Rock Salt in 55g

[Hornpipe2]

My wife and I have a 55g aquarium housing three black mollies, three clown loaches, a spotted (leopard?) catfish, and a swordtail. We used to keep a little Aquarium Salt in the tank to help our fish breathe, but we ran out some months ago and I would guess the concentration has fallen considerably since then. Our new mollies are sticking to the top of the aquarium (suggesting they are having trouble breathing), so I went to purchase more salt to help them out.

Anyway to make a long story short my wife is upset that I bought plain rock salt instead of the special "aquarium salt". Is there any difference between these two?

Also, what amount of salt would you recommend for my tank? I know the loaches are not very tolerant of salt, but ours had previously shown no signs of stress with a small amount, so it would be helpful to strike a balance between the loaches and the mollies' needs.​

 

[buddha_red]

take a moment and get some water readings. Let's rule out any problems that may be lurking.

Bump on the salt question

 

[joy13]

I finally found something on salts in the aquarium whew... http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article22.html
I checked it here too
aquarium salt - Search results - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
I don't use aquarium salt in any of my tanks.

 

[booginish]

to be honest there are many many many articles written by alot of ppl that promote and demote the use of salt in your fish tank to restore electrolytes kill parasites and reduce stress or w.e else you want to think it does, but there is always gonna be ppl defending the opposition. so your gonna get alot of mixed signals, so do what works for you, if you find a little bit of salt once and a while calms your fish down, and doesnt throw off the balance of your tank then stick to it or you find it stresses them out and starts killing them then dont use it, its all up 2 you. that guy who wrote that article was really against salt, and ppl who dont have an open opinion to things so trivial as salt really shouldnt be takeing to seriously at all. hes probly dedicated all his time to proveing why salt doesnt work and probly never took the time to see why ppl think it does work, and why highly educated individuals also agree it helps with alot of things. but i guess nowadays you have the internet you have an opinion(irony) so ppl are always goin to express it........ but i digress. do whats right for you.

 

[jsoong]

I think his question is "Is rock salt OK to use instead of aquarium salt?"

I will leave the controversial issue of salt use in mollies or other FW tanks alone.

Far as I am concerned, any pure salt (NaCl) without preservative, anti-caking agents, iodine added, etc. is fine for aquarium use. I have used 100% sea salt, Kosher salt & Pickling salt without issues. <Just be sure your rock salt is NaCl ... Road de-icing salt & other kinds of salts can be something altogether different (CaCl2, etc) ... & these are also "Rock salt".>

This is one of the more balanced & scientific post on salt:
http://aquascienceresearch.com/APInfo/Salt.htm

 

[Hornpipe2]

Thanks for the tips. I added a few Tbsp. to the aquarium - either that or just enough time in the tank has convinced the mollies to start acting normally : )

 

[Hairy_Harold]

I've been using my local supermarket salt for a while in my tanks, it's sea salt with anti caking agent 554 (sodium aluminosilicate). Which is just sodium, aluminum, silicone and oxygen which i'm sure there would be traces of in your natural water course, tap water or fishtank anyway. I've seen no ill affects for a few months only at 1/2 teaspoon to 1 gallon.

 

[Idealconcepts]

You want to be care when using salt on fish that have no scales, like catfish. I avoid using salt in tanks that have catfish. When I do use salt I use salt for water softners, the ones that look like rock salt. I normally use salt when I need to remove ich and raise the temp or introduce some new fish to a tank. On a normal basis FW tanks, unless you have African Cichlids or something, salt is probably not needed.

If you feel your fish need more oxygen you need sometime to breaks up the water surface, either a air bubbler or a filter that does this. As buddha red mentioned info on your water para might help determine a direction to take.

 

[Nyquil Junkie]

Once you put salt in the water, it never goes away unless you dilute it by water change.

but salt is not really needed unless you are using it in a quarantine tank....
I do put a little in my goldfish tanks, it seems to keep them healthy. What it does is make any nitrite in the water less toxic to them for a while...

and you can buy "canning and pickle salt" from the grocery store, it has no additives at all, its pure, clean salt.

additives in salt make pickles and veggies you home can turn odd colors, so morton sells purified canning salt which is perfectly safe for fish.
and its only about a buck and a half for 5 pounds... and it dissolves better in water.

Best keep track of how much salt you dump in there....
and how much you dilute it before you add more.

Black mollies can adapt to a salt water, but some fish cant handle any salt.

More than a tablespoon per 5 gal in the water, and you are pushing it.

My mollies always hang out on the surface, they are looking for a handout.
LOL