zizziz

Do we use this stuff or not? I already read that you shouldn't use it in FW tanks because it causes stress for the fish. Now that is the exact opposite to what the box says..... Petco has a bowl of salt in all of there tanks... really would like to see whats up with the salt..

thanks

Allie

I only use salt to treat them when they have certain parasites or wounds. 5ml per 5g.
I wouldn't add it to a healthy freshwater tank.

Butterfly

When used it's dissolved in the water.
Allie- Have any idea why it would be just sitting in the tank in a bowl?
Carol

sirdarksol

I'm wondering if the "bowl of salt" is actually feeder blocks...
A bowl of salt sitting in a tank would kill the fish. That amount of salt in the water (when it dissolved) would be far too much.

Yes, the box says to add it to everything, but the box wants you to buy more of the product. They're also betting on people having softer water. If you add salt to softer water, hardwater fish will be a bit happier as they will be suffering from less osmotic stress (but there are better ways to do this, like with cichlid substrate).
In the end, there is little or no salt in most of the freshwater bodies in the world.

Aquarium salt can be useful for treating fungus and parasites, especially if you live in an area where getting medicine can be difficult. (the meds go bad after a few months, while aquarium salt will never go bad, so if you live in the middle of nowhere, keeping a box of the stuff might be a good idea.)

fishrule101

I thought you needed salt for like mollies and platys??

sirdarksol

Mollies (don't know about platies) are, in the wild, brackish fish. This means that they would prefer brackish water.
I wouldn't use aquarium salt to set up a brackish tank, though. Instead, I use marine salt, since brackish water is usually just a mix of sea and freshwater.

Butterfly

Most Mollys and Platys have been spawned and kept in straight freshwater. The LFS keep them in freshwater.
IF they were wild caught salt might be beneficial but after slow acclimation I doubt it would be necessary because the areas they live/lived in goes from fresh to salt and back again.
Carol

sirdarksol

I definitely agree, Butterfly, that salt isn't necessary with mollies. Different breeds do, however, prefer different salinities (and you do need to be very careful acclimating them. If I've ever got a chance to do that again, I'm starting with a freshwater tank and slowly changing the salinity over a course of months). Black mollies, for example, seem to live longer in higher salinities.