Adding api aquarium salt to cycling 10g

[Guppylover3x]

I’ve noticed flashing from my fish over a period of time. This is worser some days than others. Some days I see them doing it the odd once at the maximum. I am worried that this is either because my tanks had exposures to ammonia or something else like a protozoan infection or early signs of white spot. I am aware than some flashing is normal so I am just waiting it out. My tanks been set up a few weeks as I upgraded aquariums half way. Some of the fish earlier than others and I’ve had since January. I keep male guppies, there’s currently 7 in the tank. My question is if I add salt and there isn’t anything wrong with my guppies would this do harm? I currently add additional salt minerals to my tank to make my water harder. Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

 

[Byron]

To ensure everyone knows what we mean, "salt" here is common salt, sodium chloride, such as sea salt or aquarium salt (not table salt).

While livebearers can handle sodium chloride (common salt) better than many other fish, it is still detrimental (or can be) so its use in my view should be restricted to absolute necessity. From your description, that is not what I see here, so my answer would be no to adding common salt at this time.

Flashing can be caused by many things. Usually it is the first sign of a gill issue such as a parasite like ich; ich first attacks the gills, and we do not see spots, unless the fish are unable to cope and it worsens. When fish are stressed, their immune system is significantly weakened and they become more susceptible to issues like ich which in the absence of stress they would easily shake off. There is evidence, and considerable support among the hobby, for the view that ich is likely present in many of our tanks (it can easily enter with new fish even if the disease is never seen) but never becomes an issue if the fish are healthy and free of severe stress. What you have recently gone through with your water and the new tank is enough to stress out any fish, so that is likely the issue here. I would wait it out. If you see spots, and I don't mean just one or two, but indications of more, that would be a different matter and heat with (or without) salt could then be considered.

I quarantine new fish in a planted permanently running 20g tank, so the fish are going into an established biological system. Sometimes I see a few flashes initially, but these tend to become fewer and even non-existent within a couple weeks. Stress is again the culprit.

 

[Guppylover3x]

To ensure everyone knows what we mean, "salt" here is common salt, sodium chloride, such as sea salt or aquarium salt (not table salt).

While livebearers can handle sodium chloride (common salt) better than many other fish, it is still detrimental (or can be) so its use in my view should be restricted to absolute necessity. From your description, that is not what I see here, so my answer would be no to adding common salt at this time.

Flashing can be caused by many things. Usually it is the first sign of a gill issue such as a parasite like ich; ich first attacks the gills, and we do not see spots, unless the fish are unable to cope and it worsens. When fish are stressed, their immune system is significantly weakened and they become more susceptible to issues like ich which in the absence of stress they would easily shake off. There is evidence, and considerable support among the hobby, for the view that ich is likely present in many of our tanks (it can easily enter with new fish even if the disease is never seen) but never becomes an issue if the fish are healthy and free of severe stress. What you have recently gone through with your water and the new tank is enough to stress out any fish, so that is likely the issue here. I would wait it out. If you see spots, and I don't mean just one or two, but indications of more, that would be a different matter and heat with (or without) salt could then be considered.

I quarantine new fish in a planted permanently running 20g tank, so the fish are going into an established biological system. Sometimes I see a few flashes initially, but these tend to become fewer and even non-existent within a couple weeks. Stress is again the culprit.

Yes I meant aquarium salt. I would never dream of putting any sort of salt in my tank that isn’t suitable for fish. I will edit the title and refine this now. Many thanks for your feedback. I won’t add salt as of yet then and I’ll wait a few weeks. I did have spikes in temperature last week and it was around 29c. Hopefully this made a little difference. I can’t wait for my tank to be cycled. I have heard this information before about ich always being present in aquariums. Many thanks for your the advice and help. Thank you.