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I have guppies and neons and german rams, might add platies,
do neons and german rams tolerate salt?
if so how much tea spoons/gallon do I use?
R_Boy

Last edited by Rookie_boy at 05-Jan-2006 09:09

Asking if salt is needed in an aquarium is like asking someone if Ford is better than Chevy, or if AMD is better than Intel. You'll get people who will be gung ho one way, and others who will tell you the opposite. These are people you can't reason with because no matter what you say, you're still wrong.

I worked in a pet shop for almost 5 years, and we did water changes twice a week. We added salt both days each week to every single one of our tanks, some housed neons, angels, cardinals, cories, plecs etc etc and i didn't have any unusual deaths. I also use salt at home with cories, rainbows, cardinals, plecs etc etc etc and haven't had a death in i can't remember how long.

There are upsides and downsides to salt, so it's really up to you to decide. Salt acts as a tonic for well fish and a useful addition to most remedies for a sick fish. Many freshwater parasites such as ich don't tolerate salt well, so it will keep these attacks to a minimum. Salt also helps build up a healthy slime coat on the fish. Salt is a natural part of many bodies of water so in some cases it better mimics the natural habitat of mollies etc by adding salt.

Salt also can be irritating to fish with no scales, detrimental to softwater plants, and in high concentrations not good for just about anything.

I've had no trouble using salt in the past, but have also not used it in tanks and had just as good of results. It is not filtered out, nor does it evaporate, so you'd only add salt back into the tank when you physically remove water. Dosages differ, but i used a tablespoon per 10 gallons at home, and 1 per 5 gallons at the shop.

If you have a stable tank with healthy fish, don't bother.

I agree with Tim on this one... if ya don't have problems, don't bother with it...

I know that it used to be used all the time as a method of reducing fish stress or something...nowdays we've got advanced enough stuff for the tanks that we don't really need it...

I personally wouldn't use it on tank bred fish, because they're used to fresh water. Guppies and stuff technically ARE brackish, but from what I've read, most strains have gotten used to complete freshwater over the years/generations, and the no longer need salt, and may even prefer no ...

I say skip it unless yer havin' problems

HTH

This is a question to Tim.

When I first started aquariums 35+ years ago it was the thing to do add a salt to live bearers only. If my memory serves me corectly it was not "Table Salt" I think it was a "Sea Salt" that was used.

For members wanting to use salt today, what type of salt is used and an what quanities?

As a medication?
As for livebearers?

Have a look in [link=My Profile]http://
www.fishprofiles.com/interactive/forums/profile.asp?userid=6741" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link] for my tank info

[link=Betta 11Gal Desktop & Placidity 5ft Community Tank Photos]http://photobucket.com/albums/b209/keithgh/Betta%20desktop%20tank/" style="COLOR: #00FF00[/link]

Keith

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