aquarium salt

[Sesos]

quick question: while browsing Petco's selection of fish last night, I spotted an African Leaf fish. The placard claimed that aquarium salt was required for the care of the fish. I then noticed that the placard for the mollies and platies claimed thet they too required salt. I do have 6 platies that are about 3 months old to me. Am I hurting them by not providing salt? I don't use it because of my bottom dwellers.

hmmm....

well, the leaf fish and the mollies are inheriently brackish...meaning they like semi-salted water.


I am a believer in salting my tanks. I lightly salt them all. about a palmful per 10 gallons.

there are many schools of thought on this.

However, Mollies can be acclimated to total freshwater. I just personally choose not to do that.

[Fishyfanatic]

I do not think that aquarium salt is required for freshwater fish. I do not see any benefit to it, just an added expense. There is a difference here though. Brackish tanks require MARINE salt, not aquarium salt. By adding aquarium salt it is not making it brackish.

[Musket]

I was told years ago that you can use Kosher salt from the grocery store for the tanks. This was from 2 different fish store owners. I have been doing this for years without issues. I have been out of salt for awhile *finally found it at a different store* but everyone seems fine either way. I have goldies, bettas, black mollies, guppies, gold severums, gouramis, plecos, angels and a few more. I used it also for my old ciclid tank as well with no issues. Just my experiences.

[fish_4_all]

The only problems I ever ran into was my plants would not grow in salted tanks because I used to do it religiously. Now I don't use it at all. Just no need for it, it makes a mess on the tanks and is just another thing that throws tank chemistry out of whack.

[Sesos]

Thanks for the input everyone, I've decided to "let it be".

Those leaf fish were cool...