The Benefits Of Adding Salt To Your Freshwater Aquarium

On the previous article, we discuss about the different opinions experts share on adding salt to freshwater aquarium. Here are several plausible theories may explain why changing the concentration of salt in the water can benefit aquarium fish:

1. It Inhibits Parasites

Fish have organs that enable them to adjust to small changes in the concentration of salt in the water. On the other hand, pathogens such as bacteria and protozoa are simpler life forms with no internal organs to regulate changes in salt concentration.

Most common skin parasites live on the skin surface, not beneath it, so are more vulnerable to low salinities. The concentration of salt can be changed to weaken pathogens present without harming the fish, thus giving sick fish a better chance of recovering.

2. It Fights Diseases

Salt may be used as treatment for diseases like protozoan infections. Salt is believed to encourage the production of mucus, essential for getting rid of the parasites living inside the fishes’ gills and other parts of its body.

Low dosages are also believed to help clear the gills of excess mucus that builds up in cases of parasitic disease. Some fish hobbyists might use salt as an as a one-off treatment in an emergency, when the fish is suffering respiratory distress and no other alternatives are available. However, extra care needs to be exercised in such cases, particularly if the fish has already been weakened by disease.

3. It Reduces Stress

When fish are stressed or diseased, their osmoregulatory systems do not function properly. When fish suffer “osmoregulatory dysfunction,” they find it more difficult to obtain sufficient salts from the water, and get rid of excess water. This means that they lose bodily salts to the water.

Salt replaces the lost sodium and chloride ions that stressed or sick fish need. Adding salt to the water helps fish to reduce the amount of salt that their bodies are losing—this principle is akin to that of providing hospital patients with saline drips.

4. It Deduces Toxicity

Some researchers expound that salt helps fish get rid of ammonia and prevents nitrite take-up.

Salt is compound containing sodium and chloride (NaCl). Chloride ions reduce the toxicity of nitrite, thus providing fish some protection against its adverse effects.

Ammonia is present in two forms in water: ammonium and free ammonia. Ammonium is not very toxic to fish, but free ammonia to less toxic ammonium depends on the pH, temperature and salinity. As salinity drops, free ammonia increases.

5. It Improves The Environment

Some sources of tap water are very low in dissolved salts, compared with a fish’s natural environment. The addition of aquarium salt might simply make the fish feel more “at home”. Live bearers and brackish water specimens (those that inhabit waters with significant salt levels) seem to have far better survival rates and fewer disease problems with salt in their tanks.

However, it must be noted that not all fish benefit from added salt in their freshwater aquarium. Many, like most barbs and tetras, seem indifferent. A few, notably Corydoras catfish, apparently have very low tolerance for salt.

Mermaid Highly Recommends: