Saltwater Bath for Freshwater Fish

[Sigmund]

Sorry I know this is not the right forum but everyone here is so knowledgable that I trust their responses.

I have a friend that has a freshwater tank and has a problem with two fishes that have a fluke or parasite on them, she read about giving them a saltwater bath for 3 to 5 minutes to get rid of it. I have given my saltwater fish a freshwater bath before so I am familiar with the process; however I have one question about doing this in reverse.

Would I use the aquarium salt used for freshwater tanks, or use the salt for saltwater tanks?

Any help would be appreciated. Thanks~

 

[philter4]

The problem with this is the many of the primary freshwater fish (they evolved in fresh water) like tetras and minnows have no evolutionary traits to handle the salt and lose fluids through the gills. This means that the treatment time will probably kill the fish. Other families that are secondary such as cichlids and livebearers should be fine.

There are several very effective fluke treatments available in most good fish stores or online, why doesn't she use one of those?

Good luck with whichever she chooses to try.

 

[jmaneyapanda]

<a href=showthread.php?s=&postid=12818012#post12818012 target=_blank>Originally posted</a> by philter4
The problem with this is the many of the primary freshwater fish (they evolved in fresh water) like tetras and minnows have no evolutionary traits to handle the salt and lose fluids through the gills. This means that the treatment time will probably kill the fish. Other families that are secondary such as cichlids and livebearers should be fine.

There are several very effective fluke treatments available in most good fish stores or online, why doesn't she use one of those?

Good luck with whichever she chooses to try.

I run small amount of aquarium salt constantly in my freshwater tanks. In small amounts, it poses no problems.

 

[ChuckLawson]

Philter4 has a good point -- some freshwater fish handle salt fine, others can't handle it at all; if you're not certain your fish can handle it, your best bet is to either check with a source that has detailed knowledge of the species in question, or go with a good anti-parasitic medication.

If you decide to try it, remember to keep treatments short - even on fish that can handle salt, a high concentration will damage their osmotic regulation system very quickly.

As for marine salt vs. just plain salt, if the fish can handle salt, any non-iodized table salt is fine for this purpose (and quite a bit cheaper). Kosher salt works great and is available at almost any grocery store, just remember that 1.5 tsp of kosher salt = 1 tsp of table salt.

Good luck!

 

[Sigmund]

Thanks for the advice. I also was not a big fan of the dip as an alternative.

I think I will advise her to use a different type of medication than what she has already tried. By the way the fish were cichlids so would have been ok.

 

[ChuckLawson]

Yep. Most cichlids handle salt without a problem. I'm not sure what type of parasite you're dealing with, but metronidazole (which used to be the active ingredient in Clout, although it's been years since I've treated with it, so double check) tends to work well for many. You might try wetwebmedia.com for some more up-to-date advice on specific parasites.

The real problem with dips is that they don't treat any parasites that have dropped off the fish and are in the tank in another phase of their life cycle getting ready to re-infect, and unless it's a wild-caught fish that came in with an oddball parasite, that's liable to be what's going on.

In that circumstance, dipping the fish may kill what's on the fish today, but end up stressing the fish and weakening its immune system making it harder to fight off tomorrow's parasite load.

 

[Crush Coral]

I have tried it to no avail. And if you try it with a skin fish you will put it in extreme pain. Trust me.