Salt or no salt

[maestromad]

Ok so my 110L tank with air stones, 5 guppies 2 corys has been through a lot lately!
I've been reading about salt for treatment of ich and in general to look after the fish, onthe other hand people say no salt for corys!
Any ideas i want to be doing the best for them??

 

[librarygirl]

I've heard different opinions on this too but I have a FW tank and I do not add salt and would not unless I needed it to treat an injury or illness. Most FW fish don't need it, some shouldn't have it, so I see no reason to take a gamble on adding something that may or may not be harmful and may or may not be beneficial overall. Just my opinion though.

 

[miles]

I agree with librarygirl.

In general, aquarium salt should only be used in fw setups for healing purposes. If your fish are injured or recovering from sickness a small amount can help speed the healing process a little bit. It is true that ich does not like salt and would likely be cured by it.

That being said, salt should not be added to your regular maintenance regimen. For the most part it can cause more problems than it solves.

Here is a short summary of some of the pros and cons of regular aquarium salt use: article (forgive me if you've already read it)

As far as the corys go, you're right in that they do not like salt. However if you did want to try it, a short-term low dose for the purpose of trying to cure the ich shouldn't present a problem. Just add a tiny bit at a time and watch their behavior for signs of stress. It's likely that they will tolerate it for the duration of the treatment, but a high percentage water change will be needed afterward to remove it.

 

[BBradbury]

Salt in Freshwater Tanks

Hello maestro...

Guppies are "Livebearers" and do best with a trace of standard aquarium salt.

Your Corydoras will do fine with a trace of salt. I add a little more than a teaspoon to every five gallons of my water change water and do 50 to 60 percent water changes every week.

I keep large tanks of Fancy Guppies and Corydoras and have added a little salt in my tanks for several years with no problems.

Canning salt, kosher salt or standard aquarium salt is fine. Don't use anything else, because there may be additives in others that could be harmful to your fish.

Salt has been used for decades in freshwater tanks as a "tonic" for fish. If you need more specifics on using salt go to www.bestfish.com/fwsalt

B

 

[maestromad]

Thanks for that guys, my corys are looking very peaky at the momoent, but i'm not sure if that has to do with the temp increase, my tank is now at 84, I'm so tempted to bring the temp back down to normal but dont want to spoil the ich treatment....dilemmas!

 

[Fishguy2727]

Guppies are from FRESHwater streams, not brackish water. High quality food and water should be all that is needed for them to thrive. Salt can be an amazing treatment though and many fish react very well to salt treatments (livebearers, goldfish, etc.). IME most cories are fine with the standard salt treatment (captive bred ones at least, maybe not if you bought some wild caught ones). Petsmart carries them, loaches, plecos, and other 'salt sensitive' fish and yet they salt ALL their tanks ALL the time. This is fine for short term (especially since fish at Petsmart were recently shipped, stressed, crowded, etc.). But a properly maintained tank doesn't need salt. Have it on hand in case some stressor comes up, but don't salt all the time, do a water change.

 

[maestromad]

Thanks I've done a good pwc tonight (see other thread) I may get a small amount if salt as a just incase standby!