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Salt


Andy_1984

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Ugh what a nightmare... those nemitodes or what ever they are i was going on about a while ago just wont go and im certain the fish are suffering as a result of eating them, could be doing anything to my wee fish as ive lost 2 roach and now 2 rudd are slowly going the same way (trying to eat but cant, too thin etc)

 

got some kusuri wormer plus today and a bag of aquarium salt, the salt just to give the guys a little boost.

 

reading a few websites the amount of salt to add seems to vary quite dramatically with some saying 2 teaspoons per gallon(33gal total), thats 66 teaspoons in one sitting!!! others are saying half a cup to every 2 gallons (wtf is a cup on the other side of the world know what i mean).

 

is it just me or does 66 teaspoons sound overkill since the actual salt content of fresh water is very very minimal to begin with ?.

 

ive got 3 rudd and the tench left :(, and weirdest of all that bloody danio is still kicking about fatter than ever so you would think its not a water quality issue since his immune system would be worse than that of the cyprinids since he's a tropical living in a freshwater ?

Edited by Andy_1984

Owner of Tacklesack.co.uk


Moderator at The-Pikers-Pit.co.uk

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Andy,

 

48 teaspoons equal a cup (8oz).

 

35 grams of salt for each 1000 grams of water is "salt water" (I think?) The ocean, on average, has about 5% DO.

On average, you fish tank should be about 9 - 10% DO (which will be ABOUT 90% saturation - satiuration is dependant on water temp) The cooler the water the easier it is to achieve higher DO.

 

I think Steve is underestimating the value of salts medical value. (Never had a fish tank in my life).

 

Phone

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Seawater is typically around 35g / litre, so 33 gallons would include over 5kg of salt. That would be rapidly lethal to most freshwater fish. This paper puts the concentration at which rudd start to die somewhere between 12g and 15g per litre, which would be 1.8kg-2.25kg for your 33 gallon tank (assuming imperial gallons, do check that). Tench appear to have broadly similar tolerance. I would think that less than 10g/litre would be safe, which would be 1.5kg of salt. Two heaped teaspoons in 33 gallons is hardly any at all.

 

If you do feel the need to try a higher concentration, I would advise adding it gradually.

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It's not without use, Phone, particularly in getting rid of parasites which are less salt tolerant than fish are and in reducing osmotic stress where fish have open wounds, but it isn't the panacea that the old timers used to think it was.

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One other thought, Andy - the nitrifying bacteria in your filter may be limited in the range and/or rate of change of salinities they will tolerate.

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I think 2 will do for now and another 2 after several water changes. i dont want a dramatic change, just a small boost in slime production etc if the changes are low then fair enough i think i would be happy knowing that even just a little is doing "just a little" :)

Owner of Tacklesack.co.uk


Moderator at The-Pikers-Pit.co.uk

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