Salt Expert Needed

[gmanova]

I have 46 Gallon tank with all Poeciliidae's. 10 Mollies, 3 Tetras and 3 Platties. Is uniodized salt required for this mix of fish? I have read a book by Joseph S. Levine and he said in his book that 1 Tablespoon of salt for each 5 gallons of water is required for the Poecillidae family. Is this correct? IF so, where do you buy uniodized salt? Also, wouldn't salt cause damage to the pump? Would salt hurt plants like anubias nana's and java ferns?

 

[Lepomis]

Salt can have some merit for treatment and husbandry of fish but in my opinion not needed and for the most part has fallen to the wayside in use. I would not put salt in a planted tank. Uniodized salt can be purchased from the grocery store and will not cause damage to pumps.

The fish you listed the mollies wouldn't mind the salt and are the best of the three to be kept with salt, they can be transitioned over to salt water. While fish can be kept at all sorts of water parameters I always shot for around 7.8 pH and mid range to higher water hardness with tanks dominated by the usual livebearers.

 

[gmanova]

Thanks Lepomis! My pH is 7.6, ammonia and nitrites are 0 ppm. Nitrates just went above 80 ppm. I am doing a W.C. today to bring that down. I am glad to hear that salt is not needed. I just wanted to be sure I was doing the right thing for my fish! Again, thanks for the help! I was afraid since no one was answering my post.