The guy at my LFS said to put table salt in my tank.

Electrolytes, eh? Sounds like an advertisement for gatorade.

I'm a fence sitter on this point until I learn more.
 
I've been treating an outbreak of mouth fungus with an increased weater temp (about 83 degrees F) and doses of sea salt (about 1 tsp/gallon during water changes every day). once I am sure the fungus is gone I'll be stopping the salt treatment.
 
aquarob said:
During periods of disease and stress, healthy gill function is disturbed. This can lead to the loss of electrolytes through the gills, called osmotic shock.
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What is wrong with our tanks that the fish are diseased and stressed at all times? Many of the advocates for salt here suguest only using it when it is needed. To put it in perspective, you dont take asprin every day to prevent headaches.
 
aquarob - Pardon my french, but horsefeathers. Fish do a fine job of regulating their internal osmolarity without supplemental external minerals dissolved in the water. Amazonian blackwater, by that quote you posted* would not be healty for fish, but is one of the most species-rich and fish-rich areas of the globe, as are the Rift lakes at the other extreme of osmolarity. Pure unadulteraed myth.

Osmotic shock occurs when a hobbyist changes the osmotic strenght of the water of the water in which fish are kept too rapidly or suddenly such as by adding salt, bicarb, etc. in too great a quantity too quickly. It is a condition of poor tank operation, not of the wild.

BTW, chlorides are anions (negative charged, Cl-) , not transported by the same processes as potassium (K+), calcium (Ca++), magnesium (Mg++), all cations (positively charged).

*when material is quoted from another site, it is proper to cite the reference, and potentially illegal and certainly improper not to cite the originating site and author.
 
aquarob said:
:mad: Roan, you know what? ....nevermind. Here.
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Well, c'mon, AquaRob, you can't cite advertising speil off a box of aquarium salt to prove a point.

They'll put anything they want on there to get you to buy it.

I've read your posts. You're MUCH smarter than that.

Roan
 
Rosemary said:
Table salt is not pure sodium chloride. My package of table salt lists calcium silicate, invert sugar, and potassium iodide on the label as well.

As others have said, save the aquarium salt for if your fish need it.
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Should I use table salt to treat ich? Or is it safer to use Ich Guard???
 
Could have sworn I typed a huge response to your question, Mrs. Burns.

Dunno where it went.

Anyhow, Peanutsweet is correct. Don't use Jungle Ich Guard it contains malachite green and can be toxic to barbs, tetras, gouramis, scaleless fishes and combined with heat, even more toxic.

Table salt is FINE. I have no idea what kind of salt Rosemary is using that has inverted sugar (??) in it (President's Choice Gourmet salt ;) ), but all those other ingredients are fine.

If you feel you *must* use a med, then look into Kordon's Rid Ich:

I love Kordon because they are the only company that I am aware of that publishes ALL their data on the web for people to read. You know exactly *what* you are putting in your tank and what the toxicities are, if any. Here is their Product Data Sheet on Rid Ich+:

http://www.novalek.com/kpd38.htm

Roan
 
I found your response Roan Art. Sorry I guess I am really worried about my fish. I've started following the steps in the article someone gave me on ridding ich with salt. Salt seems to be the best for my fish. I don't want to use any meds in my tank. Hopefully it will work! I can't thank you enough!
 
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