Amano Shrimp And Salt?

[PrairieSunflower]

I know I read something that amano shrimp need salt in the water to procreate and rear their babies.... I am wondering... I seem to have a bit of a fungus thing with my fish (I posted in emergency).  I am wanting to treat it with water changes but was thinking maybe a bit of salt would be a benefit.
 
Would this be safe to do with my amano shrimp in the tank?

 

[fluttermoth]

No, adult amanos are salt intolerant.
 
It's only the shrimplets that need brackish. I believe, in the wild, they get swept down to the estuaries while the adults stay where they are.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Ah!  That is very interesting!  Thanks.

 

[ech0o]

First off, the amount of salt needed for Amano babies is immense compared to you putting a few TBSP's of aquarium salt in your tank.   Brackish water is not just "lightly salted", it is only just a step off from marine saltwater, and this kind of salt would SURELY kill Amano shrimp and any other kind of freshwater fish.  The salt dosing you are referring to barely raises the salinity of the water, and should be fine for the Amano, as long as it de-iodized.   That being said, the only reason you would need to add salt to the water is for ich, it really does not do much else, although a light dose certainly will not hurt your tank.  Certainly keep doing those water changes, that will help more than anything!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Thanks.  Will do.  None of my fish have the fungus at the moment... just wanting to be sure none of them develop it.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

I have successfully treated discus in a 10 gallon tanks to which two full cups of salt were added. Not teaspoons, not tablespoons, but 8 oz measuring cups filled with salt. They were in the for 3 days before they were switched to medication. Both fish survived.
 
Salt dips are used to treat fw fish for a number of things, including fungus. However, many fw creatures will not do well living with salt longer term. Salt as a med is often administered as a dip rather than an addition to water.
 
The amount of salt one might use to block the effects of nitrite during a "cycling" emergency will not normally harm or kill fish but rather will likely save their lives. Of course it is the chloride that does the saving not the sodium.
 
Also Amano babies need about 35 ppt of salt which is marine level, not brackish
.

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Maybe a salt dip is a better idea.  How do I do a salt dip?  Like amount of salt in the water and for what length of time.  I have a juice jug that I bought ages ago to transport my fish when we moved, I could use that... would have to see how much water it takes... I've guessing not more than 4 litres.

 

[ech0o]

You say none of your fish have signs of fungus?  They are all healthy?  Why do a salt dip then??

@TTA, oh wow didn't realize the young made it all the way to marine before they started their adventure back up into the river!

 

[PrairieSunflower]

Well... a few days back a platy had a fungus dot above its eye and I've been just changing water... it appears gone but you never know with its color that maybe it is faintly still there.  This morning out of the blue (everything was fine yesterday) my old guppy had three fungus dots and was pineconing.  I decided to euthanize because it is an old guppy anyway... I was surprised it could have happened so quick over night. 
 
So... I would like to dip the platy and not sure if I should do anything for any others.

 

[TwoTankAmin]

echo- check out sites for breeding amanos and they indicate that 35 ppt level, Amazingly, you can scoop the larva out of fresh water and drop them directly into full salt with no ill effect.
 
I much prefer using Maroxy by Mardel for treating fungus than a salt dip.
 
In a full strength dip you drop the fish into marine level salt water and watch it. When it begins to act like its drunk, you take it out and put it back into fresh water. That is what I was taught. This is usually a time period measured in minutes. There are other ways to treat with salt as well.
 
There is a decent article on using salt as a med for different things here. One note, I do not agree with their dosing suggestion for handling nitrite as it does not take into account what level of nitrite is present (chloride should be added to achieve a concentration 10 times that of nitrite). However, much of the rest of it looks pretty good: http/www.wetwebmedia.com/fwsubwebindex/SaltUseFWArtNeale.htm