Salt for most?

I was having a discussion with a former LFS owner and we were discussing tanks stocking and water quality. It got to the topic of aquarium salt and adding it to tanks.

He told me that in almost all his tanks he dosed them with aquarium salt. We got into the discussion of some particular fish and he was mentioning that in most cases all the fish in the tanks seemed to color up better and be more active with the addition of the salt.

Does anyone here have any more information on this or does anyone do this?

 

I didn't notice any difference between salt and no salt when I bred guppies

 

Anyone else have anything on this one?

 

Question for you:
Does the local water supply come from underground aquifers, or something else?

 

Iam also still using salt in all my tanks, I know some people don't agree with this practice but the LFS around here all use aquarium salt, so why not keep it the water quality the same. I did notice with the afican chiclids that they seemed to color up better with the salt added

 

I don't use or advise the use of salt in fresh tanks. :

 

Iam also still using salt in all my tanks, I know some people don't agree with this practice but the LFS around here all use aquarium salt, so why not keep it the water quality the same. I did notice with the afican chiclids that they seemed to color up better with the salt added

I have gone back and forth with this as well. Currently I am not using salt in my tank but according to my LFS and LPS they use it in all their tanks and will not replace fish under warranty unless it shows salt in the water. Their claim is that most of the farms use it so the fish are used to it.

 

Question for you:
Does the local water supply come from underground aquifers, or something else?

Mine comes from an on site artesian well, salinity has not been tested from a formal lab but so far no indicatoins that there is any indacation that there is any salt.

 

FishyFriend2,

The link isn't working.

More information on Aquarium Salt:
The great salt myth

I stopped using salt in my Freshwater tanks shortly after I joined Fish Lore.

Ken

 

....

I stopped using salt in my Freshwater tanks shortly after I joined Fish Lore.

Ken

Funny. Me too! LOL

 

I don't use or advise the use of salt in fresh tanks. :

Me neither

Just because the LFS does it doesn't mean it's a good practice. I mean, that's something we've been over time and time again. My excellent fish store has perpetually blue water. I imagine they use salt the same way, as they believe it will keep the fish healthier FOR THE TIME they are in the store. And it's not like there is an incentive for them to get you to start using a consumable product, that you'll have to keep buying over and over again.

 

Mine comes from an on site artesian well, salinity has not been tested from a formal lab but so far no indicatoins that there is any indacation that there is any salt.

Do you know if the fish store gets water from the same supply?
The reason I'm asking is that, if fish are kept in water that has very little mineral content, such as rainwater from a reservoir, their cells have to work to avoid becoming inundated with too much water. This is called osmotic stress. Each fish is made to handle a certain mineral content (not just salinity, as is indicated in the above quote, but all dissolved minerals).
If fish are being kept in too-soft water, the addition of any mineral will help matters, though there are some that are better than others (calcium is better than salt in most cases). This is why fresh water is noticing a marked difference in the cichlids: They come from incredibly hard water, so they like having the extra minerals in their environment.

On the other hand, my water starts out being super dense with minerals (above 8.2 pH, and hard enough to leave lime scale with just one or two times of letting water evaporate in a container). If I added salt, I would be making it more difficult for the fishes' cells to keep enough water within, increasing the osmotic stress.

Salt started out as a decent idea for treating a symptom for which aquarists didn't originally know the cause, but we now know better methods of solving the problem (i.e. adding crushed coral, or limestone, or some other calcium-bearing mineral).

 

I still use salt in my fishtanks. I do not use the tpg that is recommended, but I do use about a quarter of that. My personal experience is that I seem to have less trouble with fin infections in my larger fish. They regularily tear their fins scuffling around and at times there is a fungI or bacteria that starts. Now before you say it is my water quality, I do a 25% water change in my Oscar tank daily just to eleviate that problem (as we all no Oscar and his pals are dirty fish). I also believe that in the ground there is a content of salt which differs from place to place, but there is some salt in fresh water. I have not gone out and tested the ground water from wence each fish came from, but I think a pinch can only help. I know some of you think I am an idiot, but that is my reasoning.

 

sounds like there just using an old theory that has since been found to be proven wrong, glad to know there are people here who can help us all out.

 

Salt started out as a decent idea for treating a symptom for which aquarists didn't originally know the cause, but we now know better methods of solving the problem (i.e. adding crushed coral, or limestone, or some other calcium-bearing mineral).

......the dark ages of fish keeping

 

Since most of our fish are aquarium/pond raised they are very flexible in what they will adapt to. Most if acclimated slowly will not show any reaction to a little salt in their water. I never saw any positive difference in keeping salt in the tanks so why have to keep up the practice. If your not careful and only top up evaporated water with plain water the salt will build up. All that's just too much trouble for me to keep up with if they don't need it.

Then I started keeping Loaches and saw some very miserable and dying fish at the LFS who keeps salt in everything. that's where I got my Dojos. Dying in the store. when they were acclimated to freshwater at home they were wonderful and have continued to be so for about three years now.

Salt is an irritant( it burns) and causes more slime coat to form. some say this is to protect the fish from parasites, then there are those who say the extra slime coat can protect parasites when covered with the extra slime coat.

As you can see it's a totally personal decision to make. Just research your fishes needs before making a change in their environment.
Carol

And no I don't use salt in any of my tanks

 

......the dark ages of fish keeping

"Water changes are bad for fish. The older the water, the better."

 

"Water changes are bad for fish. The older the water, the better."

Oh I remember that one!

 

Is it an old wise tale that there is a certain amount of salt in all naturally found fresh water which varies greatly??

 

It's not an old wives tale (though it is wives) - the level of salinity increases the closer you get to the ocean.

 

There is an amount of truth to this, but...
"Salt" in this case doesn't mean sodium chloride. It can be any number of ions in the water. More often, it's a form of calcium in the water (leached out of the surrounding land), though it can be sodium in some cases. There are others that can count as salt, too.

 

I know how I feel when I'm in saltwater with a boo boo...I won't do that to the fish either...over production of slime coat and an irritant, has to be a stress on them IMO...proper diet/tank maintenance should keep your fish healthy and very colorful ...but everyone chooses their own tank setups