Is Salt Harmful For Freshwater?

[silverchild23]

I've made a big mistake me thinks.

I read a few posts etc. and something posessed me to add a little API aquarium salt to my tropical tank (as I have just moved and heard it could be good for stress (some still seem a bit freaked by the whole experience)). However, unlike me, I did not do my research properly, and now I'm worried I've poisoned the tank or something - I've read up on salt and apparently it can be very harmful - epecially for plecos?

My tank is:
Juwel 240 Rio (240L); Eheim Pro II Filter; medium planted; sand substrate

Fish:
2x lge Angelfish, 4x Keyholes, 1x Blue Ram, 1x Bristlenose Pleco, 5x Rummynose Tetra, 3x Cardinal Tetra

I tried to keep the amount I put it relatively low, and ended up putting 4 desert spoons (diluted in tank water) in the 240L tank.

Is this going to kill my fish? I'm really worried - especially about my BN

 

[celaeno]

scaleless fish don't do too well with salt, but 4 spoonfuls for a ~60g tank isn't that much. if you're worried, you could always do a few water changes to dilute the salt concentration. in the future, i would add melafix instead of salt, and even then, only when introducing fish.

 

[WILDER]

Plecs can tolerate abit of salt but not alot.
You haven't added that much, usually a tablespoon to 5 gallons.
You remove salt from the water with water changes.
Hows the plec acting.
http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...?article_id=335

 

[silverchild23]

scaleless fish don't do too well with salt, but 4 spoonfuls for a ~60g tank isn't that much. if you're worried, you could always do a few water changes to dilute the salt concentration. in the future, i would add melafix instead of salt, and even then, only when introducing fish.

Thanks for the info. How bad does it affect scaleless fish? All the fish seemed ok this morning when I left them, but I'll do a water change when I get home just to make sure.

 

[WILDER]

Salt can burn scaless fish.

 

[silverchild23]

Plecs can tolerate abit of salt but not alot.
You haven't added that much, usually a tablespoon to 5 gallons.
You remove salt from the water with water changes.
Hows the plec acting.
[URL="http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...?article_id=335"]http/www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/pfk/...?article_id=335[/URL]

Plec's acting fine - eating loads as usual. I'll check on him again when I get home.
Thanks for the article link!

 

[rdd1952]

IMO, salt is totally unnecessary for a FW tank. After all, it is "fresh" water and not saltwater. I think it should only be used in cases where you are treating the fish and then if at all possible in a q-tank so all fish are not exposed to it.

 

[aaronnorth]

Tetras dont appreciate salt much either, no point adding it unless it is necessay

 

[Bignose]

This question comes up quite a lot, and here's my same response every time. silverchild, I do hope you set aside and take the time to read through all this... there is some very good information in these links and texts I am going to post:

There are several good threads on salt going around, please read through these, they'll give you all the reasons against salt.

[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=210955"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=210955[/URL]
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=211791"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=211791[/URL]
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=168186"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=168186[/URL]
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=155280"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=155280[/URL]
[URL="http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=157186"]http/www.fishforums.net/index.php?showtopic=157186[/URL]

and specifically I'll just take a quote from some of my older posts:

Primary freshwater fishes are those that have remained, as far as we can tell from the fossil record, in fresh waters throughout their evolutionary heritage. Fishes that fall into this category include Characins, Carps and Catfishes.

Secondary freshwater fishes are those that had marine ancestors at some point in past time, but which moved into freshwater in order to occupy various niches. Cichlids are an example of secondary freshwater fishes - their nearest relatives are the marine Damselfishes of the Family Pomacentridae, and it's highly likely that both Families shared a common (and marine) ancestor.

Consequently, the secondary freshwater fishes still have at least some degree of osmoregulatory capacity for dealing with salt in the water, while the primary freshwater fishes never evolved it in the first place. So, placing primary freshwater fishes into water containing salt is a bad idea, and even modest amounts will kill them. Secondary freshwater fishes, on the other hand, can tolerate small amounts of salt, and indeed some members of secondarily freshwater Families are brackish in nature - the Cichlid fish Etroplus suratensis springs to mind as one example. Cyprinodontiformes also fall into this category - both the egg-laying Cyprinodontidae and the live-bearing Poeciliidae are also secondarily freshwater, some of the latter Family being fully brackish in the wild (indeed, the Giant Sailfin Molly, Poecilia vivipara, is fully euryhaline, and can live in fully marine water, as specimens captured in seawater off the Yucatan Peninsula in Mexico testify eloquently).

Quite simply put, if your aquarium contains any primary freshwater fishes, do NOT add salt, as those fishes will suffer considerable stress if exposed to salt, and may even die. Even in the case of secondarily freshwater fishes, salt is only a good idea if the fishes concerned are KNOWN to inhabit brackish waters in the wild.

Most fishes fall into the category of being stenohaline, namely, they are either freshwater or fully marine. These fishes should only be exposed to the kind of water in which they occur in the wild with respect to salt content. Euryhaline fishes, that can migrate with some degree of freedom between freshwater, brackish and fully marine environments, are much fewer in number, and tend to be conspicuous in this regard when encountered in the textbooks - fishes such as Scats, Monos, Therapon jarbua, velifera Mollies and one or two of the Puffer Fishes are notable for this. Within the euryhaline division, there are those that can migrate more or less at will, and those that do so developmentally - the Puffer Fish Tetraodon nigroviridis is developmentally euryhaline, spending its juvenile stages in freshwater before migrating at a steady pace to increasingly saline waters until, as adults, they are strongly brackish or fully marine fishes. Once again, and I cannot stress this enough, it pays to do the research and find out what your fish is!

The main point is that many fish evolved in an a very low-salt environment and do not have the physical mechanisms to handle salt. Will it kill them immediately... No. But, it puts a significant amount of additional stress on the fish, with all the additional problems extra stress lead to: increased susceptibility to disease, shorter lifespan, less color, less likely to spawn, etc. If you have fish that do have the capabilities to deal with salt, it won't be as bad -- though if everything is healthy and fine now, why the need for a change? But, if you have fish that are intolerant of salt, it will lead to problems down the road.

 

[Mr Bee]

I'm confused now....

I was told and have read that salt (API aquarium salt) is beneficial for tropical freshwater fish, and gives them electrolytes which they need, and is good in stress or disease situations.

Please can someone clarify if I should NOT add salt for my Tetras - as I have read that tetra's (and all characins) are intolerant of salt.


I have 6 Neon and 6 Glowlight Tetras only in my tank.

 

[three-fingers]

I was told and have read that salt (API aquarium salt) is beneficial for tropical freshwater fish, and gives them electrolytes which they need, and is good in stress or disease situations.

Purely marketing, the links that bignose provided are very good.
I find this one is my favourite - [URL="http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/196353/Freshwater-Flounder-/"]http/www.fishforums.net/content/forum/19...ater-Flounder-/[/URL].
It goes on to discuss salt and is quite a good read ).

Please can someone clarify if I should NOT add salt for my Tetras - as I have read that tetra's (and all characins) are intolerant of salt.

The packet recommends tiny dosages that make no noticeable difference over the short term, but is potentially harmful over the long term to alot of the species we keep, like neons and glowlights.

I can clarify you should NOT add salt to the tank, at best your wasting money on something that makes no difference, and at worst your harming your fish over the long term.

 

[andywg]

Just to add to bignose's points, whether a fish has scales or not has absolutely nothing to do with whether they can tolerate salt in the water, it is entirely down to the internals a fish has for osmoregulation.