How much salt is okay?

[scrkpr]

I am new to the forum but not new to fish-keeping. Hi!!! I have a 55gal coldwater tank that houses 2 goldfish and 2 dojo loaches. I have a bit of flukes and would like to treat with salt as well as Prazi. I've used Prazi before at full strength without any problem. Right now I have my tank dosed to .5tsp/gal of salt. I would like to increase this to help the goldfish's gills feel better due to the irritation of the flukes and possibly fight and external parasites they may have. How high is safe to dose the salt for the dojo's?

[SH33P]

Well you want to maintain the Fishes Cholesterol. Like humans to much salt can be a bad thing although it can taste rather good

im not poitive but isnt it 2.5 tea spoons of salt for 38 litres of water?

[mistergreen]

We don't really know if salt would really make the goldfish feel better.
I think it has some anti-biotic effects & improves circulation. But too much would hurt them & mess with their water/electolites/osmosis balance
It's up to you.

[scrkpr]

I know that too much salt is bad. That's why currently I haven't put much in. But what I have in isn't very theraputic either. I have only put 25tsp into my 55gal tank. Making .5tsp/gal. Salt DOES help goldfish. In quite a few ways that I mentioned above, but yes it can upset their osmotic balnce and electrolytes. The loaches are more sensitive. I just want to know if it's okay to more salt in. I don't want to hurt the dojo's. I know the people here are more experienced than me. Would 1tsp of salt/gal of water be okay for the dojo's? Would it be okay to go higher than higher that? [/quote]

[mikev]

There is no evidence that Salt has any general theraputic effect.

Salt is an irritant, a mild poison if you prefer. Most of salt usability comes from the fact that Salt does more damage to some pathogens (Ich, Flex, Fungus) than it does to the fish, but Gill Flukes are not salt-sensitive.

I would like to increase this to help the goldfish's gills feel better due to the irritation of the flukes

This does not make sense to me. Why an irritant would help with already irritated gills? It is like putting pepper on open wounds...

If anything, use a general purpose antibiotic to suppress possible secondary infections, and make sure that the water is as clean as possible, this is what will make the animals feel (and heel) better.

hth

[scrkpr]

This is really simple. I did not come here to be lectured. I came here with a simple quesstion: how much salt can my dojo loaches tolerate? I am disappointed from the lack of responses I have received that actually answer my question and from the remarks that I have received. I have heard sooo many good things about this forum. This is suppossed to be THE place for nfo on loaches. Perhaps the problem is that no one here knows the answer to my question. In that case, just don't answer me at all pls or say you don't know.

But since we are conversing now, I will try to educate on the beneficial and theraputic values of salt. The following is just the first article I stumbled across. It is from U of FL. http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/VM007 It doesn't speak directly to helping heal gill issues, but it does speak it osmoregulation, and other theraputic effects. Not JUST removing parasites. Take a look if you like.

[scrkpr]

And another article for you to ponder
http://www.practicalfishkeeping.co.uk/p ... cle_id=335

This one actually talks about helping the gills after they have been by a parasitic infection. Say....flukes.

I'll leave further article posting until after I get some replies on these 2 or an answer to my original question.

[shari2]

the no-salt camp has chimed in here. salt is largely considered a no no for loaches, as you've seen.

You don't have to convince me. Salt is helpful, in fact, many scientific papers recommend it for treatment for various issues in freshwater tanks. A tablespoon of salt per 5 gallons of water is recommended to treat brown blood disease (caused by high nitrites lowering the ability of blood to uptake oxygen). It's often commonly recommended to halve dosages for loaches. If you are at 1/2 tsp per gallon right now, you may want to stick with what you've got.

now I'm waiting for the deluge.
We've had some quite heated debates on salt usage in the past here. I'm not expecting anyone to change their positions, but there are other opinions out there regarding the use of salt, as you know.

http://forums.loaches.com/viewtopic.php ... lood#37243
not one of my finer moments, i'll admit...

[hemi]

i used to over salt my piranha tank
as i was feeding alot of live fish to them
from sources i prolly shouldnt have
but in my 180gal i was adding about 3/4 of a pound of salt
the fish were healthy and great and never had a problem
my last 3 live without salt now
i sold off 15 of them

as far as loaches go
it was a hard lesson to learn
but they are VERY sensitive to salt
yo-yos just died from it over night
untill i found LOL and stopped usen HIGH doses of salt
and my fish finally lived
ive had loaches in quarrentine tanks and use salt in them alot
and my 2 weather loaches love it
its a 55gal with about 1/8th of a pound of salt in it
theres a bubbler and a hang on box filter about 3 inches above the water
the temp is at 84 or so
they love it

i believe that salt helps ALOT
but long term use prolly hurts them alot more then help

[scrkpr]

Finally!! Thanks so much. I will take that advice. And not treat my loaches any higher. I'll check that past thread out now. I'm not looking to change anyone's mind about salt. I know that it's a heated conversation. I was just mad at the lack of help I wsas getting before and how I was told the salt couldn't possibley help my goldies. I know over at my goldfish forum we use salt all the time and is very helpful. But i can understand the different perspective here at a loach forum when they are so sensitive.