Salt and its place in the discus aquarium -

[tcmemphisbbq]

I have been using 1tbl/10gal with every water change for some time now thinking it was needed and was helpful in discus.......but also on the same turn wonder conversely if this is the case, do big discus breeders and sellers like Hans, Kenny, Lawrence, etc use salt at all given the frequency of WC's -

Sooo the question is - do you use salt in your main display on a regular basis OR just only in your QT/Hospital tanks for medical reason. I am just wanting to do what is best for my discus either way.... ;l n

I tried to search the search feature but it was all over the place on results.

This comes from another thread where someone, like myself, used salt with every wc and it was mentioned salt wasnt used by David, which got me curious. Instead of hijacking the thread for the discussion - I started this one....

Thanks - lets discuss salt for our discus, shall we.......im anxious to learn. I'm not trying to prove right or wrong just want to learn from all of you with WAY more experience than myself

[Dkarc@Aol.com]

Start with why salt is used and how it affects fish....that is a good place as any to start with:
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/VM/VM00700.pdf
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/pdffiles/FA/FA00500.pdf

-Ryan

[tcmemphisbbq]

Good read, thanks for posting the links

[Jhhnn]

When my blue scorps were younger, rambunctious teenagers, they'd sometimes bolt explosively, particularly at feeding time, dashing themselves blindly against the tank, the lids, the inside of the rim, anything that got in the way. They'd occasionally get scraped up rather badly, so I treated them with salt, ~1 teaspoon/ 10gals. I noticed that it seemed to calm them, as well. When I basically eliminated they salt w/ daily 50% water changes, they'd get spookier all over again, and we'd go through bashing episodes all over again.

With some trial and error, I discovered that a little salt, ~1 tablespoon/ 100gals seemed to keep them calmer. Having recently acquired an inexpensive TDS meter, I can quantify that. My Denver water is pretty low in salinity and dissolved solids, with a TDS of ~150ppm from the tap. That 1 tbsp of salt/100gals brings it up to ~200ppm, which they seem to appreciate. More salt, twice that, seems not to change anything. I've settled on Morton's canning and pickling salt from the grocery- pure salt, no additives, cheaper than aquarium salt. I've also used Albertson's store brand iodized and plain salt with no apparent ill effects.

That's just my personal observation with my water. The other parameters are pH 7.4-7.8, KH ~85ppm, GH ~145ppm. the addition of salt changes that not at all.

[Elite Aquaria]

I do not add salt with every water change. I only use it when I bring in a new shipment at 1 cup per 50 gallons of water. This helps to calm down the fish and cuts back on issues from Nitrite spikes from my newly increased bio load.

[Eddie]

I also do not use salt regularly. It is used solely for treatment purposes or when adding new fish. ;)

Eddie

[tcmemphisbbq]

Im wondering if im overusing it then and if that can/could cause some of my issues of late by stressing the fish :(