Urgent Help, What Salt Do I Use?

Regular iodized table salt will work fine.Use 2 tsp per gallon and bump your heat up to 86 deg f.Continue treatment for 2 weeks after the last sign of ich is seen.

P.S. Do not use the so called "aquarium salt" and especially the water softener salt.
Here is a link to a great article on treating ich....
http://www.aquariacentral.com/forums/showthread.php?t=39759
 
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cyberbeer65 is correct, any readily available NaCl (assuming a good degree of purity) will work.
Saltwater aquarium salt is a mineral mix as is cichlid salt and therefore should not be used.

you want actual Sodium Chloride for this task. I use iodized table salt, non-iodized salt will work as well. Pickiling salt, canning salt, kosher salt etc. are all fine. Freshwater Aquarium salt will work also. I have issues with Freshwater aquarium salt, but don't really have any evidence that there is anything wrong with it so to say it's bad would be mis leading to some extent.

Softener salt will also work if it is in fact NaCl and nothing else. a lot of softener salts are mixes or alternate chemicals these days, And I am not up on which ones are and aren't NaCL.
dave
 
I bought some of the "aquarium salt" a long time ago when I thought I needed it for mollys...It does not say exactly what it is, just that it is made from "evaporated sea salt" doc wellfish. Does this have any use (even if it was un-fish related if you know of one :D ) if it is not the correct type for treating disease? Luckily I haven't needed it, but figure I'll pitch it if its not the right stuff to have on hand anyway....

Sorry for the hijack :D
 
now with loaches are there any precautions that i should of asked before adding salt, one of my striate botia is still breathing but is inactive and on his side, i have already added a 1/4 tsp per gallon for a 10 gallon tank, should i slow down and add more every two hours instead of every hour?
 
now with loaches are there any precautions that i should of asked before adding salt, one of my striate botia is still breathing but is inactive and on his side, i have already added a 1/4 tsp per gallon for a 10 gallon tank, should i slow down and add more every two hours instead of every hour?
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Watch for changes in behavior, when you add a dose, see if there is a reaction. if there is then wait a little extra time before the next dose. if the loaches behavior does not change go ahead and add the next dose. It really is a bad situation when a fish is that sick, and there is never any way to know if the best avenue was traveled.

I bought some of the "aquarium salt" a long time ago when I thought I needed it for mollys...It does not say exactly what it is, just that it is made from "evaporated sea salt" doc wellfish. Does this have any use (even if it was un-fish related if you know of one ) if it is not the correct type for treating disease? Luckily I haven't needed it, but figure I'll pitch it if its not the right stuff to have on hand anyway....
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Essentially I have three issues with"freshwater aquarium salt" To say it isn't useful or that it is bad would be wrong, I just don't promote buying it because:
#1. the instructions on the box reinforce a myth in this hobby and I do not like that on principle

#2. It costs far more than mortons salt at the grocery store, and is arguably (see #3) the same thing

#3. Since it is salt for aquarium use, it is not held to the same standard of testing and reporting that food grade salt is held to. in other words it's probably the same thing as Morton's salt, but we really don't know what is in the box because there is no purity standard or ingrdients listed.

If I owned a box of it I would probably use it for my fish tanks (if needed), until gone and then not buy any more. It does keep forever so it's not like you are out anything but storage space. and if you don't like the idea of keeping or using it, then use it to melt ice the next time you make ice cream.
Dave
 
In the low doses used for treatment, and for the limited time line (I've used salt for up to 8 weeks), most plants will be fine. Delicate plants may be unhappy, but I've never had any problems with most of the more common ones.

However--that tank is likely going to have ongoing problems, simply based on the mixed needs of the occupants. Keeping fish in the extreme range of their tolerance increases the likelihood of problems.
 
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