Salt [Sodium Chloride]

[Foo Hong]

Oh in case some of you are wondering if I have posted this in the wrong forum, I didnt.

Yes we use it in cooking, but do not overlook its importance. I use it whenever I do the well-known salt-bath. Whenever any fish shows any signs of velvet or white spots, they 'take a dip in the sea'. Rationale is simple - fresh water pathogens do not survive in a salt water environment. Just like tubifex will die immediately in brine.

It always works for me and my bettas!

[Myron Tay]

I quote from the article on the Feb 04 edition of the Tropical Fish Hobbyist entitled "The Ins and Outs of Osmosis" by Mark E. Evans:

"And although salt is effective in treating certain parasitic and bacterial diseases, its prolonged use with many species of freshwater fish is a questionable practice. Even with the generally recommended dose of one teaspoon per gallon of water, it is possible to unintentionally build up dissolved solids beyond desirable levels."

[Myron Tay]

I quote from the article on the Feb 04 edition of the Tropical Fish Hobbyist entitled "The Ins and Outs of Osmosis" by Mark E. Evans:

"And although salt is effective in treating certain parasitic and bacterial diseases, its prolonged use with many species of freshwater fish is a questionable practice. Even with the generally recommended dose of one teaspoon per gallon of water, it is possible to unintentionally build up dissolved solids beyond desirable levels."

[Alex Lim]

Myron,

did Mark Evans mention that prolonged use of salt beyond desirable levels will lead to what kind of complications? he also mentioned "many species of freshwater fish", was it also mentioned what species were these?

thank you

[Alex Lim]

Myron,

did Mark Evans mention that prolonged use of salt beyond desirable levels will lead to what kind of complications? he also mentioned "many species of freshwater fish", was it also mentioned what species were these?

thank you

[Myron Tay]

quote:Originally posted by Alex Lim

Myron,

did Mark Evans mention that prolonged use of salt beyond desirable levels will lead to what kind of complications? he also mentioned "many species of freshwater fish", was it also mentioned what species were these?

thank you
Sorry, he did not elaborate.

[Myron Tay]

quote:Originally posted by JiaWei

i have purchased this stress relieving salt and was wondering if i should put in some everytime i change the water or should i just use it when the fishies[33] appear funny to me?
Thankz! [tx]
JiaWei

What are the instructions on the package? What is the brand of the salt?

[JiaWei]

Myron
Sorry for the late reply.[B)] I copied the enitre instructions down last nite with all the descriptions. Hope this will help. [ag] Btw the colour of the box is light blue with pictures of koi, goldfishes and discus.
************************************************** *******
Stress Reliever Salt (Ocean Free)

-Professional grade Aquarium Salt for Freshwater Aquaria
-Non-artificial processing, purely made from evaporated Sea water through saturated crystallization and high-speed evaporation process.
-Helps to relieve stress and enhance acclimization
-Adds electrolytes and helps gill function of fishes
-Acelerate and advance disease healing

Why use Ocean Free Reliever Salt:
- During stress, illness or transporting of fishes, the gill functions of fishes are often distressed and reduce in functionality. This is due to the excessive loss of electrolytes through the gills.
-Fishes will experience difficulty as the gills reduce the intake of oxygen and carbon dioxide is released.
-Ocean free salt will enhance healthy gill functionality by reduicing electrolyte loss.

Directions:
-water maintainence and stress reducer: add one table spoonful for every 20 litres of aquarium water.
-fish treatment : All one-two spoonful for every 20 litres of water and increase tank temp from 28 to 30 celsius.
-Hatching of brine shrimps- add two table spoonful for one litre of water.
-Koi/goldfish/coldwater fishes- add 2 teasppon per 20 litres of water.
************************************************** ***************

[Myron Tay]

Thanks for the effort, Jia Wei. Looks like normal aquarium salt. I would go with Mark E. Evan's advice I had posted above.

[Myron Tay]

quote:Originally posted by erickoh

Hi all,

Should we add salt to our water? wonder who many of us add or don't add salt to the water.....any advice if doing/not doing so.......tkQ [gd]
quote:Originally posted by Alvin

Hi Eric, I've always used 1/4 tsp per gallon of salt in my tanks and believe that they help in preventing bacterial (or even fungi) attacks. The fish do not seem bothered by the salt. Recently, I succeeded in treating my week old fry from ich, using salt treatment (very slowly increasing salt content to 2 tsp per gallon over 32 hours). After 2 days, the ich was gone.

Other people do not use salt at all and are happy with ketapang water. I guess you will have to experiment on your own on how salt affects your fish.
quote:Originally posted by sylwester

Are you reffering to types of salt which is in fresh water I'm with you. Salts like Na2Co3 which bufferes PH for neutral to basic tanks and CaCo3 that increases general hardness ++ that are normal and gives minerals to fish through skin.

If you're talking about NaCl then it's something else. As bettas are (not yet) salt water fish they lack the nescecary cell membrane to cope with such salt and it will make the fish cells implode (the other way around if you give a salt water fish fresh water - it's cells will explode). Having a small amount of salt though will not harm so much, and it may keep fungy and parasites away but not if there has been salt in the water at all times. Then the bad things most probably will be imune against the dosage and requires more than your fish can handle. That is why I do not use table salt at all except the dosage of 1 tea spoon per 10 liters during spawning, post-spawning and general treatments when ill(except dropsy)

This is, of course, only my personal opinion.

[Shan Yew]

I've been using Fritz A+ Aquarium Salt for some time now. My halfmoons, both acquired and self-bred, are thriving and maintaining their finnage well. The only problem is the price - SGD5.00 per 16oz (454g) bag.

http://www.fritzpet.com/asalt.html

[Myron Tay]

More on salt on the following thread:

http://www.bettaclub.org.sg/forum/topic.asp?TOPIC_ID=966

[Myron Tay]

quote:Originally posted by Vanice Yap

Do we need to put salt into fish water to cure them of diseases?Believe that I have answered that question in the second post of this thread.

[gina]

To bring up this topic again.. I was at Kelson's earlier and he told me that i must always add salt at each water change. Of Course I nodded my head in submission. I am a newbie and questioning his practice would look too arrogant. Since I am sitting on the fence, I agree the salt would help prevent complications, I also agree that prolonged salt would develop other kinds of complications too and worse still, if the fish is sick and requires salt, it might have already build up an immunity. To treat with salt only when the fish is sick also seems to be inviting unecessary trouble. I suppose adding salt to one of the water changes would sound ideal? Maybe a salt bath one a month.