Is putting salt in an aquarium helpful?

I have been heard conflicting stories on this issue. But the one thing I do know, is that most plants hate salt. This alone was enough for me to avoid using salt. (I used some when first cycling my tank, but by now it should all be gone.
 
chris331 said:
i have a pet care manager worse than that so i transfered out of the dept and became the pet products manager... lol... psm has a policy of making non-pet care managers/associates go up through the ranks and throw them into pet care w/o knowing a thing and it really kills us and our reputation. she is leaving (thank god) and i think i'm going to get her job (finally, i was promised that position a year ago before she came in to the store!).
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Off topic, but good management is good management...I would say that you dont have to be a good pet care manager to run a large pet store, but you do have to make sure your people are good, by training and developing them.

I'm a non-professional manager working in a retail business with professionals working for me...I dont need to knwo their job, I do need to coach and guide them on their approaches and behaviours in order that I know they are performing as best they can...thats my job, not theirs...everyone doing their own job in retail is a good starting point
 
nickmcmechan said:
Off topic, but good management is good management...I would say that you dont have to be a good pet care manager to run a large pet store, but you do have to make sure your people are good, by training and developing them.

I'm a non-professional manager working in a retail business with professionals working for me...I dont need to knwo their job, I do need to coach and guide them on their approaches and behaviours in order that I know they are performing as best they can...thats my job, not theirs...everyone doing their own job in retail is a good starting point
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i'm not sure what retail you work in, but in pet care (as a specific department in our stores), its hard to teach someone how to do their job and how to care for the pets if you know nothing about it... how can you mold good associates when you don't even know what the procedures are? its hard to hold someone to their job duties and coach them on what is acceptable when you don't know what they are. and what happens when all your good associates who can do their job leave? you're left with no knowledge of the department... i'm not bashing your philosophy, but being a manager at a pet store who was an associate with both good and bad managers, i have the perspective of having to work with someone who consistently contridicted me when she was wrong every time...

not fun. now the STORE manager can run the store w/o a detailed knowledge of everything if they know about our policies and they are able to train their managers...

but anyways, enough about retail i dealt with it for 10 hours today... lol.:duh:
 
chris331 said:
i'm not sure what retail you work in, but in pet care (as a specific department in our stores), its hard to teach someone how to do their job and how to care for the pets if you know nothing about it... how can you mold good associates when you don't even know what the procedures are? its hard to hold someone to their job duties and coach them on what is acceptable when you don't know what they are. and what happens when all your good associates who can do their job leave? you're left with no knowledge of the department... i'm not bashing your philosophy, but being a manager at a pet store who was an associate with both good and bad managers, i have the perspective of having to work with someone who consistently contridicted me when she was wrong every time...

not fun. now the STORE manager can run the store w/o a detailed knowledge of everything if they know about our policies and they are able to train their managers...

but anyways, enough about retail i dealt with it for 10 hours today... lol.:duh:
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No problem, suppose I waslookig at it from Store Manager level and above...yeah enough about the work, since it is off topic anyway...but you got the point I was making I think...the Store Manager must work with his Managers...wouldn't it be great if you had experts within your department that could do all the training and implementing poilcies for you...would they be your managers of the future?
 
About the salt - I heard it was good for fish so I added some Aquarium Salt (not table salt) to my tank. I didn't notice a difference, as far as the fish, but it completely wiped out my first herd of snails. I actually had to go to the LFS and ASK FOR SNAILS (!) just so my clown loach would eat.

So, if you have a snail problem, either send them to me :dance2: or use aquarium salt.
 
good to know... i was made to believe salt was good for the aquarium as it would reduce the chance of disease and infection...
 
nomadofthehills said:
I don't use salt at home, but at my store we get new fish weekly, thus stressed fish weekly. I find for stressed fish it helps them stay alive longer. The store keeps the tanks at .02% salinty, and when I say losses I mean more dead fish than usual in the tanks, which are all on the same system. Salt is added daily to keep it at .02% because the system (2500gallons) is cleaned via drip system. Nitrates never get above 30-40.

You are correct, there is little alkalinity in our water, and we have trouble buffering it.
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Meh. We've run out of salt and have gone as long as a week without adding salt into the system. Fish loss is no different.
 
beefsteak said:
Meh. We've run out of salt and have gone as long as a week without adding salt into the system. Fish loss is no different.
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salt may be good for the tank if there IS an infection. If there isn't, using salt as a preventative IMO is a bad idea. For instance, plecos. Plecos are fine with salt if used temporarily for curing something. If it is used long term, you will notice this scaleless fish begin to fade in color and eventually die.
 
I have seen the light, and that light is:

salt qualifies as a medication, ie something that eases symptoms (nitrite poisoning) and cures illnesses (great against ich). Short term stuff like introducing into a new aquarium easing stress may help as well. But once again, its a medication. Used only when stressed/sick. I don't go around taking penicillin or amoxicillin all the time to improve my health. In fact, it would damage my liver long term. Apply that analogy to salt.
 
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