Are Mollies Brackish?
- Thread starter goldfish247
- Start date
I agree. AQ salt itself is useless. It's basically NaCl---table salt without the anti-caking ingredients.
I'm not debateing whether it is needed... it's not... but it does lower nitrate toxicity too because that was it's main purpose in the beginning when people believed in not changing the water very often. Nitrites and Ammonia wouldn't build up because bacteria would take care of that- but nitrates would.
Now nitrates arn't as toxic to begin with, so any frequent water change would remove them... but when people were recommending not to do changes very often it was a big deal.
I have never been shown how salt lowesr nitrATE toxicity. Nitrite, sure, as the salt out competes nitrite for gill uptake, thus it keeps the nitrite from oxidizing the hemoglobin which can be fatal to fish.
I don't know how it works- but wanting to make sure I wasn't crazy and imagining things I did a google (I seemed to recall that salt was most essential for the old-style tanks because they did get nitrate build-up due to lack of water changes):
http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/disease-prevention/salt-freshwater-fish.aspx
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/saltusefaqs.htm
Whether it helps with Nitrates or not is a moot point since water changes are plenty efficient at that- and bacteria should change the nitrites... I also couldn't tell you how salt works with nirtates (if it does- it could be one hugely propogated myth- I'm sure I could google "fish grow to tank size" and find lots of experts saying that is true)... but there are lots of references to it online as helping with nitrates.
I'd be interested if anyone could scientifically say that it does or does not detoxify Nitrate. I've read Ammonia too- although googling it just now I was unable to quickly find any expert sources saying it detoxed Ammonia too.
http://www.fishchannel.com/fish-health/disease-prevention/salt-freshwater-fish.aspx
http://www.wetwebmedia.com/FWsubwebindex/saltusefaqs.htm
Whether it helps with Nitrates or not is a moot point since water changes are plenty efficient at that- and bacteria should change the nitrites... I also couldn't tell you how salt works with nirtates (if it does- it could be one hugely propogated myth- I'm sure I could google "fish grow to tank size" and find lots of experts saying that is true)... but there are lots of references to it online as helping with nitrates.
I'd be interested if anyone could scientifically say that it does or does not detoxify Nitrate. I've read Ammonia too- although googling it just now I was unable to quickly find any expert sources saying it detoxed Ammonia too.
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Indeed. Just because various sites say that chloride reduces nitrate toxicity doesn't mean it's true. Given that nitrate toxicity in fish is pretty poorly understood and poorly studied, I doubt there's any evidence to back it up. Observable acute nitrate toxicity (the sort of thing you could readily experiment with salt on) only starts around 200ppm or higher.
Both of those sources are iffy at best IMO. And I agree with Karl, nitrate toxicity is not well understood as it takes a lot of nitrates to even affect most fish.
Salt does, scientifically, lessen the effects of nitrite.
http://www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/aquaculture/pdf/462fs.pdf
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119922422/abstract
From http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VM007
As for ammonia, I have seen it in sources but chemically/biologically I don't know how it would work as No2 and NaCl are directly linked.
Salt does, scientifically, lessen the effects of nitrite.
http://www.aces.edu/dept/fisheries/aquaculture/pdf/462fs.pdf
http://www3.interscience.wiley.com/journal/119922422/abstract
THE USE OF SALT TO PREVENT AND TREAT BROWN BLOOD DISEASE
Freshwater fish, particularly channel catfish, are susceptible to brown blood disease, which is caused by an accumulation of nitrite (N0 2 ) in the water. Although most studies conducted on brown blood disease have used channel catfish as a model, many other freshwater species are also susceptible to the condition. A detailed discussion of nitrite toxicity is provided in a separate IFAS publication. Following is a brief review of the use of salt to prevent and treat brown blood disease.
In freshwater systems, nitrite toxicity is directly related to chloride (Cl - ) concentration, since nitrite (N0 2 - ) and chloride (Cl - ) particles compete for space to cross the gills and enter the bloodstream (see Figure 1 ). As chloride concentration in the water increases, nitrite's ability to enter the bloodstream decreases.
Figure 1 .
The critical component in brown blood disease is the chloride (Cl - ) portion of the salt molecule (NaCl). For this reason, a test to measure chloride concentration (ppm) should be used rather than a test that uses a hydrometer or refractometer to measure salinity.
A minimum chloride concentration of 20 ppm is recommended to prevent nitrite toxicity among channel catfish in ponds. Most ponds are supplied with water containing at least 20 ppm Cl - ; however, salt should be added to ponds containing less than 20 ppm Cl - to increase the chloride concentration to the desired level (see Table 1 ). For each acre-foot of water in the pond (1 surface acre, 1 foot deep = 43,560 ft 3 ), 4.5 pounds of salt adds 1 ppm chloride.
Salt may be used to minimize mortality and facilitate recovery of fish that develop brown blood disease. For every ppm of nitrite present, 6 ppm chloride should be used to control the disease. As described earlier, the producer must determine the required chloride concentration, adding 4.5 pounds of salt per acre-foot of water for each ppm Cl - needed (see Table 2 ).
From http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VM007
As for ammonia, I have seen it in sources but chemically/biologically I don't know how it would work as No2 and NaCl are directly linked.
