jetajockey
come get me tang police!
Hi B.Hello jjock...
Apologies for not getting back to you earlier. Well, na is sodium and cl is chlorine, both are elements since we're nitpicking a little. Aquarium salt inhibits the intake of nitrogen by the fishes' gills, so they can't as easily be damaged by forms of nitrogen like ammonia and nitrite. By easing the stress on the gill tissues, the fish is calmer, so they breath more easily. Granted large, frequent water changes will eliminate this water problem.
Aquarium salt has been used for decades as a treatment for various diseases associated with fish scales or skin, if you will. It encourages mucus production that removes parasites inside the gills and other fish body parts.
You can be blunt if you like, but salt is far from a myth. The old timey water keepers have used nacl for a very long time, especially with livebearing fish, one of my favs. Your term "wives' tale" is based on quite a bit of fact, so I wouldn't dismiss all of it.
As I stated earlier, the use of salt is up to the water keeper. Just didn't want you and anyone else to think my statements had absolutely no backup.
Good talking with you, hope I answered most of your concerns.
B
I'm aware of nitrite toxicity and using salt as a treatment to deal with it. I would like to see some documentation on how ammoniacal nitrogen is affected by the addition of salt.
The stress thing..in a normal clean environment, the fish doesn't have stress breathing to begin with, so again we are talking about using salt as a treatment for an underlying problem, if the fish are struggling to breathe correctly.
I'm well aware that the old timers used salt for ages, that's why the mythology doesn't go away easily. It's unfortunate however that people just jump on the bandwagon without actually understanding why they do what they do, when we have the means and information available today to grasp a better understanding of it. If we take the time to learn more about it, we gain a better understanding of how to properly apply it.
About using Nacl with livebearers. Sorta? Adding table salt to freshwater is sorta kinda like brackish water. If you are trying to replicate the brackish environment that some of the euryhaline livebearers are/were naturally found in, why aren't you using marine salt mix? It'd make a lot more sense to me anyhow.
BBradbury said:Aquarium salt has been used for decades as a treatment for various diseases associated with fish scales or skin, if you will. It encourages mucus production that removes parasites inside the gills and other fish body parts.
We've agreed this entire time that salt use as a medication is warranted, there's many things that salt treatments can deal with. Recommending it to treat an ailment is not the same as recommending it be added to the water indefinitely just because of an unwarranted fear of parasites, diseases, and a desire to have mucus laden fish.
Best,
David