# To add salt or not to add salt, that is the question?



## Amorgan140 (Aug 26, 2017)

So I live down in Austin, Texas where we have hard water naturally. The water comes out the tap about 8.0ph as well. I was wondering how everyone feels about adding aquarium salt, epsom salt or cichlid salt. I had been running my tank without it for 4 months with no problems. I noticed some of my fish flashing on the bottom so I added some aquarium salt and turned up the heater as a precautionary measure. I noticed a little while after my fish were starting to get more color, a little bit more aggressive and more active. Wanted to get some opinions from some of you guys on whether or not I should be adding salt regularly or not? I have google it and seen mixed reviews.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

I think turning up the temperature had more to do with their reaction than the salt did. They are cold blooded, so increased temperature = increased metabolism, which produces more activity, color, and sexual tension, i.e., aggression.


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## Amorgan140 (Aug 26, 2017)

Well the heat only went up 1 degree as I wanted to do it slowly.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

It doesn't take much of a temperature spike upwards to trigger it. Most animals, even people, are more active in the ways that Mr Chromedome mentioned when the temperature starts to warm up a little. I would stick to the increased water changes I mentioned before for a little while to see if it makes any improvement. I don't use either salt unless I know what I'm trying to treat.


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## PfunMo (Jul 30, 2009)

Think of what we are told salt will do to help fish. Folks say it increases the slime layer because it irritates them and makes them produce more. So if we admit it irritates them, is it smart to keep a fish irritated on purpose or is it smarter to keep a fish comfortable and healthy? 
We have naturally hard water and do not need to raise the GH and KH. We have plenty of buffer without adding things! However, there are lots more folks on the East and West coasts where soft water is common and they also write lots more books. Much of the written material we may read is by people who have no idea what happens in other areas. 
Also some info on the why of using salt and heat to treat ich may help. Ich has a life cycle which involves three stages. On the fish, free swimming, and lying on the bottom. We normally have far better luck killing them when they are in the free swimming, rather than in hard shells. So we use elevated heat to rush the cycle along to get them exposed to salt which can kill them. But it takes a fairly large amount of salt that we would not normally want to use in freshwater tanks. 
Raising the temp a touch may simply have made the fish thing it's spring! No harm done but not necessarily helping too much either.


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## Mr Chromedome (Feb 12, 2013)

PfunMo said:


> Think of what we are told salt will do to help fish. Folks say it increases the slime layer because it irritates them and makes them produce more.


Actually, that's not what salt does. Adding salt helps balance the osmotic pressure of the cells, which leaves the cells more energy to fight illness, which may include increased slime production. It does not irritate the skin, it's exactly the opposite. There are shipping treatments that actually advertise increased slime layer, and some of those are known to irritate the skin to cause this.

I'm not sure where that old wives' tale about salt irritating the skin originated. But when you talk to someone with a degree who treats fish on a regular basis, they will tell you that it is not true. I learned about what salt actually does from Doug Sweet, who was a curator of the Belle Isle Aquarium in Detroit, and moved on to manage a hatchery for the state of Ohio. He has done disease and treatment programs for several clubs in the Midwest.

That does not mean that it is good to keep salt in a FW tank. If they become adapted to a balanced level of osmotic control, adding more salt no longer will help should disease strike. And many soft water fish simply do poorly in higher salinity conditions.


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## DJRansome (Oct 29, 2005)

Agree if your water is already pH = 8 and steady I would not add salt.


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## caldwelldaniel26 (Jun 11, 2017)

Mr Chromedome said:


> PfunMo said:
> 
> 
> > Think of what we are told salt will do to help fish. Folks say it increases the slime layer because it irritates them and makes them produce more.
> ...


Well written, and this is why I don't recommend to use sodium chloride unless it's for a disease that can be treated with it, so it doesn't decrease it's effectiveness, not because it's an irritatant... Magnesium Sulfate on the other hand, I use when I suspect digestive problems.


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## BlueSunshine (Jul 13, 2014)

Mr Chromedome said:


> I think turning up the temperature had more to do with their reaction than the salt did. They are cold blooded, so increased temperature = increased metabolism, which produces more activity, color, and sexual tension, i.e., aggression.


This is my thought too.


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## CeeJay (Aug 16, 2016)

I would not add it. Your water is all ready hard and has some salt in it that's why it's hard. My water is very close to yours and it have never had problem without it. If we were talking wilds from lake Tanganyika I would be more open to it but I have kept and breed them without salt.


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## Sherbert20968 (Nov 27, 2017)

I add a little every water change. Nothing crazy though.


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