Half my fish are dead.
- Thread starter Ilikewhatisee
- Start date
no, you should just not use it ALL THE TIME. that is a waste of money and harmful because it breeds salt-resistant diseases and parasites. salt is great for short-term treatments for things like ich, and as a way to temporarily help fish deal with stress (it makes osmoregulation easier by bringing external salinity closer to internal body salinity). I don't buy "aquarium salt" because it's just NaCl, table salt. I use table salt also because it dissolves easier, due to the smaller grains.
Thanks for the salt advice. I was actually using the aquarium salt to help the fish deal with rather high Nitrate/Nitrite levels before my tank balanced out but was planning on continuing until I read your post here. While i was at Petsmart today I saw some 16 year old pushing Aquarium Salt on some unsuspecting woman and her daughter. Wish I read your post earlier, LOL.
don't worry about it. I bought a box of Doc Wellfish's aquarium salt, too. I kept it for years, thinking it contained some magical substance that made it better for fish. But folks on this forum assured me that it was just expensive rock salt. Ahh, the wonders of marketing 
*UPDATE*
After two 50% and one 65% water change and the removal of all my plants and rocks for a thorough scrubbing/boiling as well as an in tank cleaning of the gravel the following fish are still alive and seem to be doing really well and my levels are fine so far.
1 Zebra Danio
1 Blue Lobster
1 Albino Bichir
3 Gourami
I'll be keeping a close eye on the levels since I'm sure I killed most if not all the bacteria.
I didn't use the new aquarium since the fish remaining seemed to be doing so well. My daughter has taken it over for her own aquarium. Yay, more weekly water changes for me!!! :clap:
I do have a new addition I was given. Featherfin Catfish. Took a chance and added him today and he is loving it.
Thanks again, you guys are great.
Paul
After two 50% and one 65% water change and the removal of all my plants and rocks for a thorough scrubbing/boiling as well as an in tank cleaning of the gravel the following fish are still alive and seem to be doing really well and my levels are fine so far.
1 Zebra Danio
1 Blue Lobster
1 Albino Bichir
3 Gourami
I'll be keeping a close eye on the levels since I'm sure I killed most if not all the bacteria.
I didn't use the new aquarium since the fish remaining seemed to be doing so well. My daughter has taken it over for her own aquarium. Yay, more weekly water changes for me!!! :clap:
I do have a new addition I was given. Featherfin Catfish. Took a chance and added him today and he is loving it.
Thanks again, you guys are great.
Paul
So glad things are better for you!
Just a thought, how big is your blue Lobster? I know those guys frequently snack on smaller fish in the tank with them. Most of the suggestions I've read on these, say to only keep them in tanks with larger fish such as cichlids because they will eat anything they can catch. Any chance he might have been a contributing factor in any of the deaths?
Just a thought, how big is your blue Lobster? I know those guys frequently snack on smaller fish in the tank with them. Most of the suggestions I've read on these, say to only keep them in tanks with larger fish such as cichlids because they will eat anything they can catch. Any chance he might have been a contributing factor in any of the deaths?
Tank (that's our Blue Lobsters name) is about 5 inches and was a consideration but the only time we have ever seen him aggressive in any way is when we drop in a frozen Blood Worm cube. Even then only with the Albino Bichir. The Bichir NEVER sees him comming so he'll get a fin nip or on rare occassions a he'd bat him away with his claw just to let him know he eats first.
Although he did like to play basketball with the Apple Snails. He'd pick em up, spin them around in his claws then toss 'em about 6-7 inches away.
I do believe he may be the reason I never found 4 of the fish even during cleaning but I'm sure anything he did to them was after they were recently deceased. When the Gold Algae Eater was near the end Tank would just walk over him without ever batting a claw.
Although he did like to play basketball with the Apple Snails. He'd pick em up, spin them around in his claws then toss 'em about 6-7 inches away.
I do believe he may be the reason I never found 4 of the fish even during cleaning but I'm sure anything he did to them was after they were recently deceased. When the Gold Algae Eater was near the end Tank would just walk over him without ever batting a claw.
