Use Of Table Salt!

"Aquarium salt" is a totally undefined material, so I never under any circumstance suggest that it be used. Is it sea salt? Ground rock salt? Does it have any quality control at all? Is it marine mix? Highly purified lab grade sodium chloride? Does it specify that it does not have the anti-caking agents of ordinary table salt? The answer to the last three questions is a resounding No! The answers to the first three are undefined by the packagers of the material.

I would be very interested in seeing any confirmed results where ordinary table salt killed FW fish or inverts.

Salt water or brackish water cannot be prepared with any plain salt. A solution of plain salt is salted water and no more. SW and BW require marine mix.

http://www.thepufferforum.com/articles/water/salt.html

There are a number of 'table salts' that are perfectly acceptable for use in treating fish. The myth that any of the common ingredients, from anti-caking additives to iodine are lethal to fish is ridiculous, and just that--a myth.

I used regular morton's iodized table salt on two occasions to treat an outbreak of ich,and had exellent results.

yellow prussiate of soda is also known as "sodium ferrocyanide" and releases deadly Hydrogen cyanide gas when exposed to sunlight.

Click to expand...

In what quantities and in what exposures. We eat it, even at a picnic in the sun. I have used table salt on plenty of occasions in my tanks without issue, as have many folks here. My research all concurrs with the information RTR posted above, and I have researched it extensively. Theories used to support the sale of overpriced products do not count in the scientific world, and I (like RTR) have yet to hear of one legitimate case of a problem with the use of table salt vs "aquarium salt" you can spend your money any way you wish, but given the total picture there is no logical reason to pay for freshwater aquarium salt. Additionally, someone would have to show me that it doesn't contain the same anti-caking agents as well. If you can find an accurate chemical analysis of Freshwater aquarium salt, please share it with the rest of us.
Dave

Hmmm...Do you drive? Because I'm willing to bet that you do, and yet there are hundreds of reliable studies indicating that climbing into a vehicle and diving into traffic is one of the highest risk activities you can engage in. Yet most of us do so every day.

Not using table salt because some vague, unsubstantiated rumor that makes no sense on a scientific level tells me horror stories? Doesn't even count as a risk in my book. If you CHOOSE to use aquarium salt instead of table salt, great. Your choice. You believe the sources you list, and that's also your choice. But please, do not encourage others to listen to the myths in this hobby.

I just read every link you posted. Several of them do reccomend table salt, several others are so rampant with myths that they should not be taken as serious information at all, the last one states that prudence may suggest we avoid iodinized salt and yellow prussiate of soda, however it also states that many people use it without problem.

I think every single link referenced long term use which is unnecessary, and harmful to freshwater fish. Additionally many of the links were talking about salt dips for treatment of external parasites. This is certainly outside of the realm that we generally discuss here on the boards. Salt dips can be effective for unprotected external parasites, but unprotected External parasites are not highly common in the freshwater indoor aquarium hobby.


All in all every link had small bits of partially true information wrapped in huge amounts of speculation myth and hearsay. I have not further researched the sources for credibility, but I would be highly skeptical of most of them from what I read on those links.

There is far more mis-information in this hobby than good information. It can be difficult to sort and understand at times, but there is also plenty of accurate info out there.

The bottom line is salt should never be used long term for freshwater fish, and short term in dosages needed, table salt is fine.
dave

Well, I really don't care what anybody says about table salt, I've used it to treat ich before and have never had any adverse effects to my fish. Experience is the best teacher! Unless you can give me an example of someone useing table salt and it hurting there fish, then I say it's fine.

Interesting article here, with quotes attributed to someone we all know:

http://www.skepticalaquarist.com/docs/health/salt.shtml

Hrm
Roan