Aquarium Salt?

[Rippinlip]

I was at the store today getting some supplies for tank cleaning and began to pick out the fish I would like to get. I noticed that some of them required aquarium salt. My question is if you put aquarium salt in for the fish that need it will hurt the other fish? Thanks in advance.

Buck

P.S...I am sorry for my simplistic questions. I am sure this stuff I am asking is very fundamental but I am a complete newbie.

 

[Mgamer20o0]

there are fish that need salt but not aquarium salt. there are salt water tanks and brackish tanks.

i never add anything my tank unless i am treating something. there is no need to add aquarium salt unless something is wrong.

 

[Blueiz]

Aquarium salt is not needed for freshwater fish. Aquarium salt is NaCl. Its only use in fw water tanks is to treat for diseases, or to help with nitrie toxicity.

Some stores use aquarium salt for brackish water fish. Aquarium salt does NOT make brackish water. Marine salts make brackish water.

If you are looking into purchasing a fish that has the label aquarium salt on it, research the fish before purchasing to see what its requirements are. I would in not way take advice from an LFS or any pet store that sales fish and uses aquarium salt, I honestly don't know that I would purchase fish from them either.

Blue

 

[amosf]

'aquarium salt' is a ripoff anyway. It's just salt - with a 10x price tag.

 

[Blueiz]

'aquarium salt' is a ripoff anyway. It's just salt - with a 10x price tag.

Agreed. I buy ordinary table salt if the need arises.

Blue

 

[Daudzegier]

I'd stay away from most table salts. Most of that stuff is iodinized. I would try either rock salt (witch is what most "aquarium salt" is), or my personal favorite - Kosher Salt. Hey, if its good enough to season your parave food on passover, then its good enough for fish to have anytime. Stick with the kosher salt and you will be fine.

 

[FreakIndeed]

I've seen many pet shops around my area say a fish needs "aquarium salt" when indeed the fish is actually a brackish water fish. To create a brackish environment you would use sea salt not aquarium salt. This is the fault of the pet shops as they need to correctly label the fish. If you could let us know which fish it was that you saw, we could probably tell you if it is brackish or not.

 

[Blueiz]

I'd stay away from most table salts. Most of that stuff is iodinized. I would try either rock salt (witch is what most "aquarium salt" is), or my personal favorite - Kosher Salt. Hey, if its good enough to season your parave food on passover, then its good enough for fish to have anytime. Stick with the kosher salt and you will be fine.

Don't want to take this thread to far off OP's topic, just wanted to note this..

I'd stay away from most table salts. Most of that stuff is iodinized.

Use the uniodized table salt... The miniscual amount of iodine in iodized table salt and in the quantities in which we use it isnt going to harm your fish..

Blue

 

[fishcatch22]

exactly which fish in the store were labeled as needing aquarium salt?

 

[Hereford]

i'll guess this was a PetsMart store. They have this tag on nearly all their tanks. Just why, is anybody's guess. The tags that identify the fish and declare "Needs Aquarium Salt" are the durable plastic kind which suggests that this is a blanket policy across all PetsMart franchises. I often get supplies there and last week bought my first fish (Three Mickey Mouse Platys for a buck each; couldn't resist.) I have them in their own tank for now to ensure that there are no health problems before adding to the community. So far so good. They appear very normal and frisky.