# salt



## o snap its eric (Feb 19, 2003)

Since salt is the best medicine for piranhas, lets make a list of what salt is good for before using deadly medicine such as clout. I'll start:

Fin rot
Scratchs
minor gill infection


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

Fungus
White spot
Wounds/ulsars
and many more......

I would suggest using salt for any problems as it reduces the chances of getting a secondary infection.


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## JesseD (Mar 26, 2003)

i agree with innes









salt is good for almost anything


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## Caesar3283 (Jun 18, 2003)

I've never used salt in my tank before. Since Piranhas are freshwater fish, how come the salt doesn't kill/hurt them? Do you only use salt when they are hurt or ill....or do you have it in your tank all the time?


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## Mr. Hannibal (Feb 21, 2003)

Aquarium salt or Melafix is all you need for most piranha diseases...!


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## Alexraptor (Jan 30, 2003)

Caesar3283 said:


> I've never used salt in my tank before. Since Piranhas are freshwater fish, how come the salt doesn't kill/hurt them? Do you only use salt when they are hurt or ill....or do you have it in your tank all the time?


 well its preferred that u change water but u can have salt all the time.
small dosages dosent hurt fishes.


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## DonH (Jan 25, 2003)

These are the reasons why I like salt:
1) It does not hurt your filter (will not kill your nitrifiers)
2) Carbon does not take it out of the system
3) If you have a UV system... you don't have to turn it off.
4) It's VERY cheap... doesn't cost a fortune to treat a 100+ tank
5) Will not push very sick fishes "over the edge" like many meds
6) Can be used on most fish species that are sensitive to meds
7) Is not carcinogenic like a lot of meds out there.
8) Has a relatively wide margin for error in dosage
9) Found almost anywhere
10) Versatile... can be used as a long term bath (2 weeks) or a short term dip

What salt will do:
1) Relieve nitrite poisoning (Brown Blood disease) by displacing nitrite ions away from gills membrane.
2) Eradicates a large number of external parasites including ich, chilodonella, costia, trichodina, oodinium (velvet).
3) Combats bacterial, fungal infections and ammonia burn.
4) Kill all salt sensitive plants in your tank
5) Recharge ion exchange resins (ammo-chips, water softener "pillows")
6) Can be used to disinfect a used, empty tank by apply it as a "paste"
7) Ease osmoregulatory stress... but only happens when fish are dumped from water of one osmotic pressure into one which is very different. This problem is not a concern because we are dealing with FRESHWATER fishes. Exception is when the fish has a very serious open ulcer.
8) Irritate the crap out of the fish, resulting in production of excess mucous.
9) Makes bland food taste a little better









What salt won't do:
1) Treat fish lice (argulus), anchorworms (lernea), skin and gill flukes, internal parasites.
2) Replace electrolytes and trace minerals (unless you are using a marine salt mix which also has buffers that will increase your pH).
3) Treat viral infections

That being said, I don't think that salt should be constantly used in the aquarium as a general tonic. They are freshwater fish and should remain so. I have only used salt as a treatment and at the correct dosage (0.3%). Only exception to this rule is for nitrite poisoning where a teaspoon of salt will treat over 300 gallons of water. Many believe that the constant use of salt in low dosages is the reason why we are having problems with salt resistant parasites. And as a result, some parasitic infestations need to double the dosage to 0.6% to see any significant improvement.

How to administer:

If we are talking about the therapeutic and NOT prophylactic use of salt, then the recommended dosage is 0.3% (which is 2.5 lbs/100 gallons or 3 tsp/US gallon). The amount of salt added should be done in 3 equal increments over 3 days and left in the system for 2 weeks, in which time, the salt should be taken out through water changes.

For salt dips, a 1% solution (9 tsp/gallon) can be used for around 10-15 minutes and then the fish is returned back to clean aquarium water. For extreme cases and as a last resort, a strong 3% salt solution can be used. The fish must be constantly monitored and is basically kept in the bath until they roll over and is transferred IMMEDIATELY back to the aquarium. Fish will try to adjust to the changing salinity and the longer you wait, the more adjustments the fish needs to make. I'm not a big fan of salt dips because they are very stressful on the fish.

One final note, livebearers and cichlids will tolerate much higher levels of salt than many other freshwater fishes such as characins (tetras), loaches, and catfishes. So this practice is not recommended for all species.

Sorry for being so long winded. Hope this helps...


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## Innes (Jan 13, 2003)

can this topic either get pinned or moved to tutorials?


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## garygny (Mar 16, 2003)

Salt worked for curing most of my Piranhas diseases.


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