How to 'Salt' a Freshwater tank

[Modern Angl]

Eyup folks,

I'm wanting to salt 3 of my tanks, those darn leeches won't stay dead and more keep appearing so I'm going to salt them to death. I got a bag of sea salt from the LFS, the question is :-

what is the best method to salt the tank and make sure its dissolved properly into the water??

I have Zebra Danio's in one tank, Rummynose Tetra's, Bristlenose Plecs and a Common plec in another tank, third one is empty and was in the middle of setting it up but not taking any chances these things appear.

Cheers

[HummingBird]

Here's the method I use.

Step one: Throw salt in tank

[Jo1]

Buy the sea salt from the supermarket. It is cheaper and dissolves quickly. And I agree, throw it in and watch the fish move quickly!!!

[Modern Angl]

Was looking for such info as how much to put in per litre / gallon so only kill leeches and not all my fishes, but apart from that, I'll use the 'lob it in with great enthusiasm' method that has been recommended

[Alan]

DO NOT THROW IN UNDISSOLVED SALT

If the fish ingest it they could be in dire trouble

I use a teaspoon to the gallon(figure that out), but I don't know if this is strong enuff to do leeches.

Best thing is prevention.

Salt, alum, or copper sulphate new plants, and boil any gravel got from the wild.

I boil any new gravel any way.

Alan 104

[caserole]

work it out your self M/A .

put some in a glass and do tests with differant salt concentrations.

I would start at 1.5tp per 4lt, as I know 1tp per 4lt dosn't work .

[MicB]

A couple of websites

http://www.bestfish.com/fwsalt.html

http://fishenthusiast.com/saltinfreshwater.html

Cheers

[Caper]

Alan:

OH NO...that's what I did. The lady at the store just said be careful not to get it on the hood because it won't come off. WHY do I listen to them :evil: ...oh &^%$ fudge.

Graps box and reads...doesn't say anything about disolving in water first.

She told me 1 tablespoon for every 5 gallons which it does say on the box. Maybe it was a good thing I did have all that movement at the time because I could have really hurt my fish. Maybe that's what happened to the new guppy he got hit with it????

She also said to put it in every 3-4 months, opinion on that please????

I've been doing daily water changes will they get rid of it? I'm doing small changes to get my ammonia down.

[Ira]

It's not that big of a deal if you throw the salt in undissolved. Usually if a fish grabs it they'll just spit it out anyway. And eating a few grains of salt isn't going to hurt anything but tiny fish.

[NervousWreck]

I usually do 1 tsp per 5 gallons at each water change. Then every once in awhile just fresh water (no salt).

[Caper]

True or not true, salt: help reduce stress, disease, help in the production of...slime coat?

[Alan]

T

If you remove water from the tank,

replace with salted water.

If replacing evaporated water,

replace with fresh water.

If you do not replace as in the first instance,

your salinity is gradually watered down.

Alan 104

[Caper]

So, does this mean that once you have added salt you have to keep tanks salted? Ok, understand top ups...just add water. Weekly change, salt everytime?

And...is it beneficial to have it salted all the time or only if fish appear to be sick?

THANK YOU

[Davejey]

When I want to put some salt in the tank, I first put a spoon or two of 'tonic salt' in warm, boiled water (enough to dilute it) then stir until no more crystals to be seen.

[Caryl]

The latest Dunedin newsletter has an article from badmanstropicalfish.com called "The Great Salt Myth" - very interesting.