# Aquarium salt.



## Lariat02F150 (Jul 25, 2009)

So theres word about adding aquarium salt to your FW fish tank to help prevent disease and promote coloration... sounds logical as salt is good stuff...

What I dont understand is... SALT in a FW tank... wouldnt that make brackish/salt water which would equal dead freshwater fish? The box says add 1 heaping Tablespoon per 5 gallons of water... Why does that sound wrong? I put 1 tablespoon in for 20 gallons? I am sure im wrong but i never did it before so i figured ide ask before i added more...


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## phil_pl (Apr 10, 2009)

salt is very helpful in FW for detouring disease, that amount of salt would hardly be detectable as far as salinity goes(not at all with most equipment) 
just be very cautious if you have scaleless fish as they can not tolerate salt, sadly i killed many plecos before i figured this out


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## Shotgun (Mar 1, 2009)

i usually keep some salt in some of my FW aquariums. one teaspoon per 5 gallons is good as a natural way to help ward off any diseases. basically what phil said is pretty spot on accurate.


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## James0816 (Jun 19, 2009)

phil_pl said:


> just be very cautious if you have scaleless fish as they can not tolerate salt


I don't use it for just this reason. Kuhli's and salt don't mix. In my early fish keeping days, I was sold by the pitch of "you should always add salt to your tanks".

Years later have made me more wiser.

FWIW...salt is really not needed in a FW tank unless you are treating for some type of disease.


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## Oldman (May 25, 2009)

I don't add salt to my tanks for a very simple reason. I don't want salt, it is a freshwater system. Anecdotal statements that people rarely get sick fish with salt in the tank are just that. My fish rarely get sick in my salt free tanks either. I can't remember the last time that I found a disease in my tanks. If you keep up the required water changes and don't introduce sick fish, you will also not have sick fish. Disease does not just come in out of nowhere. The water changes do not prevent disease but do prevent illnesses directly caused by poor water quality. Chemical effects on a fish are in no way better than infectious diseases but they can happen without any disease organism present.
Salt in the water does not make brackish water, it makes salty water. Brackish water is made using sea salt like you might use in a reef aquarium but at lower concentrations. Truly brackish fish are fish that live naturally near the mouth of a river where fresh and salt water are constantly mixing. 
The only use I have for "aquarium salt" is to treat ich when the actual parasite is present. I did that a few years ago when I messed up and brought home some betta females that had ich. They were in their own tank so I just did the treatment and never saw any ich in the tank again.


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## JIM (May 27, 2009)

*X2 Ive done it both ways, but see no benefit because like oldman, i never have disease anyway. So Maybe "If it aint broke, dont fix it"*


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