Aquarium Salt Debate

[kittenpaw]

Salt does actually hinder a lot of parasites' growth. If you have ever looked at microrganisms under the microscope... and then added a drop of dilute salt solution near the edge of the slide... well, you know what salt does to their cell membranes! (I am slightly embarassed to admit that we used to enjoy doing this in 3rd grade G&T class when we used the microscopes to look at pond water) It is the same reason that we add salt (or vinegar or sugar) to the foods that we store (dried or canned). So yes, it is good for fighting parasites because it just makes it a lot more difficult for them to grow (this is what salt baths are for--they literally blow apart the membranes of these cells and kill the microrganisms).

When I used to work in a research lab with my ecology professor as an undergrad, we used salt baths a couple of times when our gupps got a tough case of flukes--if it doesn't kill the fish, it sure kills everything else!

[TheInfamousBalaShark]

There are many illnesses and parasites that are not harmed by salt.
Many are in fact immune to salt.

[kittenpaw]

I certainly didn't claim it killed them all. I said a lot of them.

Which parasites (freshwater) are immune to salt, just out of curiosity?

[TheInfamousBalaShark]

Camallanus worms and all intestinal and internal
parasites are all immune to salt.

[AYeager81]

I have a 30 gal. tank with african cichlids and I am having trouble keeping a high ph level.  What should I do to keep the ph at a safe and consistant level?

[Dad]

I have been salt free for about two years now on my community tank. The biggest change was my ghost shrimp now live past two months.

[Santaaa]

I have found salt to be good for a medication only. Through experience I have now learned that salt causes problems long term at least in bettas it does. I have a betta that has swimbladder disease. He floats he does not sink like I have experienced in the past. So I treated with salt and it made it worse. I found a site that claimed that aquarists misuse salt and that it can cause osmosis problems. I am not sure what that means but the basic idea was that if you use salt for to long as a regular water change it can cause problems. So I removed all salt and gave him freshwater and waited to see what would happen. He looks better so far.  His stress stripes have disappeared. He still floats but maybe in a few days he will be back to normal. I am going to treat him for internal parasites just in case because that is all I have left after the pea trick failed. I have been feeding him live food as he likes blackworms. I think he has internal parasites but the salt made it worse. He looks like he is alive and at least comfortable. I am now recommending against the use of salt in all cases other than for treatment of ick or bacterial disease. I have learned from my mistake and I hope that it is not to late for my betta. If it is to late then hopefully others will learn from my mistake and understand that salt and freshwater fish do not mix long term. Hopefully my betta makes a full recovery, I have ordered another internal parasite medication for him that should arrive soon.  Do your research on what salt long term does to freshwater fish. It appears to be better to avoid long term use. I do see benefits in it when you are treating ick and bacterial diseases. Otherwise don't use it. It may make it worse.

[Cholly]

It depends on fish type as well. Mollies, for example, can actually live long term in seawater, one of the few "freshwater" fish that can, and definitely do benefit from salt in the water. Maybe that's one reason that they're so susceptible to ich in a saltless aquarium.

[Santaaa]

It depends on fish type as well. Mollies, for example, can actually live long term in seawater, one of the few "freshwater" fish that can, and definitely do benefit from salt in the water. Maybe that's one reason that they're so susceptible to ich in a saltless aquarium.

I am just saying longterm for most fish and mollies are brackish. I really don't recommend it if you can avoid it. For brackish fish yeah it is fine. Figure 8 puffers get sold up here as a freshwater puffer but they don't live long in it.