Aquarium salt?

[Lady Hobbs]

Do you use aquarium salt on a regular basis or just to treat disease?

[jeffs99dime]

i only use salt if i'm running a brackish water tank or for treatments.

[jman]

i only use salt to keep worries down. simply by using it every time i do water changes to only keep the rule of 'tablespoon to gallon' there. Basically on my cichlids

[Lady Hobbs]

Then you use it regularly, right?

[Cichlid_Man]

That is the exact dilemna I am going through. I get a lot of mixed opinions on using salt or not, even for cichlids.

Some say they don't need it because they were farm raised.

Some say constant use of salt will make it non-effective later on if you want to use it for Ich or some disease.

I don't know. I use it on my cichlids too. They seem fine.

[Lady Hobbs]

The issues brings up questions for me as well. For instance, I was reading not long ago that salt can eventually break down the slime coat on fish but then, we certainly can't take heart to everything we read. Articles are written by people and each article reflects what they believe to be true so I still go back and forth on the issue........sometimes using it and sometimes not.

[Cichlid_Man]

Well Hobbs,
I read the same thing about breaking down the slime coat, but those salts are present in the Lakes.

I just don't know the right answer.
I do know that breeders use salts and buffers and they say they need it.

I know I recently posted on the Myth thread that use of salt is a Myth...
I can go either way on it.

The reason why I am still using it that yesterday I did a rather large water change, and then I got called away to a phone call.

The tank went without salt and buffers for 2 hours and my cichlids were scraping all over the place. I added the salt and buffers and they stopped within minutes...so I guess once you have them "on it", they have to stay on it. Maybe if you ween them off slowly? But then why would you want to?
I have read where some use it and their cichlids are 8 years old and breed like rabbits...

[Lady Hobbs]

This is getting interesting now. :) If salt does break down the slime coat as both of us have read, aren't we then causing our fish to become more susceptible to disease without this coating for protection? I have to wonder now. At any rate, the amount we would use for normal use (1 T per 10 gallons) would probably cause no concern but treatment tanks of 1 t. per gallon might be of some concern. Infact, for me, it was a concern. I had my fish in that amount for about an hour and just couldn't take it. I felt that concentration of salt would be harder on them than the medications. But that was just me.

[Cichlid_Man]

I used it on my first cichlids back in May when they got Ich, and they were able to handle it, but the non-cichlids in the tank died, so again, I don't know.

I read that it does break down the slime coat but it is not permanent.

So treating 1tsp/gallon for 10 days is ok as long as you cut it back after treatment.

Truthfully? I have never had any ill effects from quick cure or Super Ich cure.

I luckily have no Ich problems now, but a while back I did. I stick with the meds if I have to. Fish from fresh water don't like salt, period.

[crackatinny]

I have never used salt