# Aquarium Salt and effects on Fish and Plants



## brian2570 (Sep 14, 2011)

Hello, in my new (for about two months now) 30 gallon tank I have two small clown loaches, 6 corys, a small pleco, and a betta until I can move the pleco and loaches into a larger tank. ($) I have been adding max doses of salt to my tank for weeks now for the treatment of suspected ich problems. With all ich problems solved by high temp/salt method, I am so surprised to find no noticable effects on the Corys. The loaches have become a little skiddish and hide a lot, and as a result I have changed about 30-40% of the water. My question is, has anyone ever had a problem free experience with salt and Corys or Loaches? Also, could remaining salt in the aquarium cause any further problems in the future with live plants, any of the fish, or chemistry of the water? Everyone and everything in there seems fine as of now. Again its a 30 Gallon (double filter, Sand substrate, powerhead which helped greatly with ich problems as well)

Thanks a lot for your time!


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

I would continue to get the salt out of the tank. I would say that you have been lucky. How much salt have you been putting in?


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

Hello Brian...

This is an extremely controversial subject. But, I have to admit, this is my favorite discussion. I got into the salt thing about six years ago when I started in the water keeping hobby. I read some old fishkeeping books from the 1960s and talked to a guy who'd been keeping tanks since then and he recommended I start using a little standard aquarium salt in my livebearer tanks.

The reasons he gave were that tanks have harmful bacteria in them and by adding a teaspoon of aquarium salt to five gallons of water change water, it would strengthen my fishes' immune system and they'd be unaffected by this bacteria. Many fish pathogens cannot tolerate even a trace of salt. 

He also said that water passes through a fish's gills more easily with a trace of dissolved salts in the water. In other words salt helps the fish breathe more easily.

The other thing he told me was unrelated to the subject of salt and that was that if I changed 50 percent of the water in my tanks every week, I'd be successful. 

I've used just a little salt in my water change water since I started and have never had a disease in any of my tanks.

Guess with a couple of little additions to the hobby, the old guy was right.

Above everything else, have fun!

B


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## jrman83 (Jul 9, 2010)

Interesting BB, hard to say though if the tank has been disease free because of the salt. I have a tank that has been going for about 18 months and has never had a disease in it, but no salt has ever been in it either. In some cases you just have to believe that what you're doing is working and salt is part of that.

I use salt when I need to and have one tank that I put about 1/3 the amount most people use - just for my Mollies. 

The thing that I worry about when people talk of using it and they are new at this, is oversalting. Salt doesn't evaporate like water, so you really have to pay attention to the amount used and what is already in the tank to make sure it doesn't add up to more than what is needed. Many fish have been killed with too much salt. I think I may have even done it myself back when I first got going.


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## BBradbury (Apr 22, 2011)

jrman83 said:


> Interesting BB, hard to say though if the tank has been disease free because of the salt. I have a tank that has been going for about 18 months and has never had a disease in it, but no salt has ever been in it either. In some cases you just have to believe that what you're doing is working and salt is part of that.
> 
> I use salt when I need to and have one tank that I put about 1/3 the amount most people use - just for my Mollies.
> 
> The thing that I worry about when people talk of using it and they are new at this, is oversalting. Salt doesn't evaporate like water, so you really have to pay attention to the amount used and what is already in the tank to make sure it doesn't add up to more than what is needed. Many fish have been killed with too much salt. I think I may have even done it myself back when I first got going.


jr...

Am in agreement, so I use and encourage only a small amount and also encourage large and frequent water changes to remove wastes in the tank. The water changes will also remove salt.

I find it ironic though that many recommend the use of salt as the best treatment for fish ailments, but are dead set against using a little in the tank on a normal basis.

Seems to me the old saying is true in the case of salt...

"An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure."

Thanks for your comment.

B


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## pjones (Jun 5, 2011)

I use about half of what the package says every 4th or 5th water change.


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## susankat (Nov 15, 2008)

I don't use salt in any of my tanks for the reason if you keep salt in the tanks you can still get an outbreak of ich and it developes a tolorance to salt. Then it is useless to use salt as a non chemical treatment. 

In the 30+ years of keeping fish I have only had one outbreak of ich and no other diseases and the only time I have used salt was to treat the one outbreak.

Most diseases are caused by several different factors. Main one is the fish is stressed. Many things can cause that stress, slight temp change, ph off, lack of maint. 

Introducing new fish without quarantine is a second most common cause of disease to get into the tank, I always quarantine new fish for at least 4 weeks as there is some diseases that can take that long to show up.


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## fishguy2727 (Sep 5, 2011)

The best way to prevent health problems and allow fish to thrive is to provide high quality food and water. Salt is not required as part of this. These are freshwater fish that have adapted to freshwater, not salted. In fact the recommended dose is multiple times what you would fine in the rift lakes, some of the hardest bodies of freshwater on the planet. Long term use of salt can damage their internal organs, especially the kidneys which do not naturally handle so much salt. 

Have salt on hand in case anything pops up, but do not regularly add it to FRESHwater tanks.


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## elsa36 (Oct 2, 2011)

No need salt to freshwater tank


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