# Aquarium salt for fresh water fish???



## humsuplou (Nov 16, 2007)

Hi,
I went to Petsmart and saw some of the fresh water fishes required aquarium salt. I am confused.
Can somebody tell me what is that?
Thanks.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

humsuplou said:


> Hi,
> I went to Petsmart and saw some of the fresh water fishes required aquarium salt. I am confused.
> Can somebody tell me what is that?
> Thanks.


 What kind of fish where they? Was it possible they were brackish fish and not fully freshwater? Freshwater fish can tolerate a bit of salt in their water.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Aquarium salt=overpriced table salt

For brackish water fish, use marine salt.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

I've always wondered if sea salt would be healthier for the fish than table salt? Seems like a more natural way.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Little-Fizz said:


> I've always wondered if sea salt would be healthier for the fish than table salt? Seems like a more natural way.


Sea salt has properties that are much more important to the brackish and marine conditions than table salt. It can buffer pH which is very important to brackish and marine. I believe table salt is only sodium chloride itself containing iodine and anti-caking agents. I've use table salt before and have no problems whatsoever. Why people freak out about its use is beyond me.


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## Little-Fizz (Aug 19, 2007)

Nah I've used table salt too. I'm not going out and spending the extra cash on the same thing with a different name. Hmm interesting, I guess I was just thinking that sea salt is healthier for people then table salt so I figured maybe the same thing happened for fish. I'm pretty sure sea salt is the exact same as table salt. Only table salt goes through a whole lot of processing, like bleaching or whatever. I'm vegan so I usually like to choose the healthier method. I remember back in the day when I lived in a group home they had us on a 'healthy' diet basically no sugar, no salt (only sea salt) no pork ect. When I asked about the salt the night staff told me salt just has a lot of unnecessary additives. But I can definitely see how adding salt straight from the sea would mess up your freshwater environment.


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

Little-Fizz said:


> Freshwater fish can tolerate a bit of salt in their water.


Thanks for sharing your views on the salt, Fizz.:thumbsup: Oh, and correction on this statement. The term freshwater would be too broad. A lot of freshwater fish live in various water conditions. Not all will tolerate presence of salt, most especially fish from soft, acidic waters and scaleless bottom dwellers. A lot of fish however from hard alkaline waters such as livebearers and Celebes rainbowfish will really tolerate the added salinity but the level should somewhat still be limited for most of them. Mollies can tolerate full marine.

And back on the OP, in addition to Fizz's advice, if you cannot identify the fish, pictures are a must. For the record, _some_ bumblebee gobies, puffers, rainbowfish, halfbeaks and livebearers will tolerate salt. Monos, scats, archers, Columbian sharks and the _Etroplus_ cichlid species will really need salt as they mature. Juvenile scats and monos are fine in purely freshwater but salt must strictly be added as they mature.

Seeing as I do not live in the US, if I can remember correctly, people have long complained of the misinformation in the care sheets of PetSmart. If this is true, do be careful with what you are researching. I would suggest researching further and asking as many people possible for their opinions and experiences. I always do this whenever I plan to get fish I've never tried before. In the end, you will actually be more confident and more prepared than buying fish by impulse or buying after believing only a few sources.


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## humsuplou (Nov 16, 2007)

I don't remember what fishes are they, but there are several types of them.
anyway, i got a lot of good info from everyone, and I will do more research b4 i jump in.
Thanks and you guys are awesome!


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## mr.bojangles (Mar 11, 2007)

ther are some types of "fresh" water fish that will do beter with a little salt in the water. it helps add ions they need. i find that having the sepecific gravity at 1.002 really helps fish in general health and appearence. also having salt in the water helps prevent ich

P.S. 1.002 is approximately 1 tbsp per 7 galleons if u dont want to buy a tool to measure it


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## TrashmanNYC (Nov 27, 2007)

So in general should you add some salt to a freshwater tank?
The pet stores that i've gone to always recomended it (like big rock salt)..........


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## Lupin (Aug 2, 2006)

TrashmanNYC said:


> So in general should you add some salt to a freshwater tank?
> The pet stores that i've gone to always recomended it (like big rock salt)..........


There is no need for you to add them in your freshwater tanks. A lot of fish are better off without salt unless you intend to use it for treatment. Adding salt without any valid reason is in my opinion a waste of time and money.


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## TrashmanNYC (Nov 27, 2007)

Lupin said:


> TrashmanNYC said:
> 
> 
> > So in general should you add some salt to a freshwater tank?
> ...


Thanks........what kind of treatment would it be used for....?


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## Falina (Feb 25, 2007)

TrashmanNYC said:


> Lupin said:
> 
> 
> > TrashmanNYC said:
> ...


Mainly white spot (ich) but also it can be used when the disease is unknown as a sort of general tonic for an unwell fish because you don't have to risk medicating with the wrong medicine but some fish are more tolerant than others to salt so care must be taken when using it.


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## beetlebz (Aug 2, 2007)

When I add new fish I generally add about 1 tablespoon per 10 or 12 gallons just to ease them in, and help fend off ich, as I dont have the room for a quarantine tank at the moment. I dont go nuts over it though, Just sort of work it out with the usual water changes. I do this on both my 29 gallon tank and my 110 gallon tank, and the fish all seem to be doing fantastic still (with few exceptions that are not salt related lol).

I use API freshwater salt, for the record, but after reading this im going to table salt when I run out of the API stuff lol

Actually come to think of it, I just defeated ich in my 110 that affected almost all of the fish.. using only salt (and increased temp). I was up around the 1tbsp / 5 gallon mark.. and the fish didnt seem the least bit phased.


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