Using salt in freshwater aquariums!!!

[visionaries]

Yesterday at a LFS, I saw the lady, after changing the water in the tank, put in a VERY generous amount of aquarium salt into it. She just grab a handful and sprinkle them across three small tanks of malawi ciclids.

Question1: I read some salt is good, but wouldn't freshwater fish die because of excessive salt?

Question2: What is the amount I need to add into my typical 4x1.5x1.5? how many tablespoon? Can I use table salt?

[Justikanz]

If it is for malawi cichlids, it could be rift lake salt. That is good to harden the water and provide the salts they might otherwise miss...

[visionaries]

I see. So for my tank that consist of corys, clown loach, leopard loach, gouramis, tiger barbs and tinfoil barb, and archer fish do I need to add salt? Thanks.

[Justikanz]

I shrudder at your fish list...

I first hope that your tank is not planted... If so, remove the tin foil barbs... They can be described as pure vegetarians, leaving no leaves undisturbed...

Next, the archer fish grows big and is best suited for a brackish water tank. It may start to turn black if kept in fresh water for too long and then it may waste away.

Thus, I would recommend aquarium (or in this case, sea) salt for the archerfish and not the rest. Aquarium salt, can, however, be introduced when the fish are not in their pink of health due to certain diseases...

I personally do not recommend adding salt on a long term basis for soft and freshwater fish like corydoras cats, most loaches and gouramis.

[visionaries]

Oh... I think I just buy what looks nice at the LFS, as I do not have much idea about the fish until I buy and read about them online.

The archer fish is a very interesting fish, and would really love to keep it in my freshwater. Any advice how to prolong its life without salt?

[cupids_angel1989]

From what I've read I've become confused about the aquarium salt business as I have never had to use salt for the last 18months since i've had my fish until an illness came to be. My tank is undergoing treatment for the next 2 weeks to hopefully get rid of the ick cycle and they recommend I treat my tank every 3 days with a 25% water change between each treatment. Do I continue on using salt is another question, I didn't in my last water change and I heard its not the very best but in saying so this article im just about to post contributes the "not good"......

"I keep salt in all my tanks at all times. Ick does not like salt. Thus the salt works as an excellent preventative. I don't buy salt at the pet store because it is way too expensive. I buy regular table salt at the grocery store. Make sure you use only NON-IODIZED or PLAIN salt. The iodine will kill the fish. I use 1 tablespoon per 5 gallons of water. The salt also aids in the repair of damaged fins, etc. It is a really good thing to use. Your fish do not have to be salt water fish to use this. Regular tropical fish are just fine with it. It does not hurt them at all.

When you add salt the first time to your aquarium you use 1 Tablespoon per 5 gallons of water. When you do a water change or perform a tank cleaning then you need to add enough salt to bring the concentration back up to full strength. In other words, if you take out 10 gallons of water then you add 2 Tablespoons of salt; if you take out 20 gallons of water then you add 4 Tablespoons of salt; and so on. Don't worry about getting too much salt because it won't hurt a thing."

P.S: maybe there is someone out there that can varify this for us

[illumnae]

salt is good to calm fish down. for me, i used salt on my discus tank when i first brought them home. it made a visible difference and my discus were alot less jumpy after i mixed 2 tblspoons of aquarium salt into my 2x1x1 tank. after they got used to my tank, i reduced the amount of salt used per water change, and they got jumpier again and took longer before calming down. i've read somewhere that this is due to the difference in water concentration inside and outside of the fish's body.

also, salt is good as it helps kill off some parasites and (i think) bacteria that require fresh water to live. again, this has to do with internal water concentration vs external. i believe with salt in the water, the bacteria and some parasites will literally have the water from inside them sucked out so they die a quick death.

[grey_fox]

Oh... I think I just buy what looks nice at the LFS, as I do not have much idea about the fish until I buy and read about them online.

The archer fish is a very interesting fish, and would really love to keep it in my freshwater. Any advice how to prolong its life without salt?

I seriously think it would be better to read up more before buying the fishes actually. That way, you won't end up wasting money and wasting a life.

As for the archer fish, like what Justikanz mentioned,

It may start to turn black if kept in fresh water for too long and then it may waste away.

So that's as much as you can prolong its life without the use of salt for an archer fish.

[bettasrcool_01]

Well, don't use table salt. It would be best to use sea salt.

[Quixotic]

i've read somewhere that this is due to the difference in water concentration inside and outside of the fish's body.

It's called osmosis. What happens is when you add salt in the tank, the water becomes a concentrated solution. The medium is called hypertonic. The living organisms in the tank will then lose water to the solution in order to achieve equilibrium.

This is why highly concentrated salt bath is recommended as treatment. It effectively kills microogranisms like bacterias and parasites when they lose their water through osmosis.

More food for thoughts here,
http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/salt.shtml

[fisherw]

Oh... I think I just buy what looks nice at the LFS, as I do not have much idea about the fish until I buy and read about them online.

The archer fish is a very interesting fish, and would really love to keep it in my freshwater. Any advice how to prolong its life without salt?

visionaries

How long have you had the archerfish (if it is still alive) or how long did it live (if it is not)? I know your's was a post from some time back but I see the topic has been revived. Appreciate a reply if you should read this.

to others

Yes, I am aware archerfishes should be kept in brackish water and that they grow to up to 10 inches. But I was at a lfs earlier this afternoon and there was a tank of archerfishes. I have always been interested in them so I checked with the shopkeeper. According to him, they are kept in fresh water; he does not even add salt at all.

I heard that certain fishes such as puffers can be acclimatised (I assume, slowly) from salt to fresh water. Possibly so can archerfishes. Can anyone confirm this?

Also, he says keeping the archerfishes in smaller tanks slows their growth.

[Quixotic]

According to Dr. Neale Monks, of the 3 species that were commonly in trade, only Toxotes microlepis may be kept in hard, alkaline freshwater or in brackish water. The other 2 are strictly brackish water.

The shopkeeper could have kept them in freshwater for one of these reasons,
1. they are T. microlepis, or
2. the turnaround of these fishes can be quite high, so they do not bother with a brackish water set up.

IMHO, brackish water fishes can generally adapt to freshwater, but not for the long run. They may run into health issues.

I have kept confirmed brackish water puffers in freshwater environment a long time ago (before I learnt to read up before buying fishes). In my experience, they generally do well for the first month or so, but get into health issues later, especially vulnerable to fungus.

If you are planning on keeping them, I would think they need a tank of their own due to their specific requirements. With a species tank, there wouldn't be any problems with it being a brackish water tank, would it?

Also, they are schooling fishes and a small tank is definitely not suitable for them. Considering this and their size, I would not recommend anything below a 3 feet tank.

Keeping archerfishes in smaller tanks slow their growth? Perhaps, but eventually, they would still grow to their size, and you would still need to house them in larger tanks. Rather than the hassle, why not do it right the first time?

Dr. Neale Monks' article for reference (you can't go very wrong with this)
http://homepage.mac.com/nmonks/aquar...kfaqpart3.html

[fisherw]

I cannot say which species of Toxotes they were. I don't know enough to tell except that they did not look like T jaculatrix as the bands were not that distinct.

Some did have fungus. I pointed that out to the shopkeeper who made some comment about "just in, will clear" mumbo jumbo.

I agree. If not a specie tank, at least a brackish one (with other brackish critters) and a reasonably large tank. Unfortunately not possible at the moment but like some of the aspiring Miss Singapores, "I have a dream". Sigh. I did not buy any as I didn't think it was the right thing.

Still, interested to know how visionaries' archerfish did? Also, wondering if acclimatisation/adaptation of say, brackish to fresh, really works? It could be that a slow shift by say, the drip method, reduces the shock of the change. May not mean the fish is comfortable or even healthy. We will survive (with adequate equipment, etc.) in arctic conditions but does not mean we like it. Possibly even die earlier and for many of us, certainly miserable.

[fisherw]

Thanks for the URL to Dr. Monks site. Another fish featured there which I have always dreamt of keeping is the mudskipper. Any idea of where one can buy mudskippers in Singapore? Also has anyone done one of those deep water on one end and "land" on the other type aquarium?

[CK Yeo]

The mudskipper part is a bit off topic.
Anyway, I see them once in a blue moon at places like Aquastar (Yishun).

ck

[fisherw]

Apologies to visionaries for going off-topic.

[gills]

ya.some friend of mine told me before that brackish water fishes can adapt to freshwater overtime.but they generally live shorter la.

as for the one end water one end land type of fish tank i did it before when i was like 8.haha.it was for keeping my tortoises,i also don't really know how i got that idea.it was quite funny at first,but they seemed to like it.after that i went even further,i planted plants on the land part.haha.but after awhile they whithered due to excess water.haha.you can try to do it.i must say that i liked it very much,very enjoyable and interesting.especially when you see your amphibians going in and out of water.real fun.

now that you remind me of it.i feel like doing it again.haha

[gills]

erm sorry.was is like off topic?apologise if it was.sorry.