Water Changes

[Ian H]

also alex you shouldnt be using salt, theres no need at all. You have freshwater fish not brackish

Another thing, im sure hot water from the tap contains more chemicals (remember being told years ago) so i wouldnt advise it. i just use cold water from the tap, doesnt harm the fish at all (although it may in a small tank)

 

[Axleuk]

also alex you shouldnt be using salt, theres no need at all. You have freshwater fish not brackish

Another thing, im sure hot water from the tap contains more chemicals (remember being told years ago) so i wouldnt advise it. i just use cold water from the tap, doesnt harm the fish at all (although it may in a small tank)

Hi Ian,

I used salt because the lfs recommended it to me. He said my Guppies appreciate a ittle salt as it acts as a mild anti-bacterial. The package says many livebearers benefit from the addition of Aqua Tonic Salt. However, all my Guppies have gone to Guppy heaven and now i am only left with my dear Gouramis and Barbs So maybe next water change i will leave out the salt.

 

[Ian H]

i would, especially if you end up getting some scale-less fish such as plecs or clownloach as the salt will burn them.

Some people use salt to treat ich i think but theres no point in using it all the time Sadly most fish stores will tell you anything for you to buy a product

 

[Corleone]

My fish go crazy during a water change. While I'm draining, they swarm around the gravel vac trying to eat all the stuff floating up it. If I keep it off the gravel for more than a couple seconds, something's sure to swim up inside, but so far none of them have been hurt doing that.

When I start refilling, it's a different story. Most of them aren't happy at all. My danios will play in the current, but everything else huddles together at the far end of the tank until I'm done, but afterwards, they're usually at their most active and peaceful.

As for the salt, it's a relic. Poor understanding of the chemistry and biology involved in the aquarium meant that common knowledge used to be that water changes were to be rare or even avoided entirely, water was to be "old" and salt reduced signs of stress. A lot of the old ideas that have been abandoned seem to boil down to the same thing - observing the results without understanding the cause. Salt was basically the lesser of two stresses, since it reduced the toxicity of nitrate, and you'd expect high nitrates with rare water changes. Fish stores still sell it because it's profitable.