Advantage vs disadvantage of adding aquarium salt?

[Lauderdale45]

I have a 100 gallon fresh water tank what are the advantages vs disadvantage of adding aquarium salt?

 

[jcolon]

to AA! You would generally add salt when treating certain diseases like ich, otherwise, it's really not necessary in a FW tank.

 

[severum mama]

Welcome!

I moved your thread to FW and Brackish- General Discussion.

I agree that aquarium salt is not needed unless you are treating certain diseases.

 

[LyndaB]

+1 - not necessary (they call it freshwater for a reason)

There are some that have had luck with using a trace amount of salt in their FW tanks at all times.

 

[meegosh]

Agreed. It is an unnecessary expense for freshwater tanks. It is however, a great money making scam for LFS's.

 

[bs6749]

And just FYI, the "Aquarium Salt" found in pet stores is NaCl/sodium chloride/table salt. If you can find table salt without iodine, this is the exact same thing as aquarium salt but in a granulated form instead of the larger crystals seen in "Aquarium Salt".

 

[KaylNeko]

+1 on the above.

Salt is added during illness because it encourages fish to make more slime coat, and it will kill a lot of the diseases (I use the term loosely, since a lot of fish issues are parasites rather than bacteria or viruses ). The making of more slime coat can protect a fish from getting infected; however, it is caused by stressing the fish out. For short periods, this isn't an issue and is beneficial.

People add aquarium salt on a regular basis because they know it helps with disease and figure that using it regularly will help prevent the fish getting sick by giving it more protection because of the increased slime coat. The fallacy of this logic is that the slime coat is encouraged because the salt stresses the fish out. As stated above, for short periods, this is not a problem. Over longer periods, though, the increased stress begins to compromise the immune system of the fish and, as time goes on, makes it more susceptible to disease, therefore backfiring and making the use of salt cause the very thing it was intended to prevent.

Hope that helped.

 

[jlk]

And just FYI, the "Aquarium Salt" found in pet stores is NaCl/sodium chloride/table salt. If you can find table salt without iodine, this is the exact same thing as aquarium salt but in a granulated form instead of the larger crystals seen in "Aquarium Salt".

You have to be careful with 'table salts'- iodine is not the only concern here. Almost all table salts (except most kosher & canning salts) contain anti-caking agents such as yellow prussiate of soda or silicoaluminate. My sea salt i use for cooking even has anti-caking agents. Not good for fish.

Long-term use of salt with true fw fish not only affects their metabolism & electrolyte balances, it can result in permanent kidney damage. Salt should be teated & respected as a med when considering its use with fw fish.

 

[didysis]

When I put in a new fish or move everything around I add a little to the tank just to help them out with everything, I dont know if its needed but I have done it for allong time and seems to treat me very well

 

[HeatherW]

And just FYI, the "Aquarium Salt" found in pet stores is NaCl/sodium chloride/table salt. If you can find table salt without iodine, this is the exact same thing as aquarium salt but in a granulated form instead of the larger crystals seen in "Aquarium Salt".

sorry jump in on the thread here, but... is kosher salt the same thing as aquarium salt? is it safe to use in your tank (for treatment of ick etc)?

 

[KaylNeko]

Yes, and yes--IF it has no anti-caking agents added to it.

 

[HeatherW]

Yes, and yes--IF it has no anti-caking agents added to it.

just checked and I guess mine is now going on the dinner table! It says plain as day that it has the anit-caking agents

 

[jlk]

just checked and I guess mine is now going on the dinner table! It says plain as day that it has the anit-caking agents

Moral of the story- check the ingredients of any salt you plan on using if its not specifically labeled as 'aquarium salt'. Better safe than sorry!

 

[bs6749]

You have to be careful with 'table salts'- iodine is not the only concern here. Almost all table salts (except most kosher & canning salts) contain anti-caking agents such as yellow prussiate of soda or silicoaluminate. My sea salt i use for cooking even has anti-caking agents. Not good for fish.

Long-term use of salt with true fw fish not only affects their metabolism & electrolyte balances, it can result in permanent kidney damage. Salt should be teated & respected as a med when considering its use with fw fish.

I didn't say table saltS, I said table SALT, which is the COMMON NAME for sodium chloride. I am well aware of the differences between seas salt and pure NaCl. I did forget about the anti-caking agents though, and you are right in that they aren't good to be added to an aquarium.