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  1. #1
    San Merah Discus
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    Use of salt for freshwater aquarium

    I found this great article about salt, and thought I would share it with everyone.

    The Use of salt (sodium chloride, NaCl) in the freshwater aquarium or pond.

    What is salt?

    In the broadest sense a “salt” is the chemical compound formed when an acid reacts with a base. There are many “salts” in our everyday lives: baking soda, or sodium bicarbonate, NaHCO3, and washing soda, soda ash or sodium carbonate, NaCO3, are two examples. The more familiar table salt or sodium chloride, NaCl, is a salt that is formed when hydrochloric acid (a.k.a. muriatic acid) reacts with sodium hydroxide (a.k.a. lye). Common salt exists in several forms and most of these are found in the modern home. There is the stuff found in the salt shaker in the dining table, there is the rock salt we use to melt ice and snow, and there is the water softener salt we use to recharge our home water softener zeolites.

    Are all forms of common salt essentially the same?

    The short answer is “yes”. For all practical purposes these different forms of household salt are the same. The basic differences are found in the purity and the additives. Rock salt, basically, is just the material as it comes from the salt mines or evaporation ponds. It contains greater or lesser amounts of impurities and is not suitable for human ingestion. Water softener salt is a purified form that is usually pressed into pellets. Except for its physical form it would be suitable for use in cooking; it is also a bit pricey to be using as an ice-melt. Table salt comes in two basic formulas; iodized and non-iodized. The latter is used where natural iodine content in the drinking water and other food sources may not be sufficient to prevent human goiter (a disease condition of the thyroid gland). Table salts also contain one or more additives that prevent them from caking, and therefore, free flowing, in a humid atmosphere. “When it rains it pours.”

    Are the additives in table salt harmful in aquariums or ponds?

    The short answer is “no”. Neither the small percentage of iodides nor the anti-caking additives can be considered to be dangerous when the salt is used in ponds or aquariums. There is no valid reason to use only non-iodized salt yet this is always a hot topic for discussion and argument among aquarium hobbyists. In reality, the minuscule amount of iodide that would end up in a treated pond or aquarium is likely to be beneficial (as a potential source of essential iodine for both certain plants and animals) and certainly not harmful. There is evidence that fish can develop goiters if insufficent iodine is in their water. Fishes can suffer from goiter (= iodine deficiency) also.

    How useful is salt used in aquariums and ponds?

    From the number of aquarium hobbyists and pondkeepers who use salt one would have to assume that it is one of the best, if not the best, treatment to use for all kinds of known and unknown diseases. The reality is quite different.

    It is quite possible that the unwarranted reliance upon salt treatments has resulted in more fish losses than the diseases themselves. This is because there is a common misunderstanding among aquarists and pondkeepers that salt is a good disinfectant, antibacterial, antifungal and/or antiprotozoal drug. At the concentrations commonly used in aquariums and ponds it is none of these things. As a reliable disease treatment and/or preventative salt is essentially useless.

    For what is salt useful?

    Primarily, salt can be used for two different, but related problems. The first is the treatment of nitrite, NO2-, poisoning, and the second is the treatment of osmoregulatory stress. In both cases it is the property of sodium and chloride ions to be transported across the gill membranes, from the water, and into the blood of the fishes. Osmoregulatory stress can result when fishes are transported or when they are removed from water of one osmotic pressure and placed into one which is significantly different. In general aquarium and pond practice, where one is working only with freshwater fishes, the problems associated with osmoregulatory stress are essentially nil and therefore of little concern.

    For nitrite poisoning salt can impart protection to the fishes. This happens only if the salt content is such that the chloride ion’s concentration is about 30 times that of the nitrite ion concentration in the water. Typically, nitrite becomes toxic at about 0.1 mg/L. This means that the chloride ion concentration would have to be at least 3.0 mg/L. This concentration translates into one of about 5.0 mg/L of salt (NaCl is 60.66% chloride, Cl-); this is equivalent to 18.7 mg/gallon. A teaspoon of table salt is about 5.5 grams (or 5,500 mg); a teaspoon of table salt would be sufficient to protect fishes living in approximately 294 gallons of water! A standard treatment of NovAqua will typically provide enough protection.

    For simple osmoregulatory stress protection, on an indefinite basis, one can use 1 to 3 mg/L of salt. This would be equivalent to one teaspoon of salt added to 1,453 to 484 gallons of water!

    What about disease treatment with salt?

    In his book, Fish Medicine (W.B. Saunders Company, 1992), Michael Stoskopf lists salt at a concentration of 22 mg/L (= 83.27 mg/gallon), as a dip, for 30 minutes to control fungal infections and protozoal infestations (specifically Epistylis sp.). This treatment level is equivalent to 1 teaspoon per 66 gallons of water! Stoskopf, lists no other treatment uses, and to use salt in place of reliable and safe treatments like Rid-Ich+ for treating diseases, like ich, is simply not justified.

    To use salt at higher levels (e.g. 1 teaspoon per gallon) than those indicated by the literature is also not justified. Higher levels, especially on freshwater fishes such as characins (tetras), cyprinids (goldfish and koi) and catfishes, will act as an irritant and thereby stress the fishes. Fishes such as livebearers and cichlids can, likely, tolerate much higher levels of salt (some species of livebearers and cichlids actually enter seawater).
    -extracted from
    http://aquascienceresearch.com/APInfo/Salt.htm

    Therefore, salt plays an important role in several areas, for "freshwater" fish. The most important is helping the fluid balance in the fish's blood by lowering osmotic pressure. That eases the burden on the gills and skin to keep the blood concentration correct. It relieves stress on an already stressed fish, and makes it harder for really nasty beasts like Velvet and Ich to propagate in the water. It reinforces the slime coat at about 100 times less cost than the products in your LFS, sold for that.

    Salt, as we use the term means NaCl -- Sodium Chloride in solid
    crystalline form.

    "Table" salt is usually modified by adding a trace of iodide and either silica gel or "yellow prussiate of soda" to prevent caking and make it "free-flowing." That latter term, from out of the days of alchemy, is needed, for labeling it, as "Sodium Ferrocyanide" would surely kill sales. The iodide is perfectly harmless, but the silica gel is insoluble, clouds the water, and is rough on gills and filter feeders. Silica gel is what started the ancient myth, that still appears in some aquarium books despite being discredited long since.

  2. #2
    Eternal Moderator Merrilyn's Avatar
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    That's a very interesting article Dr. V.

    Worth reading.

    thankyou.
    Thirty-five years keeping and breeding discus, and I'm still learning :P

    Merrilyn has passed, but will not be forgotten - Goodbye dear friend

  3. #3
    Medium Discus
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    thanks DR.V,
    great find there, and very informative.
    Everything I ever wanted to know about salt.

  4. #4
    Free Swimmer
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    Excellent post, never knew about the reinforcing of the slime coat on fish.
    NAME : Phil
    OCCUPATION : Water changer

  5. #5
    SnakeSkin Discus
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    can we make this a sticky? Some people may find it interesting and helpful I think.....
    sammi



    Check out my music at MYSPACE: http://www.myspace.com/samanthadevos

  6. #6
    Wrigglers
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    do you guys know where and whattype of salt i should use to treat bloated angelfish?

  7. #7
    Free Swimmer
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    Not so sure salt will help your bloated Angel Fish, it's not a cure all. If your angels are bloated work out why that is and remedy the situation. In the interim dont feed them for a couple of days, or if you do feed something like a lightly cooked frozen green peas, pop the pea flesh out of it's shell and they should eat it if hungry enough, works a bit like a laxative.

    But as to why your Angels are bloated is worth investigating, maybe from overfeeding, Angels are real pigs at feed time. Could it be from dropsy that they appear bloated ?

    As far as salt goes, if you really feel you need to dose some I would suggest pure rock salt, no addatives like anti-caking agents or iodised, about 1 teaspoon for every 10 litres of water. Some people also use epsom salt, I believe this may be better ??? But what ever you dose with, cut back the feed, or let them go hungry for a couple of days.
    NAME : Phil
    OCCUPATION : Water changer

  8. #8
    Blue Diamond Discus
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    Epsom Salts are usually used for constipation.

    Ladyred has Angels - maybe she might have some ideas?

    Regards,

    Marg.
    "True Friends are like Blue Diamonds, so Brilliant, Precious and Rare - Protect them while you can"

  9. #9
    Wrigglers
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    so using epsom salt or rock salt is fine to treat discus?

  10. #10
    SnakeSkin Discus
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    yes it is fine to treat discus, its one tablespoon per 40 ltres of water. im not sure if its the same for epsom salt, u should try the epsom salts as marg suggested as there might be somethn stuck in your angel, an if that doesnt work it may be some sort of internal bacterial infection.

    HTH
    Nathan

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