Aquarium Salt?

[the biffster]

I am going to merge these threads. No reason to get part of the answer in each place. I just spotted the duplication.

cheers oldman 47

i use aquarium salt for sterilizing
tanks after they have been used to treat
ill fish also use in the bucket were i keep my nets
i some time give fish salt baths in the have
external parasites or open wounds or sores
and of cause i use it to hatch brine shrimp

 

[Bettawhisperer]

The jars I use are 1 gallon and they are changed twice a week. I have never had a fish with fin rot or sickness of any kind.I raise hundreds of fish a year When you have That many it is imposable to keep a separate tanks for all of them. This is how all Betta breeders do it and also the Asians who are the biggest exporters of Bettas in the world. None of my Bettas are ever in dirty filthy water.

 

[nmonks]

I don't doubt your specimens aren't in dirty water. I'm sure you're a conscientious, experienced fishkeeper.

The problem is that beginners see bettas in jars, assume that's the best way to keep them -- and it isn't, I think we can both agree on that -- and wonder why their betta dies in a few weeks. All bettas, and I mean ALL bettas, will do better kept in a heated, filtered aquarium. You may be able to keep yours just fine in jars, but a lot of people can't, and over at WWM I get "sick betta" messages very regularly, and it's always the same darn thing: saw the betta in a jar at Walmart, read that that's how they keep them in Asia, so why is my betta sick when I'm doing just the same thing?

Keeping bettas in jars may be the only economical way for experienced aquarists to hold large collections and raise their offspring to sellable size. I accept that.* But they are a terrible example for fishkeeping generally, and the reliance on salt to keep bettas healthy simply underlines the fact that the way they're being kept isn't optimal. End of story really.

So can we lay this thing down to rest now: salt has therapeutic value in certain situations, but there is NO reason to apply it routinely, and if you're keeping fish in a heated, filtered aquarium you should NEVER need to add salt except as a medication.

Cheers, Neale

*Though personally I don't like seeing bettas in jars and probably never will. I'm not a fan of fancy bettas for much the same reason I don't like munchkin cats or dogs like pugs with faces so pushed in they can't breathe properly. There's a line you cross when breeding "fancy" animals after which point the animal isn't really able to function like its ancestors, and my gut feeling is that fancy bettas crossed that line. Some people may think they're pretty, but I'll be brutally honest and say that I'd sooner a wild-type betta that could act normally in a community tank than a fancy betta that can barely swim.

None of my Bettas are ever in dirty filthy water.

 

[Bettawhisperer]

Well this can go on and on and on so I'm not even going to address most of the subjects in your post with the exception of the one about other people thinking that is the way to keep there Bettas. I would hope that they would be intelligent enough to know that in a small containers is not the normal way to keep them. I think most people are intelligent and so that is why I don't worry about them thinking that. So I'm done now. End of subject.

 

[roadmaster]

Salt,carbon,proper stocking levels, seems always to spark debate and always will I suppose.
My own thoughts regarding salt and it's uses along with the care of Betta's falls lock step with Mr. monks views.
Not withstanding those who breed and sell these particular fish, there are a large group of folks that due to reasons already stated , that feel that these fishes (Betta) are somehow different than other tropical fishes and that their needs are different.
If you would not add salt to your community tank,then why add it to a jar,vase,bowl,or tank of a poor defensless Betta?
Clean water and healthy biological filter will eliminate the need for salt in freshwater aquariums and provide way more benefits with respect to preventing disease than any benefit the fish may receive from addition of Aquarium salt or "Tonic"salt. IMHO

 

[nmonks]

Trust me, they may be intelligent people in other ways, but the numbers of people who thinking keeping bettas in jars is "normal" would stagger you. My guess would be nine bettas out of ten sold in the US and probably elsewhere in the West ends up in a bowl. Around about September to October time WWM will get a flood of messages from college students who've bought a betta as a pet for their dorm room precisely because they think it can be kept in a bowl, usually without even a heater, let alone a filter. Needless to say their bettas are sick.

There are lots and lots of very conscientious and expert betta keepers, and I'm sure you're one of them, so please don't feel I'm criticising the way you personally keep your fish. But if you're working at the fish health end of the hobby, it doesn't take long for you to be build up an impression that bettas are sold as disposable pets to be kept in jam jars. It isn't nice, but unfortunately it is the way the general public mostly treats these animals.

Cheers, Neale

I would hope that they would be intelligent enough to know that in a small containers is not the normal way to keep them. I think most people are intelligent and so that is why I don't worry about them thinking that.