Aquarium Salt and Evaporation mistake

[Tiari]

Do NOT do a large water change to remove the salt. This will, as the salinity has increased slowly over time, shock the fish. It is never advisable to change the salinity of the tank dramatically at one go. To reverse the problem weekly do your regular water change, of 2 /12 gallons, and add no more salt. Within about two to three months you will remove all the salt from your tank. I would not continue to add salt, and only use that as a treatment if the fish are ill with Ich.

[Cliff]

Tiari, daily 50% waterchanges to remove aquarium salt is OK and a fairly common practice when using aquarium salt to treat ick (after the treatment has been completed).

http://www.cichlid-forum.com/articles/ich.php

It's only when you are using marine or rift lake salts in a aquarium that you have to be careful as those salts will also contain other minerals that will effect your pH.

[Tiari]

Forgive me Cliff....... I was told several times even on this forum to not change salinity in a freshwater tank too quickly, especially regarding Ich treatments. Maybe the information I was given was wrong.

[Lady Hobbs]

1 T. salt per 5 gallons of water is a therapeutic dose anyway. As long as you have no Ick, you don't need the salt.

[CrazedMichael]

May i ask why you started to add salt in the first place?

[learis]

I knew this would turn into a salt debate. The answer is yes, I put salt in my tank because my local fish store recommended it. They put salt in all of their tanks. Before when I didn't put salt in I had two fish develop problems that lead to them dying. I haven't had a problem since using salt. And yes, I do trust the people at my local fish store. It's not a chain, and it's been in business for a while and has very knowledgeable people.

I figured out how much salt I overcompensated for by creating a computer program to calculate it. It ended up not being much at all, so I fixed it.