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The Detrimental Effects Of Salting Your Pond Or Aquarium

bschuhart

Members
Salting Your Fish? Important information that you need to know:

We have been selling fish medications for 39 years now, and in the last couple of years... hobbyists are using salt by the ton on their fish as some kind of new "wonder drug". We would like to explain what happens to freshwater fishes, when exposed to high sodium levels over periods of time.
Many customers that we talk to, tend to think that their fish have dropsy, because the fish are swollen, they stop eating, and eventually start breaking down with many different secondary infections, due to the high stress levels that are introduced by using salt. Some of these infections include:
Hemorrhagic Septicemia (red streaks in body and/or fins).
Saprolegnia Fungus (white cottony puffs on skin, fins or tail).
Pseudomonas Bacteria (Fin and Tail Rot).
Aeromonas Bacteria (Sores on body with ulcerations).
Heavy slime covering the fish. The fish produce heavy slime as a defense against the high salt levels.
Extreme swelling similar to dropsy.
High mortalities, sudden death and complete tank or pond wipe-outs.
Salt at high levels will also destroy the nitrifying bacteria in your filter, that keep your tank or pond cycled and ammonia free. So, if you are using salt and notice abnormally high ammonia or nitrite levels in your water... this is the cause.
Osmotic Pressure On Fish:
The use of salt is being promoted mainly by hobbyists in chat rooms, that have little or no understanding of fish pathology or osmotic pressure on fish and how this works. This is a case of hobbyists, consulting to hobbyists can be detrimental to the health of your fish.
**In the ocean, fish will swim into freshwater to rid themselves of parasites, and then swim back into the ocean. The fish do this only for a few minutes, and then return to their natural environment. The reason that the parasites fall off is due to increased osmotic pressure. When you put a marine fish into freshwater, it is like putting a heavy weight on top of the fish. So, this does not mean that this will work for freshwater fish the same way. Salt can be used for external parasites if used properly. Make a 0.3% salt dip and leave the fish in the solution for 3-5 minutes. Return the fish to fresh water. This is stressful for the fish, so care should be taken when using this approach. It is suggested that if you have parasites, to treat the whole pond with either De-Los or Praziquantel. This salt dip will not cure many bacterial diseases that fish carry in their bloodstream, and is no cure-all for fish diseases.
Testing The Salt Theory:
A good way to test the salt theory, would be to set up 2 aquariums.
1.) Salt one aquarium (tank 1) according to the instructions that were given to you and use a dechlorinator, if you are using tap water.
2.) In (tank 2), use a nitrifying bacteria like our Aqua Gold, and a good dechlorinator for your tap water. Do not add any salt to this tank.
3.) Go down to your local fish store and purchase a dozen fish of your choice. Tell the fish collector to separate them and put 6 fish in each bag.
4.) Get yourself a small note pad, so you can keep a log of events on both aquariums. This experiment will take some time (around 2-3 months) to complete.
So, now let's look at some facts:
Salt is anti-bacterial and anti-viral. This does not mean that it is good for freshwater aquarium or pond fish. You could pour a bottle of Mr. Clean into your aquarium, and we could guarantee that it will kill any living pathogen in there, but it would also kill all of your fish. See our point?
Salt is toxic to your fish if used at high levels for long periods of time. It will shut down their kidney's, and that is why so many people have fish with "pop-eye" or fish that have the same symptom's as Dropsy. Salt is toxic to humans if ingested in quantity, and high salt levels are toxic to animals. Use some common sense with the information we have provided for you, and remember that if salt was such a great treatment option, we would have not been in business for so long.
"These salt treatments are nothing but the Fleecing of America". Would you rather buy a small bottle of medicine that really works, or lose a whole pond full of fish from over-dosing with salt?

copied from :http://www.fishyfarmacy.com/koipond/salting_fish.html
 

fischfan13

Banned
Ahhhh, it's a company trying to sell THEIR potions.
Some of it reads like a salesman trying to beg us into buying his product and not to use a cheap and effective method of medicating our fish...non-iodized salt.
The Lakes in Africa all have a high salinity level for lakes, yet there is a blooming population of beneficial bacteria living in it.
Salt also helps the fish and their slime level, not hurt it as this article tells us. When a fish has been overly handled it is a great practice to throw some non-iodized salt (sea salt or kosher salt) into the tank as it is beneficial to the fish and its coat.
The last statement that is just ridiculous is that salt promotes pop-eye...wow.
 

Andrew

Members
Ok, I bear some responsibilty for this since I pointed you to these guys to find a cure for gill flukes. Yes, this company produces and sells some valuable treatments for a variety of diseases. But no, this "article" has no merit, at least to the extent that it presents a blanket statement that has been extended to the point of absurdity.

Yes, salt is toxic to humans and other organisms if overingested. But so is water. Remember the woman that died in a radio contest to see how much water she could drink in a short period of time? But we don't extend this experience to suggest that water should not be drunk because it killed someone who drank too much of it.

In fact, use of sodium salts with Malawi cichlids over a prolonged (lifelong) period of time will cause kidney failure in Malawi cichlids which does actually result in bizarre physical symptoms. This is because Malawi cichlids are not adapted to managed sodium in their natural habitat where calcium and magnesium salts dominate. But careful, short term use of sodium does not harm the fish any more than any other chemical that one might use to eliminate infection.

The comparison of marine fish swimming into freshwater is beyond ridiculous. First, most ocean fish don't live near a frehwater source and therefore can't perform as suggested. Further, the fish that do pass between fresh and saltwater are naturally adapted to estuarine habitats and have physical capabilities of handling both conditions and, more accurately, the range in between.

The point is, for long term maintenance of a fish, look to it's natural habitat. If there's a lack of a particular feature, like sodium, don't use it long term with the fish. On the other hand some freshwater habitats have high sodium levels and should be maintained as such in the aquarium.

As far as nitrifying bacteria go, some strains do well with no sodium and die off if it introduced in any amount. Other strains can't survive without salt. We are talking about dozens, if not hundreds or thousands of different species of nitrifying bacteria, each adapted to particular water conditions. When these conditions change significantly the old bacteria die and news ones grow.

Bottom line, sodium salt is a valuable tool for short term treatment of most freshwater fishes. Long term, keep them in the conditions that replicate their original habitats.

As a treatment tool, sodium chloride is valuable and less damaging than whatever affliction
 

Andrew

Members
Ok, as I was saying.... Sodium salts are no more dangerous than antibiotics, metal salts like copper, or the incredie range of other chemicals used to fight infection. Use it properly and it will serve you well.
 

bschuhart

Members
Please tell me what you ment when you saw
2.) ...use a nitrifying bacteria like our Aqua Gold...

I just bought some.
 

danger_chicken

Swim Fishy Swim!
They try to come off as an informational article then out of know where a product plug. Almost like someone sat down and said "how can I fit our product into this article?" Once it loses objectivity, it loses credibility and all the information must be scrutinized.

On a 2nd read it sounds more like an attempt to justify why their product doesn't work if you put salt in your aquarium. I don't know anything about them or their products, it's all speculation on my part. Either way, a flag went up for me when I got to the part I quoted.
 

dogofwar

CCA Members
Similar thing happened to me when talking to a mold removal specialty company (for an incident caused by a plugged AC drain in the house that we rent in California...not a fishtank ;) ).

Although it's a relatively small area that's affected, they did everything to convince me to hire them vs. using concentrated bleach (or other over the counter products) to clean it up. "Bleach will only make the mold worse," they told me. Right.

I'm a big fan of salt (and Melafix) as tonics...

Matt
 
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