I was wondering if anyone can tell me how sensitive discus are to non-iodized salt (plain table salt). I have heard that some people put a little bit into their tanks to help prevent illness on top of quality water conditions. I know that some fish like catfish cannot stand it so i was wondering if anyone knows if its ok to put a little bit into a tank with discus. Thanks
Discus and salt
- Thread starter aznpocki
- Start date
Some discus keepers use salt to control external parasites. Some swear that epsom salt acts as a laxative. I know the external parasite phrase is true but I am not to sure about the laxative part. As for table salt, I cant say that I have ever used that. I am sure its fine but I have always been the kind of guy not to mess with it. Yes I know that table salt is way cheap but aquarium salt isnt to expensive either. I know there are people that say water softener salt is fine...never tried that either. I figure if you are messing with fish like discus anyways why take a chance with something that one person swears by and the next says its a bad idea.
I thought salt was popular with scaleless fish cause a lot of meds are really tough on them???
I thought salt was popular with scaleless fish cause a lot of meds are really tough on them???
You can use rock/ice cream salt on discus. It's probably cheaper than aquarium salt. I think most people avoid table salt because it's often iodized.
Epsom salt does, in fact, have a laxative effect. I've used it on a lot of cichlids including discus. If fish show early signs of bloat, sometimes Epsom salt will help them pass the blockage if treated early enough.
Having said that, if your fish are healthy and you are not treating them for something, there's no benefit to adding salt to the tank. It's unnecessary, IMO.
Epsom salt does, in fact, have a laxative effect. I've used it on a lot of cichlids including discus. If fish show early signs of bloat, sometimes Epsom salt will help them pass the blockage if treated early enough.
Having said that, if your fish are healthy and you are not treating them for something, there's no benefit to adding salt to the tank. It's unnecessary, IMO.
My LFS has been carring discus for years, also one of the local discus breeder whom I got discus from, they've never used salt for their discus tank. I don't use salt for my discus in almost one year of keeping discus. We all have healthy discus.
I use only epsom salt. Period. Dont use table salt. If I run into a external problem I dose my tank. But 99.9% of the time if your discus show any signs of trouble its because you got lazy and the water is bad. In most cases anytime I have had trouble with hith or an external parasite or bacterial infection I use epsom and do wc's every other day until the problem is gone.
i use salt when change water in my 42G tank..my discus just ok with it
I have always used solar salt super cheap and no ill effects with either my rays or discus
how does this work
how much per gallon
how much per gallon