I have some rift lake cichlids, and I have been adding 1 tablespoon of salt per gallon when I do water changes. I am using pure sea salt. Seeing how the rift lakes are slightly brackish and my fish are new and might be stressed I thought this might be a good idea. Is this too much salt, and does anyone else here add salt to their cichlid tanks?
Salt in cichlid tanks
- Thread starter graysilm
- Start date
The rift lakes are actually purely freshwater; I would strongly encourage you to discontinue the salt addition and do a 20% water change.
The only salts appropriate for rift lakes are buffering salt (salt mixes specifically for rift lake cichlids that do not contain NaCl). You can also add baking soda and Epsoms Salt to raise pH and hardness.
What cichlids do you have? Tank size?
The only salts appropriate for rift lakes are buffering salt (salt mixes specifically for rift lake cichlids that do not contain NaCl). You can also add baking soda and Epsoms Salt to raise pH and hardness.
What cichlids do you have? Tank size?
i can't figure it out but they were labled assorted africans and I know they are from Lake Tanganyika. Several sources have told me that this lake tends to be brackish. Here is one of the many.....http://concise.britannica.com/ebc/article-9380218 BTW my tank is 55 gal.
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I have four of them. Two of them are blue and when they get excited they get dark zebra stripes on their sides, and they have downward facing mouths. The other two are yellowish orange, and they have upward facing mouths. Yes I cycled my tank for almost two months. My water parameters are impeccable.
There is a lot of confusion on this issue, mostly created by those trying to market NaCl for freshwater aquariums.
The first issue is to understand the difference between mineral Salts and Sodium Chloride (Table Salt) Mineral Salts are a mixture of natural mineral compounds. Epsom Salt (MGSo4 ) would fall under this category. as Would many others.
Sea Salt, is most likely NaCL just like table salt. Unless you are dealing with a marine mix used to prepare slatwater and brackish water for fish keeping.
The next issue is that Freshwater with salt added doesn't even loosly resemble Brackish water. Brackish and sea water conditions require a lot of different minerals to be correct. Na and CL are present in Brackish and sea water but there is much more than just Na and CL present.
The rift lakes are extremely hard, high Ph, high total dissolved solids. The ratio of Na and CL to other minerals present isn't really that high. Adding salt to a cichlid tank will increase dissolved solids and the fish will not be adversely effected short term, but long term it isn't the best approach. The best approach is to either use a premixed Cichlid mix, or do a little research and create your own mix. The easy approach is use a substrate that will leach what you want into the water. The options are many. depending on what is easiest for you.
As far as sources that claim the need for Salt (NaCl) there are plenty of myths and plenty of stories that really don't hold up to scrutiny. Search the web for a mineral profile of the rift lakes, and you'll see that they are not brackish, nor is the Na and CL content nearly as high as most people think. With the mineral profiles at heand, it is easy to see what you should and shouldn't add to your tanks.
Dave
The first issue is to understand the difference between mineral Salts and Sodium Chloride (Table Salt) Mineral Salts are a mixture of natural mineral compounds. Epsom Salt (MGSo4 ) would fall under this category. as Would many others.
Sea Salt, is most likely NaCL just like table salt. Unless you are dealing with a marine mix used to prepare slatwater and brackish water for fish keeping.
The next issue is that Freshwater with salt added doesn't even loosly resemble Brackish water. Brackish and sea water conditions require a lot of different minerals to be correct. Na and CL are present in Brackish and sea water but there is much more than just Na and CL present.
The rift lakes are extremely hard, high Ph, high total dissolved solids. The ratio of Na and CL to other minerals present isn't really that high. Adding salt to a cichlid tank will increase dissolved solids and the fish will not be adversely effected short term, but long term it isn't the best approach. The best approach is to either use a premixed Cichlid mix, or do a little research and create your own mix. The easy approach is use a substrate that will leach what you want into the water. The options are many. depending on what is easiest for you.
As far as sources that claim the need for Salt (NaCl) there are plenty of myths and plenty of stories that really don't hold up to scrutiny. Search the web for a mineral profile of the rift lakes, and you'll see that they are not brackish, nor is the Na and CL content nearly as high as most people think. With the mineral profiles at heand, it is easy to see what you should and shouldn't add to your tanks.
Dave
the fish you have purchased are from Lake Malawi, not Lake Tanganyika. Lake Malawi has a significantly lower concentration of dissolved solids compared with Lake Tanganyika. Sodium (10-13 mg/L), calcium (5-15 mg/L), magnesium (1.5-8mg/L), chloride (4-7mg/L), sulfate (2.3mg/L) and carbonate-bicarbonate hardness of 25-1.5 meq/L. pH 7.7-8.8
there is a high concentration of dissolved solids in Lake Tanganyika that are not found in the other two lakes and thus, this lake has a very high electrical conductivity. elemental analyses will show Sodium (57-64), calcium (9.2-17.6), magnesium (39-43), chloride (29-37), sulfate (7-15), and a carbonate, bicarbonate hardness of 6.0-6.8. pH ranges from 8.7-9.0 and has a much higher amount of metallic cations that contribute to general hardness.
"brackish" is a term most often reserved for those waters which are essentially dilute sea water. marine conditions differ significantly from "hard" and "alkaline" water typically associated with the African Rift lakes.
the "salts" associated with marine environments include: Chloride, Cl 19,500
Sodium, Na 10,770 Magnesium, Mg 1,290 Sulphur, S 905 Calcium, Ca 412 Potassium, K 380 Bromine, Br 67 Carbon, C 28 Nitrogen, N 11.5 Strontium, Sr 8 Oxygen, O 6 Boron, B 4.4 Silicon, Si 2 Fluorine, F 1.3 Argon, Ar 0.43 Lithium, Li 0.18 Rubidium, Rb 0.12 Phosphorus, P 0.06 Iodine, I 0.06 Barium, Ba 0.02 Molybdenium, Mo 0.01 Arsenic, As 0.0037 Uranium, U 0.0032 Vanadium, V 0.0025 Titanium, Ti 0.001 Zinc, Zn 0.0005 Nickel, Ni 0.00048 Aluminium, Al 0.0004 Cesium, Cs 0.0004 Chromium, Cr 0.0003 Antimony, Sb 0.00024 Krypton, Kr 0.0002 Selenium, Se 0.0002, Neon 0.00012
Manganese, Mn 0.0001 Cadmium, Cd 0.0001 Copper, Cu 0.0001 Tungsten, W 0.0001 Iron, Fe 0.000055 Xenon, Xe 0.00005 Zirconium, Zr 0.00003 Bismuth, Bi 0.00002 Niobium, Nb 0.00001 Thallium, Tl 0.00001 Thorium, Th 0.00001 Hafnium, Hf 7 x 10-6 Helium, He 6.8 x 10-6 Beryllium,Be5.6 x 10-6 Germanium, Ge 5 x 10-6 Gold, Au 4 x 10-6 Rhenium, Re 4 x 10-6 Cobalt, Co 3 x 10-6 Lanthanum, La 3 x 10-6 Neodymium, Nd 3 x 10-6 Lead, Pb 2 x 10-6 Silver, Ag 2 x 10-6 Tantalum, Ta2 x 10-6 Gallium, Ga 2 x 10-6 Yttrium, Y 1.3 x 10-6 Mercury, Hg 1 x 10-6 Cerium, Ce 1 x 10-6 Dysprosium, Dy 9 x 10-7 Erbium, Er 8 x 10-7 Ytterbium, Yb 8 x 10-7 Gadolinium, Gd 7 x 10-7 Praseodymium, Pr 6 x 10-7 Scandium, Sc 6 x 10-7 Tin, Sn 6 x 10-7 Holmium, Ho 2 x 10-7 Lutetium, Lu 2 x 10-7 Thulium, Tm 2 x 10-7 Indium, In 1 x 10-7 Trebium, Tb 1 x 10-7 Palladium, Pd 5 x 10-8 Samarium, Sm 5 x 10-8 Tellurium, Te 1 x 10-8 Europium, Eu 1 x 10-8 Radium, Ra 7 x 10-11 Protactinium, Pa 5 x 10-11 Radon, Rn 6 x 10-16
there is a high concentration of dissolved solids in Lake Tanganyika that are not found in the other two lakes and thus, this lake has a very high electrical conductivity. elemental analyses will show Sodium (57-64), calcium (9.2-17.6), magnesium (39-43), chloride (29-37), sulfate (7-15), and a carbonate, bicarbonate hardness of 6.0-6.8. pH ranges from 8.7-9.0 and has a much higher amount of metallic cations that contribute to general hardness.
"brackish" is a term most often reserved for those waters which are essentially dilute sea water. marine conditions differ significantly from "hard" and "alkaline" water typically associated with the African Rift lakes.
the "salts" associated with marine environments include: Chloride, Cl 19,500
Sodium, Na 10,770 Magnesium, Mg 1,290 Sulphur, S 905 Calcium, Ca 412 Potassium, K 380 Bromine, Br 67 Carbon, C 28 Nitrogen, N 11.5 Strontium, Sr 8 Oxygen, O 6 Boron, B 4.4 Silicon, Si 2 Fluorine, F 1.3 Argon, Ar 0.43 Lithium, Li 0.18 Rubidium, Rb 0.12 Phosphorus, P 0.06 Iodine, I 0.06 Barium, Ba 0.02 Molybdenium, Mo 0.01 Arsenic, As 0.0037 Uranium, U 0.0032 Vanadium, V 0.0025 Titanium, Ti 0.001 Zinc, Zn 0.0005 Nickel, Ni 0.00048 Aluminium, Al 0.0004 Cesium, Cs 0.0004 Chromium, Cr 0.0003 Antimony, Sb 0.00024 Krypton, Kr 0.0002 Selenium, Se 0.0002, Neon 0.00012
Manganese, Mn 0.0001 Cadmium, Cd 0.0001 Copper, Cu 0.0001 Tungsten, W 0.0001 Iron, Fe 0.000055 Xenon, Xe 0.00005 Zirconium, Zr 0.00003 Bismuth, Bi 0.00002 Niobium, Nb 0.00001 Thallium, Tl 0.00001 Thorium, Th 0.00001 Hafnium, Hf 7 x 10-6 Helium, He 6.8 x 10-6 Beryllium,Be5.6 x 10-6 Germanium, Ge 5 x 10-6 Gold, Au 4 x 10-6 Rhenium, Re 4 x 10-6 Cobalt, Co 3 x 10-6 Lanthanum, La 3 x 10-6 Neodymium, Nd 3 x 10-6 Lead, Pb 2 x 10-6 Silver, Ag 2 x 10-6 Tantalum, Ta2 x 10-6 Gallium, Ga 2 x 10-6 Yttrium, Y 1.3 x 10-6 Mercury, Hg 1 x 10-6 Cerium, Ce 1 x 10-6 Dysprosium, Dy 9 x 10-7 Erbium, Er 8 x 10-7 Ytterbium, Yb 8 x 10-7 Gadolinium, Gd 7 x 10-7 Praseodymium, Pr 6 x 10-7 Scandium, Sc 6 x 10-7 Tin, Sn 6 x 10-7 Holmium, Ho 2 x 10-7 Lutetium, Lu 2 x 10-7 Thulium, Tm 2 x 10-7 Indium, In 1 x 10-7 Trebium, Tb 1 x 10-7 Palladium, Pd 5 x 10-8 Samarium, Sm 5 x 10-8 Tellurium, Te 1 x 10-8 Europium, Eu 1 x 10-8 Radium, Ra 7 x 10-11 Protactinium, Pa 5 x 10-11 Radon, Rn 6 x 10-16
Great posts daveedka and liv2padl :clap:
As for what your fish are graysilm, 90% of the time the cichlids in those 'assorted african' tanks are malawi mbuna. Sometimes you'll get a tang (if your lucky) and a victorian 'hap'. They sound VERY malawi (blue w/ stripes and yellow coloration).
Salt (epsom) can be added to your tank to medicate a parasite such as ich, and/or if you see your fish scratching on the rocks a lot, which is an indicator something is bugging them. If your fish are fine, then I would gradually stop adding salt and just focus on buffering the hardness and pH of your water.
-Diana
As for what your fish are graysilm, 90% of the time the cichlids in those 'assorted african' tanks are malawi mbuna. Sometimes you'll get a tang (if your lucky) and a victorian 'hap'. They sound VERY malawi (blue w/ stripes and yellow coloration).
Salt (epsom) can be added to your tank to medicate a parasite such as ich, and/or if you see your fish scratching on the rocks a lot, which is an indicator something is bugging them. If your fish are fine, then I would gradually stop adding salt and just focus on buffering the hardness and pH of your water.
-Diana
the powers of deduction. you said you had 4 "assorted" Rift Lake cichlids. you said that 2 were blue with darker stripes and 2 were yellow.
(a) Tanganyikan cichlids are almost NEVER sold as "assorted" ... they're far too expensive. (b) Tanganyikan cichlids don't come in blue with darker stripes. (c) Lamprologus leleupi is a 'yellow' Tanganyikan cichlid but i'll bet you a tank of fish you didn't find these in a tank of "assorted" African cichlids.
depending on your tap water chemistry, the addition of Rift Lake salts would be a reasonable approach to duplicating the mineral salt environment of Lake
Malawi. I use Seachem Cichlid Lake Salt.
Edenton, NC ... near the NE coast.
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