Salt As A Treatment

[Miss Wiggle]

well everyone knows with various diseases you can add salt to help cure it.

however i've always found loads of conflicting information on which sort of salt you should use, some say aquarium, some marine some table salt.

so which one should you actually be using? some science to back up your opinions would be nice

 

[andywg]

Plain old Sodium Chloride. So long as it doesn't have any anti-caking agents in it, table salt will be fine. If you want to spend far more than necessary you can buy aquarium salt, but I would advice against it. I am aware of no magic ingredients in aquarium salt to really differentiate it from pure table salt.

I would guess Marine salt could be used and would have the desired effect (containing as it does sodium and chloride), though the other elements in it will alter the chemistry of the water (Alkalinity and pH) and as such may cause some distress, not to mention the cost issue.

 

[Miss Wiggle]

thanks, i've always thought aquarium salt was a rip off

not thought about the other factors with marine salt. obviously if you don't have a marine tank it'll cost a bit to go out and get some, but if you've got some it shouldn't be a massive issue to just use a bit for treating a FW tank.

is there a desired salinity you should be getting the water up to? and this is probably a stupid question but if you've mixed it up using plain sodium chloride instead of marine salt.... can you still test it the same with a hydrometer?

 

[Majjie]

I use sea salt but only for salt baths. I don't put it into the main tanks.

No scientific reason - except that it's sort of natural (when fish like mollies live in brackish water it's a mix of sea and fresh water) - and it's better for us to eat than plain old table salt too - so I don't have to buy it specially

 

[chibi]

I use freshwater aquarium salt. It's only $2.99 and it treats probably 2,000+ gallons. I get it from my LFS.

 

[Tokis-Phoenix]

I use marine salt, only used it for salt baths though or in very small quantities in my quarentine/hospital tank- whatever salt you do go for though, make sure your fish can actually tolerate it. Many fish have varying degree's of tolerance to salt, some tolerate and even enjoy it very well (like mollys) while other fish like platys and danio's can only really tolerate short salt baths (longer term use would have a bad impact on their health and stress them out).
Salt is particularly good for fish who can't tolerate the copper found in so many anti parasitic chemical based meds but can tolerate salt. On the other hand, chemical based meds like "anti whitespot" or "anti velvet and slime" by Interpet are good for fish that can't tolerate salt treatment but can tolerate the copper found in such meds etc.

 

[steelhealr]

I wouldn't use marine salt, unless, for a bath as discussed above. Marine salt when mixed with water will mix out at a pH of 8.2-8.5. Is that where your FW fish should be? Table salt should be fine. SH