[AquaticLife] Question about salt?
There are many uses for salt in aquaria. Sometimes it is used as a prophylactic, as you seem to be doing now. Long term use of salt in this manner is not recommended.
Salt can be used in the treatment of many diseases and parasite infections. In fact, it is the preferred treatment in some cases, and in all others, is at least helpful in controlling, if not defeating, various infections you may experience.
Salt can be used when cleaning aquaria and the decorative items placed within.
If you have soft water, and you wish to keep fish that prefer hard water, a method of providing the various minerals that make water hard is to use salt. In such cases using marine salt is a good way to go if a specific salt mixture for the water you desire is not readily available.
When you are using salt, the way to do a water change to retain a specific concentration is to replace the water that has evaporated, then do your water change. Add the salt needed to the water you are using for the change, or add it directly to the tank as the water is being changed. When water evaporates from your tank, the salt concentration will increase, ever so slightly in most cases, and adding the fresh water to the tank brings the concentration back to what you wish. If the water is not replaced before the change, slowly you will be raising the concentration in your tank, and may, eventually, reach a point at which your fish will not do well. Of course, at that point, you will be scratching your head, if not pull out your hair, trying to figure out what is wrong with your setup.
This also argues for the occasional massive water change in your tank, even if you are not adding any substance to the water, since various minerals in even the softest water will gradually build up due to the evaporation that is not replaced. It is more efficient to do a massive water change once or twice a year than to continually replace evaporation each week prior to changing you water.
Salt is a good treatment while you research the problem with your fish. If you do not see any change in your swordtail after a few weeks, I would discontinue the use of salt in the tank, and then simply remove it via a series of regular water changes. In your case, Lenny has given you some good info on what it may be to follow up, and once you can determine precisely what the problem is, you can follow the course of treatment recommended for that problem. This is why it is good to always have a small tank on hand, so you can quarantine a fish, or several, from the general population while it is being treated, so the other fish do not need to go through the rigors of the treatment as well.
\Steve//
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
