Aquariums and Fish Keeping

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Treating with salt (lemmy.world)

submitted 2 months ago by cosmicrookie@lemmy.world to c/aquariums@lemmy.world

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I live in EU where fish medications can be hard to get by. Therefore i treat most issues with salt. The question is:

Can i use salt for water treatment systems in fish tanks?

From what i see, it is pure salt although a bit larger crystals than regular salt.

I have been using salt for ponds up til now, but it can be hard to find, especially during winter seasons, and also fairly expensive compared to filter salt.

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[–] fraksken 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I understood you shouldn't use tablesalt due to additives (anti clumping) and ionization.

Take this with a grain of salt as I have not looked into it further.

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

I've heard that too, but took it at word value. I did a quick research and it seems like it is not as dangerous as one would think. The concentrations are far smaller than when considered dangerous to fish. The post mentions that there are no researches for what the effects of so small concentration over longer periods may have, but to be fair, i usually only treat the fish until symptoms pass - this usually is a week or two.

https://thefishvet.com/2018/03/20/dont-a-salt-your-fish-know-when-and-how-to-use-salt-safely-when-treating-freshwater-fishes/

[–] fraksken 1 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Which concentration did you use?

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

I use 3 grams pr liter for treatment or 1gr pr liter for precautions

[–] fraksken 1 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Thanks

[–] cosmicrookie@lemmy.world 2 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Note that most plants dont like salt though. So if you have a lot of plants, maybe set up a treatment tank

[–] fraksken 1 points 1 month ago

Good advice. Yes, I have a lot of plants, snails and shrimp. A separate treatment tank is a good idea.