fishbones

I have had tanks for over 25 years and have never added salt to any of them. I now have a 75 gallon tank with African Cichlids in it and it has been set up for one month and fish in it for a week and all is well. The question is can I add salt now and not harm the fish. I have been told it is good fore their slim coat, is this true?

Jay

Hey fishbones! Welcome to the forum

There is a good article on salt in the article section of the forum.

IMO, if by adding salt, you mean matching the mineral salts which make up the GH of the natural habitat of a particular species then by all means do it.

IMO If by adding salt you mean "Aquarium Salt" which is NaCl (table salt) I see no need to do it.

Table Salt (NaCl) is helpful (short term) in beating up on ICH

Folks seem throw the word "salt" around without putting it into the proper context of what we are talking about.

The Combination of Mineral Salts that is Saltwater.
The Combination of Mineral Salts that is present in freshwater.
Table Salt.
Etc.

Regards,
Jay

BJP

If you're talking about trying to use cichlid salts you can make your own mixing plain sodium chloride with epsom salt for the magnesium 50/50.

I don't have any real preference myself but the DIY formula was given to me by a trusted friend, Tom Griffin that a few members may know or have heard of.

The sodium chloride part stimulates the slime coat causing it to thicken which is their natural defense, kills some diseases and parasites including ick in the tomite stage, aids in respiration, helps relieve sysmptoms of nitrite toxicity which should only really be an issue at the beginning if you didn't take time to fishless cycle the tank and slows the rate water trys to enter the cells by reducing the osmotic difference between the water and the cells resulting in less energy being used by the fish to maintain that balance which should translate into more energy for growth, reproduction and disease recovery.

The magnesium part from the Epsom salt I'm not as familiar with but I've read stuff like it aids in digestion and preventing common problems with africans like protien bloat and egg binding.

I don't know of any direct harm from the addition of small quantities of either predissolved and added short term or long term but I also know plenty of people who do without except for during medical treatments. Some of the inclusions from salts do have some reports of problems or at least cause hesitation or avoidance of those types including arsenic used as an anticaking agent. If at all possible skip any salts that use arsenic. The EPA recently reduced the acceptible levels of arsenic from 50ppb down to 10ppb I believe. It can accumulate in the tissues over time leading to health issues so I wouldn't use it as a permanent addition but even the amount as a caking agent shouldn't be high enough to be of concern for a short term medical regimine.

Iodine leads to an increase in goiter problems in the short term in populations not expossed to it regularly. Even in humans that tends to dimminish back to normal rates after as little as a dozen years or so. I don't have the ability to identify goiter problems in my fish so I doubt there will ever be any evidence to say not use it based on the iodine and I wouldn't run to the store to search for alternatives for emergencies that require short term exposure like ick outbreaks when I have table salt in the kitchen already.

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Couperdecar

I've had koi for about 10 years, and yes salt is a wonderfull thing. BUT please do not use table salt from the kitchen ! You're right. The table salt we have in the kitchen has IODINE. Great for humans - BAD for fish! The salt you're looking for is Pickling Salt. It's no more expensive than regular salt has no iodine, and has no preservitives and we can buy it right at the grocery store. No special trip . Its really good Stuff.
BTW - good post BJP

Jay

IMO and IME the amount of trace iodine in some table salt is so small that it is no problem to fish and in this day and time of dubious use for humans.

IMO and IME NaCl should only be used for an Ich infestation or Nitrite spike emergency, short term, targeted use.

The use of the word salt is thrown about willy nilly in this hobby. In a species specific tank (cichlids), you are really talking about adjusting the GH and all the trace minerals, electrolytes, and salts (like magnesium) that are necessary for that species. This is a world apart from dosing NaCl.

Regards,
Jay