Salt is not something to be added on a regular basis. This is a myth that has been in the hobby for decades, and has taken on a life of it's own. Fishguy has pretty much covered it.

 

[BBradbury]

Use of Salt in Aquariums

Good morning Fish and others...

I've used a little salt in my tanks for several years and follow a sound tank maintenance schedule. My "old research" recommends a trace of salt to benefit gill function. It's known that oxygen passes through the gills more easily in the presence of a trace of dissolved salts in the water. Granted without it fish will survive, but with it I believe my tropicals actually thrive.

Thanks for all the input. The use of salt is a personal choice, but I'll keep to the old style method of "water keeping".

Above everything else, have fun!

B

 

[Fishguy2727]

High oxygen in the water helps them respire. Instead of salt, add an air stone.

As stated old research is exactly that. With new research we can understand the whole picture better. Instead of regurgitating what is on the package of aquarium salt (which is trying to sell you aquarium salt) and has been repeated over and over, we should look at the real research and acknowledge that these are freshwater fish and should be left that way.

What these 'I have been adding salt for years' examples show is that it is simply not so bad that it harms them so badly that it is obvious within a few years. That kind of thinking will prove itself right over and over.

Have salt on hand to add in situations where fish are sick or stressed, but DO NOT add it all the time. These are freshwater fish and need to be kept as such.

If you are going to add salt you might as well put an UGF back in your tank, sit water out overnight to dechlorinate it, etc. If you are going to stick with outdated methods, at least do it right and go all the way.

 

[BBradbury]

Okay...

I'll get into a little recent research, though I really rely on my old fish books for help.

I recently researched the use of airstones and found the bubbles they create look nice in the water, but do very little to aerate the water. The reason is the small surface area of the bubbles. They rise quickly and escape, so there's little gas exchange. Even a lot of bubbles create very little oxygen.

I ran across another tidbit of "old wisdom" advocating the use of a little aquarium salt. "The use of a little salt, generally a teaspoon per five gallons of water change water is really quite small, but replenishes minerals the fish need for good health. Many fish pathogens cannot tolerate even a trace." So, that may be why in all the years of adding salt, I've never had a disease in any of my tanks.

Thanks for this discussion.

B

 

[librarygirl]

I'm not using salt in my FW aquarium unless I have to use it for illness. Some FW fish won't like the salt depending on species. I know the large chain stores (PetSmart, PetCo) have to use salt in their tanks but it's b/c their tank quality isn't good and they use it to try to counteract the effects of the toxins to the fish (a PetCo employee told me) but it isn't something I'd use regularly personally. Everyone has their own opinions and methods though.

 

[Atxpunx]

...wait... I add declorinator to my water but I also leave it sitting out for a day or two. Is this a debunked method?

 

[Fishguy2727]

If you add dechlorinator there is no need to let it air out as well. The air out method is a holdover from when municipal water only had chlorine in it, which would evaporate. Today they also add chloramine which does not evaporate, making airing it out pointless.

Bubbles actually do provide a massive amount of aeration if the bubbles are small. The smaller the bubbles are the more surface area there is compared to the volume of air (the volume of air doesn't change based on bubble size since the air pump will still pump just as much air at a given water depth). This is a VERY common method of aeration in real science fields (aquaculture, waste management, etc.), but for some reason people in this hobby want to keep regurgitating what they read on hobby sites A, B, and C. Every little bubble is a sphere of air, which definitely will allow for diffusion (even in a short tank). If this interaction time wasn't enough protein skimmers wouldn't work.

 

[Atxpunx]

Do standard declorinators remove cloramine?

 

[Fishguy2727]

Yes. However, many simply break the bond (chloramine is chlorine and ammonia combined). Many do not actually handle both components, only the chlorine. I use and recommend Prime which will take care of chlorine, chloramine, ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate.

 

[Yikes]

Yikes! So it's a highly debated thing, I'll need to make my mind up about then? Thanks for the thoughts to think about!!