WILL ADDING AQUARIUM SALT HARM LIVE PLANTS ?

[bert]

I have a good question, My 100 Gallon F/W tank has been in use for 17 years. It has been set up here in Nevada for the last 4 years. I have always had great success with this tank. (MAGNUM 350- POWERHEAD WITH SPONGE FILTER submerged ) I decided to start adding some guppies to my tank so the wife and i could watch the babies grow. I bought 12 at a time from a Reno dealer and lost most of those within a week, purchased 12 more here in Carson city fiquring the water chemisty is is a match . lost those within 2 weeks except for 2 of them. I aclimate my fish at least an hour and water is pristine. My heater is unplugged due to high outside temps. and no A/C in the house. I have never had fish loss like this EVER :wall: My other fish were just fine ( tetras, loaches, 4 OLD tiger barbs, corys, 2Blood parrot fish ( very peaceful even at night): Small chocolate albino pleco. headbang2: I went to my fish dealer here and found out that their Guppie tags on the tanks say needs aquarium salt. I found out that ALL of their tanks Have added salt to them, so i am thinking that this is why the guppys died off. ( no evidence of bullying ) OK, here is my question-
AQUARIUM SALT, I have never used it but i am told it is very benificial in a freshwater tank at an amount of- 1 teaspoon for each 5 Gallons of water, TRUE OR FALSE ?
Will this aquarium salt ( top fin conditioning salt for F/W aquariums ) be ok for all of my fish ?
will it be OK for my live plants ? ( 4 amazon swords & 2 onion plants. I want to make sure this added salt doesn't cause unwanted problems with my fish OR live plants.:eek3: I would like to get some more guppies and let them have lots of babies. I really appreciate all the help.

 

[Hurley]

I have kept guppies and many other fish without the use of aquarium salt so I don't really think its necessary for a fresh water tank. The only exception I might make is if you have mollies. I would suspect that the change from a salted tank at the fish store to a non salted tank at home would have played a large role in the loss of your guppies. I would try a drip acclimation to help them adjust to the new water better.

However, in general, I don't think the salt would harm your plants. Swords and onion plants are fairly hardy plants. I have done full salt ich treatments with no negative side effects to my plants. It is a different type of salt but still a salt.

Hope that helps!

 

[jpappy789]

I wouldn't use any aquarium salt unless treating for ich. It isn't beneficial.

My guess is that places like petsmart and petco recommend adding salt to get people to buy more of their stuff...

 

[jonnyfry]

false , and it isnt good for plants either . some will melt .

 

[bert]

Thanks for the tips ! thats where i got the guppies petsmart:thud: :thud:

 

[silentskream]

false , and it isnt good for plants either . some will melt .

lol. i've never heard someone call it melting.. but fair enough.

you dont need salt in your tank..
how do you do your acclimation? i know you said you do it for an hour, but what are the steps.. that may help us figure out whats going wrong.

 

[bert]

I float the fish in the bag for at least 30 minutes at which time i open the bag and add a small amount of my tanks water, close the bag wait 20 minutes or so and add a little more tank water until i have a 50/50 mix wait another 20 minutes. gently empty fish into a net from the bag, discarding water in the bag, float net in tank to observe fish then let them swim out of the net and observe them the rest of the evening keeping track of each one, watching where they go and watch the other fish to see how they are reacting to each other. I did notice when i added the 5 amazon swords and 2 onion plants, ALL of the fish in the tank seem more confident in the real plants VS. the plastic amazon swords i had in there.

 

[jm1212]

it sounds like you have acclimation down.

how warm is your tank?

what are your water parameters?

how often do you do water changes?

 

[jonnyfry]

lol. i've never heard someone call it melting.. but fair enough.

common term , re:crypt melt .

 

[jennfier]

Why not use a quarantine tank for a few weeks and give them some salt there, let it drop down to no salt over time, before putting them in the main tank. It's not a bad idea anyway to use QT since a lot of fish from pet stores are unhealthy.