Aquarium Salt Question Here?

Question

I have a 29 gallon freshwater tank i have guppies,mollies,tetras, and platys. i wanted to add the aquarium salt but on the box it says that you can only add it when you do a water change..is this true
Another Question is..
Do i just drop it in the tank or add it to water and dissolve it??
and what are the benefits for the fish
One more and i promise im done, does this really help pregnant fish????? please try and answer all i really really want to add this stuff soon to the tank, if you dont know all then i appreciate whatever you can tell me...thanks in advance

Answer 1

Salt is generally accepted to be good for an aquarium for numerous reasons some of which are listed below.

You would add salt once to dose the entire tank and then add it to the replacement water during a water change in the proper amount for the amount of water you are changing. Example: If you want 1 teaspoon per gallon in your tank, add that amount to the tank once. Then at a water change you remove 10 gallons, only add back 10 teaspoons of salt., just enough for the new water. Dissolving it before you add it to the tank is a good idea.

One, it does help the electrolyte balance balance in the tank and in the fishes body thereby reducing osmotic stress. Salt by definition is an electrolyte, in fact the primary biological electrolyte. Salt is absolutely without a doubt required for life. it is required for proper cell function in all higher animals as an electrolyte.

Two, salt helps to control various fungi and parasites. I know, your tank is clean, but many fungi produce a spore that can be carried in the air and "activate" literally years later when it hits water. It's completely impossible to prevent this from getting in your tank, but salt in the water will greatly assist in keeping this totally unavoidable problem to a minimum. But, a proper amount of salt (about 0.05 grams per liter) will kill most of these fungi. A higher dosage will control even more of them and will also kill various parasites including ich, but you wouldn't want to maintain that level of salt in the typical aquarium long term as it is somewhat stressful on the fish.

Salt will help pregnant fish only in the way it helps all fish, by helping to provide a healthy environment. It doesn't do anything special for pregnant fish.

At a medicinal level salt will cause a fish to produce additional slime coat by mildly irritating it's skin. This is very helpful in treating some diseases. The fishes slime coat works the same way as mucus in a humans lungs. When you start to get sick, your body produces mucus to help prevent germs from invading your lungs. A fish does the same by producing a slime coat and at the higher levels salt will help the fish to do that. The amount of salt we are talking about will not produce this effect.

It does not provide trace minerals, but that is completely unimportant to freshwater fishes, they get what they need in the way of trace minerals from food, not from the water.

Salt will not affect the hardness or pH of your water, nor will it affect the effectiveness of a dechlorinator or most medications.

It is not removed by carbon, a myth any grade school kid can disprove with a tank, some carbon and a specific gravity meter.

Aquarium salts are generally a waste of money because they contain the same thing you can buy at the grocery store for far, far less. Instead of buying aquarium salt, just buy Kosher salt or for that matter plain table salt.

Some people prefer to ignore the health benefits of salt to save a few cents each water change or attack diseases when the appear but for my money salt is a wise and healthy addition to the tank.

Fish will live with or without the salt, the choice is entirely yours.

MM

Answer 2

Adding salt is really up to you. Weigh the benefits and risks. You have some differant types of fish and some of them like salt and others don't.

The tetras are a soft water fish and don't particularly fair well with salt additions. Mollies, guppies, and platys are hard water fish and prefer a little salt. Mollies can actually be acclimated to live in saltwater if done right.

Salt is mainly a treatment and not a regular addition although many people keep it in their freshwater aquariums. Salt will help prevent fish from being affected by high nitrite levels and can be used as an effective ich treatment. Other than that it's benefits are widely debated. If you are going to add salt do it during water changes and keep it to a minimum.

And on a side note carbon and filters do not remove salt.

Answer 3

First of all adding salt to your tank is not going to cure your fish. There is something wrong with the fish. Try lowering the water level in the tank by 1/2-1 inch and allow Dissolved Oxygen to get into the water. Also, what other symptoms does your fish have? Since your other goldfish are not suffering from any type of lethargic behavior does your moor eat? swim at all? ANY salt including table salt will do. The amount of iodine in the salt is needed by your fish, plants and all living things. This is another myth that iodine will kill fish. Every living creature needs iodine. Iodine is sold in fish stores to be added to your fresh water aquarium especially if you have shrimp, crabs or plants. Feel free to email me and I will try to help you with your fish.

Answer 4

You need to dissolve the salt in water first. I have to agree with DanielleZ here. Salt first off will be pulled out by your filter. There have been claim made that salt has good points for your fish yet very few have been proven scientifically. Once person's findings is not proving Yes or No when it comes to use of salt in a tank.

No salt won't help a pregnant fish and does not reduce stress or "conditions their bodies?". I breed various fish and have yet to use salt for breeding. Does salt reduce your stress? No it leads to higher blood pressures. This is a myth that has been going around the aquarium community based on research of salt water fish research.

To salt or not to salt the choice either way is totally up to you. I personally do not believe in using additives to my fish nor do I use salt in my fresh water tanks on in my pond and I've only had to battled ich once. My friend uses salt in his fresh water and he seems to have more problems than anyone I know.

In short you are going to get arguments either way. Some believe in it and some do not.

Answer 5

Yes only add salt when doing a water change.

Add it to the water and dissolve it before you add the wter to the tank.

the benefits are not as high as they say on the box. Most of your salt will be pulled from the tank within the first hour by your carbon filter. YES carbon removes salt from your tank as well as other inorganics and organic matter. this was a boxed sales pitch a long time ago. Most salt sold as aquarium salt is one of two things, rock salt which have very few trace minerals, less than what is in your tap water or the water conditioner you are using in the first place or two regular salt, which is just that salt. Salt claims to add to the stress coat of fish, when in fact it makes the fish stress to create a thicker stress coat to resist the salt in the water. It does not add electrolites. Your water in the tap and water conditioners do that. For the teaspoon per 5 gallons, it adds very little to nothing to the water. NO it doesn't help Pregnant fish. Again your filter will pull the salt from the tank. Salt if you wish. IMO, waste of time and money. Does nothing for the fish or the aquarium.

Some people still feel the need for salt to feel safe about their aquariums, others know their aquariums are safe. Either way it is up to you.

Answer 6

I have no idea wheather or not it will "help" pregnant fish, I only use the salt in FW tanks for two reasons, they like some salt in the water(african cichlids) and to battle sickness. It will dissolve soon as you put it in the water. Some benefits are helping with bacterial infection, torn fins, etc. I would do some google research before I put it into a healthy tank. Make sure you put in the correct amount, more than enough will kill the fish obviously.

Answer 7

You have to totally dissolve it this is the reason it says to only do it when you do a water change.

Also, the salt will not dissipate unless you change out all the water in the future so you would then add more salt. If you just add water to the tank the salt will stay there until you do a complete water change again.

Answer 8

yes its good for the fish.It conditions theyre body,keeps the fish from being stressed.And works wonders if youre trying to breed.Not too much.Read lable only add dose it suggests for your tank size.If you get your water too soft algea may become a problem.I added it always after a water change,Or you can add it 1 time per month,by taking 3 cups of ts wwarm itwater adding whatever tbs your tank needs.Let it dissolve good and I poured it into the filter so it would mix with tank water while adding it.Also ya know momma fish get so stressed when time to have fry,when you add it for that id calms her down.I used it especially for that when i worked at pet store.Goodluck