# Epsom salt



## J-Ye (Mar 15, 2009)

have anyone heard or used epsom salt? I believe its the same as magnesium sulfate and its suppose to cure bloating. reciently one of my angelfish's belly is bloated. mouth is always opened and a loss of appitite. i heard dosing with epsom salt could help. i am wondering if anyone has experience using this.


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## Mr Fishies (Sep 21, 2007)

J-Ye said:


> have anyone heard or used epsom salt? I believe its the same as magnesium sulfate and its suppose to cure bloating. reciently one of my angelfish's belly is bloated. mouth is always opened and a loss of appitite. i heard dosing with epsom salt could help. i am wondering if anyone has experience using this.


Yes, this is true. The dose I've seen often is 2 tablespoons per 10 gallons. You can find it in most pharmacies for a few dollars a pound or more if I recall correctly. It's a diuretic and supposed to be nice used in bathwater too...according to Shopper's Drug Mart...maybe it helps with human bloating too?!


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## UnderTheSea (Jun 2, 2008)

I've been using it for years now in my SW tank.

Here is a video on a 2-Part which includes using DowFlake for Calcium, baking soda for alkanity and Epson Salts for Magnesium (yes it's actually a 3-part, but it's commonly called 2-part).

I realize you are talking specific about FW, epson salts are ok to use in FW and SW.


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## shark (Jan 28, 2009)

yep it is truee i have been using it as well


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## J-Ye (Mar 15, 2009)

i just dosed the tank. im wondering how frequent should i do w/c? and at what percentage?


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## shark (Jan 28, 2009)

i add it every time i do water changes to my tank. I usually do 1 tbs for every 5 gallon bucket of water.


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## J-Ye (Mar 15, 2009)

wait so epsom salt can be used on regular bases? i thought it was for medical purposes only.


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## Ciddian (Mar 15, 2006)

I only used it for medical issues for FW. Chris would know better for SW. I had to use it when I had dropsy issues with betta. 

Throwing it in the bath after a hard day is awesome!


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## shark (Jan 28, 2009)

J-Ye said:


> wait so epsom salt can be used on regular bases? i thought it was for medical purposes only.


i forgot to add i used it when my angelfish had a major out rage of ick. Remember aquarium salt for everyday use and epsom salt for medical use...


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## J-Ye (Mar 15, 2009)

after i dosed the tank(1tsb/10g), till now there is still no improvements. i heard salt baths might work. what salt/water ratio shoulld i use for that? how long do i leave the fish in it? how frequent should i conduct this? will i see reults immediately? or should i just just increase my tank concentration to 1tsb/5g?


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## shark (Jan 28, 2009)

ok when i used it i tried everything with my angelfish to get rid of the ick and nothing was working so i tried the 1 tbs per 5gal first and incresed my temperature high like around 82.


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## J-Ye (Mar 15, 2009)

well i dropped him in a bath of 1.5tbs/5L for 10 mins. he was swimming recklessly then stopped. Now i increased my dosage to 1tbs/5g. current temp is 86. also i put 2 cap full of Pimafix from API daily in the tank for 3 days now. its suppose to help with internal and external bacterial infections. wish me luck


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## shark (Jan 28, 2009)

good luck , it should work cuz i used it with my angelfish and your using it with a angelfish too.


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## J-Ye (Mar 15, 2009)

male freshwater angelfish about 9 months old 6 inches with fins 3 without.


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## shark (Jan 28, 2009)

ok when you done giving him epsom salt put him in a quarantine tank and he should be fine hopefully^^ if you have any plants add some in that hospital tank and make sure the air pumps running good and good filtered water and continue to keep that temp at 86 and he should just be fine


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## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

if he is just bloated, have you tried feeding him some partly cooked and peeled peas?


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## J-Ye (Mar 15, 2009)

i tried defrosted and peeled peas and cooked lettice. hes not showing any interested in it. ice fed him very limited amount of blood worms and flakes and he responds so it. should i just soak the food in epsom salt and feed it to him? Ill give cooked peas a try tonight.


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## bluekrissyspikes (Apr 16, 2009)

no, don't put salt on his food just in the water. somepeople use garlic or onion to attract their fish to eat when they aren't eating well. i haven't tried it. i just know that if they are having stomach or swim bladder issues sometimes getting them to eat peas helps. i smoosh my angelfish's peas a bit before giving it to him and give him a pretty small peice at a time, otherwise it ends up sinking before he figures out it's food


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## moon (Mar 11, 2006)

If Epsom salts did not work, then it could be a bacterial infection. Treat with a gram negative antibiotic like Kanamycin or Maracyn.


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## J-Ye (Mar 15, 2009)

moon said:


> If Epsom salts did not work, then it could be a bacterial infection. Treat with a gram negative antibiotic like Kanamycin or Maracyn.


ok just did some research. i couldnt find much about Kanamycin. as for the gram-negative antibiotic, i should use Marazycn 2 right? from what i found Maracyn is gram-positive. any idea where i can get these?


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## moon (Mar 11, 2006)

You can get Mrarcyn at any of the LFS.


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