# Adding Salt to Freshwater Aquarium



## fish_luva (Nov 24, 2009)

Hello Everyone, I have newbie question to ask regarding adding salt to Freshwater. I have heard about this on other forums and aquarium related sites.
1. Are there any benefits to adding salt to a freshwater tank?
2. If there are benefits, how much should one add to a tank of 75 Gallons?
3. Is it really a no-no?

I was thinking a small amount of salt helps our skin and such for healing purposes and i'm wondering if it would do the same for freshwater fish in very very small doses....
Thanks for all your tips
sheldon


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## trailblazer295 (Mar 7, 2010)

I've heard of using salt for sick fish but in general I don't think so unless your fish prefer brackish water.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

I use a tiny amount of sodium chloride and magnesium sulfate (epsom salt). About 1/2 tsp/15 gal sodium 1/4 tsp magnesium for all fish.
Your jacks will love it. Plecos will not.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

fish_luva said:


> Hello Everyone, I have newbie question to ask regarding adding salt to Freshwater. I have heard about this on other forums and aquarium related sites.
> 1. Are there any benefits to adding salt to a freshwater tank?
> 2. If there are benefits, how much should one add to a tank of 75 Gallons?
> 3. Is it really a no-no?
> ...


Here is a link you can read about the use or not to use on salt:

http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article5.html

Since you are in Whitby there is place call Real Canadian Wholesale Club at 400 Glen Hill Drive, and they are not too far from you. They sell the Windsor Select extra pure plus 20kg for under $4 but most places will carry it too...these are the same salt you get from BA in 1 kg cartons for $8. These are the best salt to use for aquarium. I use them in my pond with 1% salt in the water...this is good for kois but I don't use any salt in my aquarium...no need to add salt since our water has a very small amount of salt in it already.

BTW, some fishy and most plants are very sensitive to salt


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## fish_luva (Nov 24, 2009)

Thanks for all comments Everyone and to anyone else whom comments on this as its' to hard to write individual thank-you's. If i do i will just send a PM..


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## fish_luva (Nov 24, 2009)

dl88dl said:


> Here is a link you can read about the use or not to use on salt:
> 
> http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article5.html
> 
> ...


Thanks "D" for the link and info. Most appreciated.


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## dl88dl (Mar 8, 2010)

fish_luva said:


> Thanks "D" for the link and info. Most appreciated.


You are welcome ...the reason I add salt to my pond is to reduce the osmotic pressure for my Kois since the koi's internal fluid salinity is about 10ppt to 15ppt and adding 1% salt or 10ppt to my pond will help reduce the pressure which in turn reduce stress.

BTW, once salt is added to the water..it will take many WC to reduce the salt level


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## shark (Jan 28, 2009)

i add salt to my aquarium fish are healthy, generally it is 1table spoon per bucket(5gallons) so 15 table spoons of salt but you don't have to but that much.


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## Chris S (Dec 19, 2007)

dl88dl said:


> You are welcome ...the reason I add salt to my pond is to reduce the osmotic pressure for my Kois since the koi's internal fluid salinity is about 10ppt to 15ppt and adding 1% salt or 10ppt to my pond will help reduce the pressure which in turn reduce stress.
> 
> BTW, once salt is added to the water..it will take many WC to reduce the salt level


This is why many use salt (and temperature) instead of medication. It reduces the osmotic pressure, and can help reduce stress as a result.

That said, I have never regularily added salt to my tanks unless a health issue demanded it.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

shark said:


> i add salt to my aquarium fish are healthy, generally it is 1table spoon per bucket(5gallons) so 15 table spoons of salt but you don't have to but that much.


That's the therapeutic dose. The dose to improve breathing is much much lower.
I'm currently doing a slight experiment that I've never done raising angels with about 1/4 tsp epsom salt/15 gal. It has turned their appetite from voracious to pirhana like. Their poops also come out like little rocket ships. I'm feeding a diet with about 4% fiber total which helps. 
I'm doing daily water changes to grow out and I've gone from quarter size last wednesday to coming up on just under over loonie size yesterday. Should be toonie size by monday or tuesday. I'm also using kent's "Trace" (discus/fw trace) which I find improves vigor and growth rate slightly, as well as color.


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## 1nvad3r (Jan 12, 2010)

just make sure you are using Coarse salt meaning no additives.


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

1nvad3r said:


> just make sure you are using Coarse salt meaning no additives.


It has nothing to do with being coarse or not. Some 'kosher salt' is pure some has yellow prussiate of soda. Check the ingredients. " ".

IE Windsor coarse kosher salt has additives. Aurora fine sea salt does not.


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## fish_luva (Nov 24, 2009)

Well everyone, I did try the salt to see how it would work. I bought a small one from BIGS als ( i know, shame on me..lol) just wanted to try it and wow.... i used less then the required dose with a water change and to be honest.. It scared the hell out of me first, because i noticed that parts of the fishes skin kind of bubbled... then sort of peeled and the fish, since 2 days ago seemed to be doing much better. So i will once in awhile add a wee bit of salt every second water change or so. For those of you who have used it, how do you know if to much is to much or when to stop. so far so good.. thanks to all those that have posted and made comments...


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## AquariAM (Jan 28, 2010)

fish_luva said:


> Well everyone, I did try the salt to see how it would work. I bought a small one from BIGS als ( i know, shame on me..lol) just wanted to try it and wow.... i used less then the required dose with a water change and to be honest.. It scared the hell out of me first, because i noticed that parts of the fishes skin kind of bubbled... then sort of peeled and the fish, since 2 days ago seemed to be doing much better. So i will once in awhile add a wee bit of salt every second water change or so. For those of you who have used it, how do you know if to much is to much or when to stop. so far so good.. thanks to all those that have posted and made comments...


You dont need to use the recomended dose. That's too much.

Every time you do a water change assuming you do them often otherwise the evaporation makes a higher salt concentration, add x amount per gallon. For hardish water stuff (CA, for example) I would use about 1 tsp/5 gal at the most. Every five water changes or so I skip it to account for evaporation.


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