[humphrey]

i have begun keeping freshwater tropicals again after many years gone by. about a year ago now. things are a whole lot different than they were when i used to do it.

i have cycled my tanks properly, done religious water changes, kept all the right checks and balances and yet i seem to have fish dying on a regular basis. i had my water tested and it is about as beneficial as you can get it for freshwater tropicals.
i also use aquarium salt. the aquarist store told me i was doing it right and that it as beneficial for them.
this i believe is the problem, i have tried everything else to rectify any problems like disease/parasites etc. my salt levels are minimal and i used it carefully. one tblsp. per 5 gal. and only added more when i did a water change so as not to end up with a high concentration from evaporation.

as of 2 days ago with my last water change at about 30% (65 gal tank) i quit using it. i will continue to dilute the amount of salt with the water changes. the salt is the only thing i can come up with that is causing the periodic deaths. fish healthy to dead overnight is rather disappointing to say the least.

i was wondering if anyone else has had issues with aquarium salt in their tanks and what the results were when they discontinued its use.

i have mollies, show guppies, swordtails, platies and *long-finned red minor tetras. *they help keep the number of fry to a minimum so there is no over crowding. sort of an aquatic wolf-pack to keep things in check.

also have a 55 gallon with 4 orandas, they are fine, no trouble at all. a 5 gallon with one betta and one dwarf frog living happily together, and finally a 10 gallon separated with two bettas. all doing very well.

could it be the salt? i am getting so frustrated...

 

[jaysee]

Welcome to the forum

I don't own salt, and never have. That about sums up my opinion of it's worth.

That being said, your livebearers do like some salt in the water, so if they are the ones dying then I'm sure it's something else. I literally JUST talked my friend out of buying and using pH UP. He has had 3 otherwise healthy fish die on him this week. His pH is 6.5 which really isn't all that low, especially for the fish he has. I told him that I understood the desire to want to "do something" but there are many times when the problem is just undiagnosable. Point of the story is to keep looking - it's probably not the salt. But be prepared to not find anything.

 

[moghedan]

There was a time, but we no longer have those fish.

If you special order a wild caught fish and need to match salinity; there you go.

Captive bred fish bought in stores never see it.

 

[Agent13]

There was a time, but we no longer have those fish.

If you special order a wild caught fish and need to match salinity; there you go.

Captive bred fish bought in stores never see it.

^ not completely accurate. To keep healthy African cichlids you do need a low dose of salt. But otherwise I wouldn't use it for anything else.

A little curious. What did you use to test your water and what are the exact results? And also how long have you owned the fish that aren't thriving?

 

[henningc]

Agent13 is correct. You may be unaware, but Florida bred tropicals, and that is almost everything in the pet store are raised with a measurable level of salt in the water. Ever wonder why livebearers seem to get the shimmies after a few days in the pet store? Stress, crowding and zero salt. Put them in a tank with salt content and bang they are fine most times.

I raise Endlers, Least Killies, Guppys, Gambusia Affinis and Belonasox and all get a Tbs of pure solar salt per 10g. I also have corys in the tanks and they breed regularly. The tetras will typically have an issue with the salt level the post had mentioned. Cut that dose in half they are fine. I agree with one of the replies, it is not likely the salt rather something else. Keep a close eye on behavior and color aquity. You may also want to test for heavy metals.

 

[rexpepper651]

my platy's are doing fine with no salt? but then again when i drink my tap water it makes me want more water lol

 

[jaysee]

Fresh water naturally contains some salt, as I understand it.