# Tropical fish with salt?



## RSidetrack (Dec 31, 2007)

So I have been looking in my LFS for fish I'd like to have and on most of the labels for the tropical fish it says "with aquarium salt". My question is, on the ones that don't say that would it be ok for them? Also how much would one put in since it is a freshwater tank. It just confuses me that freshwater fish could require salt.

Thanks!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

Salt is often recommended for new tanks because it helps reduce nitrite toxicity. Some pet stores recommend for all tanks, but in reality, it depends on your fish. Post a list of your fish and we'll tell you how they do with salt. Goldfish and mollies do better with salt in their water (usually 1 tsp/gallon). But some fish do not like salt at all. Aquarium or marine salt or even kosher non-ionized salt. IMO, if you have really hard tap water, you probably don't need any salt. If you have soft tap water, you should add salt if and only they are appropriate to your fish and you should add the appropriate salt blend. I have soft water and I use "cichlid salts" to mimic the water chemistry of where my fish come from. Many fish come from brackish (slightly salty) water and they do good with some marine salt. Always add salts slowly and keep the levels consistent. Erratic ion concentrations are stressful for fish.


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## RSidetrack (Dec 31, 2007)

My list changes frequently but the current list I would like to pick from or have are:
The fish I am looking at right now are:
Zebra Danio
X-Ray Pristella Tetra
Topsail Platy
Neon Swordtail
Marble Lyretail Molly
Orange Sunshine Guppy
Blue Cobra Guppy
Boesemani Rainbow
Olive Nerita Snails


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## RSidetrack (Dec 31, 2007)

Oh, and I am on city water - so it has a PH (which varies ) from 6.8 to 7.4) - I do have PH 7 stabilizer that I can put in


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## RSidetrack (Dec 31, 2007)

My most up to date list is in my signature, so should I use aquarium salt or no?


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## COM (Mar 15, 2008)

Forget about pH for the time being. it's fairly irrelevant for most fish.

As for salt, in my 16 years of fish keeping I have always put a bit of Kosher Salt in all of my tanks. I have recently learned that iodized salt is not harmful to fish or shrimp, so I have recently switched to that. No problems thus far.


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## crackpyroman (Aug 12, 2008)

*salt*



emc7 said:


> Salt is often recommended for new tanks because it helps reduce nitrite toxicity. Some pet stores recommend for all tanks, but in reality, it depends on your fish. Post a list of your fish and we'll tell you how they do with salt. Goldfish and mollies do better with salt in their water (usually 1 tsp/gallon). But some fish do not like salt at all. Aquarium or marine salt or even kosher non-ionized salt. IMO, if you have really hard tap water, you probably don't need any salt. If you have soft tap water, you should add salt if and only they are appropriate to your fish and you should add the appropriate salt blend. I have soft water and I use "cichlid salts" to mimic the water chemistry of where my fish come from. Many fish come from brackish (slightly salty) water and they do good with some marine salt. Always add salts slowly and keep the levels consistent. Erratic ion concentrations are stressful for fish.



not looking for a fight but this is what the salt dose(in freshwater aquariums the addition of common salt(sodium chloride) to the water reduces the osmotic pressure between the aquarium water and the body fluids of the fish. While some fishes are happier in slightly salty water in any case the addition of small quantity of salt when the fish are off-colour injured or have ulcers reduces the osmotic stress upon them.

(usually 1 tsp/gallon)
this is right

(Aquarium or marine salt or even kosher non-ionized salt.)
or a good mix 1.2 percent potassium cloride and 1.7 percent calcium chloride making a physiological solution for aquarium use.

(low and hi PH)
ph has nothing to do with the osmotic pressure ph has to do with (0 extremely acidity) and (14 extremely alkalinity) PH scale is from 0 to 14 and 7 neutral so the PH is fine in his tank

NOT LOOKING TO FIGHT!!!


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## emc7 (Jul 23, 2005)

guppies, mollies, gourami, yes.

cories, maybe

snail, I don't know


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## Guest (Aug 16, 2008)

You don't necessarily need it. Cories probably wouldn't appreciate salt. I don't think salt and snails mix either. Most fish (maybe excluding the mollies) will thrive without salt. IMO its only necessary with some fish.


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## Sock Yee (Dec 29, 2007)

Adding some salt is actually beneficial for the fish as it cushions the stock and stress moving to new aquarium. Even after they have acclimatize, there's no harm in adding 1 tea spoonful of salt to every 20litre of water during water change.


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## trashion (Aug 24, 2007)

Many fish don't like salt, including plecos, cories, many tetras, etc. Not a good idea in their tanks. Salt helps fish by helping detoxify nitrite, which is often present in new aquariums.


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