SALT - what does it do?

[nirfun]

what does salt do to the fish?
Is it have another uses exept external parasities?
thanks is advance.
Nir.

[RyanH]

My understanding is that, on the cellular level, salt reduces stress on a fishes body. The cells of freshwater fish are under perpetual osmotic stress due to a difference in the quantity of salts in there environment versus that within their cells. The cells literally have to pump water out to keep their membranes from rupturing. By adding salt to the tank you are reducing this osmotic stress because essentially they do not have to work as hard to maintain internal homeostasis.... or something like that. :) Biology 125 was awhile ago!

[jeep]

Here's a thread you may be interested in

http://forum.simplydiscus.com//index.php?board=1;action=display;threadid=5811;sta rt=msg61333#msg61333

[nirfun]

Thanks you two.
I got it :D

[nirfun]

Here's a nice article on this issue:
http://www.zestweb.com/articles/salt/salt.html