Adding salt to Aquarium?

Question

i have 10 zebra danios on my aquarium... and i want them healthy, upon reading alot of infos ive concluded that velvet disease is common to them and i dont want that to happen.. and at this site
http://www.aqualandpetsplus.com/Minnows,%20Danios.htm
it states that:
Velvet Prevention. Keep your danio water clean. Dirty water encourages the growth of velvet. This means light feedings and frequent partial water changes. Adding salt discourages velvet.
-- my problem now is i dont know which salt it is talking about, is it rock salt or iodized salt? or what? and how much salt do i put in it? and how do i put it, drop it directly or dilute first?

i have a 10 gallon tank with live plants and a driftwood...

would the salt affect them?
and how would i know that my salt application is good?
and most of all is salt really safe for the danios?

Answer 1

The deal with salt: It's overrated, but you can use it.

How do I know? Because I've been keeping fish for twenty years, I never, ever use salt, and my tanks are healthy, my fish are long lived, and I haven't gotten any disease in my tanks in about sixteen years - and when I did, it had nothing to do with having or not having salt. I think most people who keep their fish properly would find their fish would be just as healthy without it.

Salt does have its benefits - but if you read all about them you'll realize with healthy fish it's fixing something that wasn't broken in the first place. Using small amounts of salt won't do harm, enough people have proven that, and I'm not saying it will - so yes, a moderate amount of salt is safe for your danio's, if unnecessary. But think about it - disease prevention? Proper stocking and care is real disease prevention. Promotion of slime coat growth? Healthy fish already grow all the slime cloat they need. Osmotic balance? These are freshwater fish - they have no problem with fresh water! Parasite prevention? Sometimes, but only when used combined with other methods, salt in itself isn't enough. Again, having a clean tank is how to avoid diseases.

Ok, enough of that rant - additives are certainly the most popular way to keep fish these days, and many people swear by it so if you feel better about it, go for it. Dilute it first and start off using less then the average recommended dose.

One thing I've learnt is that the key to long term fish health is keeping the fish free of stress and keeping the aquarium clean and stable.

This means: Providing a suitable sized tanks, suitable tankmates, suitable decoration, weekly water changes and vacuuming, and adding nothing to the water that will complicate things - most of the time standard conditioner is all the fish need, regardless of what the fish store may try to sell you.

FYI 10 gallons is pretty confining to danios, which are highly active swimmers. They'll survive, but I wouldn't keep them there.

Answer 2

Aquarium Salt

Answer 3

1

Answer 4

One tablespoon per gallon non-iodized rock salt (ice cream or kosher is good, aquarium salt is good but costs more and face it salt is salt) Raise the temp to 83 degrees will kill velvet, no need to medicate the water. No remedy will work if your water perameters are not correct. You need a stable ph, no ammonia or nitrite, and less than 20 ppm nitrate. IF your tank does not read this then change water daily until it does. Keep the temp the same throughout the water change.
Remove zeolite if you are using it, that's the white carbon, as it will exchange salt for the ammonia it has absorbed. Black carbon is ok to leave in.
Don't clean your filter until the tank has cycled, if the tank is new and cycling. Don't neglect water changes. Ammonia and nitrite need to be kept at bay at all times or the fish will suffer. The bacteria that control these make their home in the filter, you want to control them not ever completely wipe them out with too hard of a cleaning. Beneficial bacteria media in the filter should only be washed in tank water, the rest of the filter including the box can be rinsed under the tap.

Answer 5

Hi,I have kept fish for 10 years only started to use aquarium salts about 3 months ago.I have noticed the water stays fresher.I only put them in once a month & half the reccommended dose.I use Interpet Aqualibrium salts follow the instructions also I springle mine into the water it will not hurt the fish.Good Luck

Answer 6

Yes, I'm on the opposite side of using salt most of the time myself, because I DO use salt in all of my tanks. Especially the livebearers. Don't believe for a second though that salt will take care of velvet by itself and a higher temp. I'm fighting velvet now myself and I HAVE plenty of salt in this particular tank, and the temp. IS up to about 82, and I STILL have velvet (which is hard to diagnose in itself by the way).

Anyway, getting back to the salt, I personally think that the therapeutic benefits as well as other things, far outweigh the "bad" side of it, IF used correctly. So I would say yes, using the proper salt is fine, as long as used in moderation. In my non-livebearing tanks, I still use salt, but less then the recommended 1 rounded tablespoon per 10 gallons.

As with anything to do with fish, you will find many many different opinions on things. What might work for one, might not work for another, etc. With those who actually know what they are talking about, it's all trial, error, experience and research that allows us to give our thoughts and opinions.

Good luck!!! ;o)

Answer 7

They definately mean rock salt. Rock salt in small amounts (you don't want salt water, here) will not harm your fish. Iodized salt will. You can buy some really cheap at your local pet store. The owner of the pet store can also tell you how much you should add based on the number of fish, breed of fish, and other plants in your tank.

Answer 8

2

Answer 9

Salt does have benefits in the aquarium and I use it with my fish. There's a lot of debate over the issue of using salt in freshwater aquaria on a regular basis, even among people who keep fish.

Some of the benefits are that salt can relieve the effects of higher nitrites in the water on fish during the cycling process. This is because salt (chloride specifically) reduces the amount of nitrite that takes the place of oxygen in the fish's blood (ever wonder why they're gasping for air if you don't change the water soon enough?). Suppliers use a fairly high salt concentration when shipping fish to your pet store - especially if they come from overseas - all those fish together in a little bag for hours at a time produce a lot of wastes, to the point where sometimes the water's so cloudy it's hard to even see the fish. The use of salt during shipping has somewhere in the range of 90% better survival rate over shipping without it.

The most common reasons given for it's use are "stress relief" and disease prevention, although the "stress relief" is most likely related to reduced nitrite uptake as explained above.

Salt "baths" are a traditional remedy to remove parasites and other pathogens because they don't tolerate salt as well as the fish can in higher concentration. Higher concentrations can also stimulate fish to produce an excessive slime coat to prevent some of the parasites/pathogens from attaching to the fish (at this concentration, the salt can be stressful to the fish as well). Hobbyists , aquaculturists, and veterinarians have recommended low amounts (around 1% or less concentration) in the aquarium as a safe level for preventation for diseases and parasites. This translates into about a tablespoon of salt per gallon or less - what I use is a tablespoon per 5 gallons of water volume.

The use of salt against parasites works by something called osmotic pressure/osmotic balance - a fancy term for the amount of salt and other ions (electrolytes) inside the cells of a fish compared to the amount outside. Salt can easily be expelled from a fish through the gills. So why, then, is there a consistanly higher concentration inside their bodies than outside for freshwater fish? Freshwater fish have specialized cells to help in gathering salt ions from the water. In fact, maintaining this salt balance makes up about 25-50% of the energy expended by a fish. Basically a fish is better adapted for taking in and using salt than are the diseases and parasites that infect them.

This works more effectively against some parasites than others - I haven't been able to treat velvet just by using salt alone. Part of the trouble with treating velvet is that the organisms has a photosynthetic pigment, which allows it to survive off the fish by making its own food. This needs to be treated by a combination of salt/medication, lighting, and heat. Rather than using salt as a "preventative" in an existing tank, it's far more effective to set up a small tank as a quarantine in which you put any fish (as well as plants, snails, shrimp, etc.) that you plan on introducing to your tank to make sure the parasite isn't introduced too.

That's not to say salt can't be used for other purposes. The chloride ions, in addition to use to inhibit nitrite uptake are used in the production of hydrochloric acid - used for food digestion. Sodium ions are used for cell metabolism in a unique way - called "active transport". Not all materials can move freely into an animals' cells. Some require "help", and sodium ions are part of the help, particularly in the movement of potassium, which is used in fluid/electrolyte balance, muscle contraction, and nerve impulse conduction. This type of transport also occurs in humans, too.

Some fish are more sensitive to salt than others, and some are more efficient at aquiring it as well. This should be considered when deciding whether or not to add it, or how much should be added. While it's not absolutely necessary to add it to a tank (and many who don't use it at all have kept fish successfully), I've found that by using low amounts that's I've had fewer problems with disease and mortality than I had before I began it's use. The salt you want to use is salt without added iodine - this can be aquarium salt (more expensive), or rock, canning, pickling, kosher, or table salt without iodine or non-caking agents added to it (less expensive).

Your danios are a species that tolerates the use of salt well. If you have any livebearers (guppies, mollies, platys, or swordtails) all of these will benefit. Some of the species that are more sensitive to its use are tetras, catfish, and scaleless fish (elephant nose, knifefish, etc.), but even these will tolerate the 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water fairly well.

I'll provide some links below for sources and further reading for those interested.

pros and cons of salt use, why table salt isn't recommended:
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/salt.shtml
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/pages/show_article.php?article_id=335
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/BODY_VM007

see "osmoregulation" about halfway down the page:
http://www.oxyedge-chum.com/oxygen_or_salt.htm

animation of how salt is used in active transport (sodium/potassium pump):
http://www.brookscole.com/chemistry_d/templates/student_resources/shared_resources/animations/ion_pump/ionpump.html

Answer 10

Never ever EVER add iodized salt to you fishtank. Just go to the nearest pet store. They should have a bunch of products available to you. And they can help you out with your question better than I can.