Using Salt
Salt, when used in moderation in a freshwater aquarium, can be beneficial. Salt is particularly effective in treating parasitic infestations. The salt reduces stress by improving gill function and reducing osmotic pressure. It also aides in the healing of wounds, promotes a healthy slime coating, compromises parasites' viability, and reduces the fish's uptake of toxic chemicals such as Nitrite.
Freshwater fish maintain a natural balance of electrolytes such as potassium, sodium, chloride, calcium and magnesium in their body fluids. These electrolytes are extracted from the water by the fish through cells located in the gills and are essential for the uptake of oxygen and release of carbon dioxide. When fish are sick or stressed, their gill function is disturbed and fish may suffer from a loss of electrolytes through the gills, also known as Osmotic Shock. A lack of electrolytes can cause breathing difficulties along with various other health problems. Adding the proper type and amount of salt to the aquarium will help to replace electrolytes that the water may lack.
Salt may be used as an aid in treating illness with most species of freshwater fish or on a regular basis with some species, particularly Goldfish and various Livebearers such as Mollies, Guppies, Swordtails, but not African Cichlids. Africans require hard alkaline water. Other "salts" can be beneficial in raising and maintaining pH, GH, and KH values. See my article on Aquarium Salts for more on this.
Type of salt to use:
Non-iodized. This type of salt contains no additives that could potentially cause problems for your fish and/or tank. This may be sold as Freshwater Aquarium Salt, Kosher, Canning or Rock salt and can be purchased at either a pet/fish shop or a supermarket/grocery store. The salt used should contain no additives such as yellow prussiate of soda or iodine. Iodinized salt may be used for Tanganyikans, as trace amounts of iodine are found in Lake Tanganyika. In fact, goiter is not an unusual occurrence with N. leleupi, which can be prevented by the moderate use of iodinized salt.
Administer 1 Tablespoon of salt for each 5 gallons of water.
Note: This dosage may also be used to ease stress when acquiring new fish, to ease Nitrite toxicity when a tank is cycling, or in combination with various medications when treating a variety of illnesses because the salt prevents a fish uptake of nitrite.
Administering:
Salt should be dissolved in a separate container using water from the tank before being slowly added to the aquarium. Caution: Salt does not evaporate and is not affected by filtration or the use of carbon and can only be removed through water changes. To maintain a proper level in your aquarium the full amount should be added only once initially. Only the amount that has been removed with each water change should be re-added. For example, with a 10-gallon tank, you would only add 2 Tablespoons of salt initially. After a 50 % water change you would only need to re-administer 1 Tablespoon of salt.
Dosage Amount For Treating Parasites:
There are two methods; you can either treat the whole tank or do a "dip."
1. Treating the Tank:
Add 1 Teaspoon (not Tablespoon) of non-iodized salt for each 1 gallon (not 5 gallons) of water every 12 hours. Repeat this three times over a period of 36 hours to equal 3 Teaspoons of salt per gallon of water.
Length of treatment:
Salt should remain in the tank for 7 to 21 days depending on what you are treating. For parasites such as Ich, 7 to 10 days should be sufficient. For more stubborn parasitic infestations, a longer duration may prove necessary. When treatment is completed salt can be removed by performing a series of partial water changes without re-adding salt.
2. Salt Dip - Bucket Method:
Using a clean bucket, add ½ cup salt to 1 gallon of fresh dechlorinated water having the same temperature and pH as the tanks water. Once salt has dissolved place fish in bucket for no longer than 5 minutes (time it!). In most cases the fish will immediately float to the top of the bucket and lay on its side, this is normal. However the fish should still be moving. Should the fish stop moving entirely immediately remove it from the bucket and place in freshwater. Never dip for more than 5 minutes, doing so could kill the fish.
Salt Usage Caution: Although salt may have many benefits a word of caution may be advisable when using salt with certain species of fish. It has been noted that some scaleless species as well as certain types of catfish, most notably the rarer species of the Corydoras family, may not tolerate the use of salt. However many would argue this point.
