Aquarium Salt ?

[corinne]

I've heard that adding aquarium salt to freshwater tanks can be benneficial for the health and stress level of the fish, is this true? Will it hurt my plants?

 

[saltynay]

Yes it can act as a low level antibacterial agent however the rest is marketing bull IMO (some people disagree). I used to use it occasionally as an additional agent when treating my fish for a disease or generally looking down, now the packets gone and I haven't bought another.....

 

[TwoTankAmin19]

I've heard that adding aquarium salt to freshwater tanks can be benneficial for the health and stress level of the fish, is this true?

No it is not true.

Will it hurt my plants?

Most of them will not tolerate salt for any extended period except for those that can live in brackish water. However, most plants can handle a salt treatment used to medicate and then removed via water changes.

 

[matuk]

I've heard that adding aquarium salt to freshwater tanks can be benneficial for the health and stress level of the fish, is this true?

No it is not true.

how?

the right amount will help the osmosis with a sick fish.

maybe have a read of this

 

[Bignose]

how?

the right amount will help the osmosis with a sick fish.

maybe have a read of this



matuk,

this nonsense about reducing osmotic stress is just pseudoscience at its best. Fish have lived for millions of years with the osmotic stress that is caused by having different mineral concentrations between their bodily fluids and surrounding water. This is their natural environment.

Fish do not need to be relieved of this stress any more than you or I need to be relieved of the stress of the Earth's atmosphere pushing down on us. And yes, it pushes on us quite a bit. Over 14 pounds per square inch. Find something that weighs 14 pounds and put it on your toe -- it is pretty heavy. That is what is pushing on every surface of our bodies every second of every day. But -- we've evolved in such an atmosphere -- our bodies are used to it and in fact can be made sick when we are relieved of this pressure. Altitude sickness is a real ailment! Yet, we don't feel a need to live in a lower pressure chamber every time we get a cold -- why do we insist on thinking that fish need to be relieved of their osmotic pressure every time they are sick?!?

I hate to put it this way, but I think that this myth about relieving osmotic pressure (or "stress" is a synonym for "pressure" here) continues to exists for 2 reasons. 1) The reasons given sound plausible and most people don't look deeper into it and 2) it allows more salt to be sold in pet and fish stores at many, many times the cost because it is "special fish salt".

there have been some very good discussions on salt on this forum. For some of the ones I remember (because I participated in them!) I suggest you use the search to look for "osmotic". If you don't get it to work and are interested, I can post some links.

 

[TwoTankAmin19]

The best single article/explaination I have seen on salt and fw aquariums was written By Robert T. Ricketts aka RTR a well known US fish guru.
The Salt of the Earth