aquarium salt?

hello, I have a 55 gal tank and the guy at the pet store said the
aquarium salt would put electrolytes in the water and discourage ick
plus it would bring out the color of the fish more. He also said they
would be more active. we put some in yesterday, does anyone else use
this and do you see a difference? Sue

"sue" wrote in message
...
| hello, I have a 55 gal tank and the guy at the pet store said the
| aquarium salt would put electrolytes in the water and discourage
ick
| plus it would bring out the color of the fish more. He also said
they
| would be more active. we put some in yesterday, does anyone else
use
| this and do you see a difference? Sue
|

I consider aquarium salt to be a medication in most cases, with that
in mind, wouldn't tell anyone to use it unless there was a reason to
do so. It's like taking painkillers in case you get hurt sometime.
Additionally, many fish do not tolerate salt in the water, some like
it. (Mollies, in particular, do best in brackish water)

Don't use salt if you have tetras or scaleless fish, like loaches.
Even a small amount of salt can sicken them. Live plants don't like
it either. Do research on the fish YOU have, to see if they can
handle salt.

Again, unless you are treating some sickness, or have fish like
Mollies that prefer salt, I see NO reason to use it.





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I used to and can say that I went for a really long time without ich or
other parasites. The fish seemed happy, what wasn't was my plants. I
was constantly adding new plants and could barely keep anything alive
for any length of time.

I've since learned that while some if not many fish benefit from the
salt, some can't tollerate it well. Do your research, find out if what
you have will do better or worse. In hindsite I probably was on the
high end of the spectrum adding 1tsp/gal. I do run some salt but only
1/2 - 1 tsp per 5 gal now. If I notice the plants suffering, I'll drop
it alltogather.

Now the question is, which salt to add, what's in the tank? Do you have
shrimp or other critters that would benefit from a touch of iodine? I'd
used kosher salt as I thought iodine was always bad. If you have
shrimp, I've recently read that iodized table salt might be better,
especially at the low salt level I'm targeting. Doing regular water
changes and only using small amounts of iodized salt and you should be
fine.

Do some reading, there's nothing worse than jumping in with both feet
only to find out you jumped off a cliff by mistake.

Shawn

sue wrote:
hello, I have a 55 gal tank and the guy at the pet store said the
aquarium salt would put electrolytes in the water and discourage ick
plus it would bring out the color of the fish more. He also said they
would be more active. we put some in yesterday, does anyone else use
this and do you see a difference? Sue

Thanks Billy & Shawn, I don't think I'll put anymore in. Before I think
about trying something, I'll look into it more and get opinons first.

I have 5 long fin zebra danio's, 6 neon's, 4 redeye tetra's, 4
swordtail, 4 marquit tetra's, 5 bleeding heart tetra's, rainbow shark,
silver bala shark, pictus catfish, plecostomas, Chinese algae eater and
3 live plants. thanks, Sue

i put a little less than the directions say to put in, since i heard
corys don't like it that well (i have 5 corys). but they seem to do
just fine with it.

oh, and a dumb question... how come sometimes i seem pleco typed as
pl*co? just curious

"Danya" wrote in message
om...

|
| oh, and a dumb question... how come sometimes i seem pleco typed
as
| pl*co? just curious

Superstition\old joke.

It was said that if you typed out the name, your fish of said name
would mysteriously die.

Pleco pleco pleco!!!

I don't have one

billy


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"sue" wrote in message
...
| Thanks Billy & Shawn, I don't think I'll put anymore in. Before I
think
| about trying something, I'll look into it more and get opinons
first.
|
| I have 5 long fin zebra danio's, 6 neon's, 4 redeye tetra's, 4
| swordtail, 4 marquit tetra's, 5 bleeding heart tetra's, rainbow
shark,
| silver bala shark, pictus catfish, plecostomas, Chinese algae eater
and
| 3 live plants. thanks, Sue
|

Wow, nope, no salt in that tank, asking for trouble. How big is the
tank? By the stocking level I'd say it should be about 45-55 gallons.


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"Pleco pleco pleco!!!

I don't have one"

You definately don't have one now!!

Billy wrote:

"Danya" wrote in message
om...

|
| oh, and a dumb question... how come sometimes i seem pleco typed
as
| pl*co? just curious

Superstition\old joke.

It was said that if you typed out the name, your fish of said name
would mysteriously die.

Pleco pleco pleco!!!

I don't have one

billy


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I heard that if you read it in a post it will turn your hair orange, and
cause hair to grow on your palms...

Pleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco
pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco
plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco
plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco
plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco
plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco plecoPleco pleco pleco


--
JK Sinrod
Sinrod Stained Glass Studios
www.sinrodstudios.com
Coney Island Memories
www.sinrodstudios.com/coneymemories

|| I heard that if you read it in a post it will turn your hair
|| orange, and cause hair to grow on your palms...
|
|| Pl*co pl*co pl*coPl*co pl*co pl*coPl*co pl*co pl*coPl*co pl*co

I think you got your cause and effect mixed up, but kool-aid can turn your
hair orange, but if you want hair on your palms, you're in the wrong
group... hahaha!!!!

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