Khulis and salt??

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Munkee
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Khulis and salt??

Post by Munkee » Sun Nov 18, 2007 4:47 pm

I was always under the impression that loaches or at least most loaches could not tolerate salt. Now I have some person on another forum telling me Khulis can tolerate salt and it's a matter of personal opinion. :?

So which is it? Can they tolerate it or not, and for how long?
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MoonPye
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Post by MoonPye » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:10 pm

I am the furthest from an expert on this subject but I will only tell you what I do with my tanks. Do not take this as advice, only reporting my own results.

I do keep salt in my kuhlii tank as well as my dojo tank. I have it at half dosage usually recommended for other fish. I also have cories in my tanks that tolerate it well (and I had been told not to use with cories either).

I was having a hell of a time with ich a few months back (in August) and salt was the only thing that helped, and I believe saved most of my fish (I did lose quite a few before trying salt). I have asked at every single fish store I've bought my fish from, and each and every one of them keep salt in their tanks at much higher dosages than I do. Petco I think had the most.

Now I continue to use small amounts of salt because it's keeping the ich at bay (meaning, I haven't had to battle it at all now), and my fish are thriving and very happy. Perhaps it has something to do with my water conditions to begin with, maybe it just works here? I don't know. I am honestly mystified as to *why*, but it does work for me and my fish, so I do use it.
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Emma Turner
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Post by Emma Turner » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:57 pm

Kuhli loaches are freshwater fish, often actually found in blackwater areas, so salt should not be added to their tanks - especially long-term.

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Munkee
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Post by Munkee » Sun Nov 18, 2007 5:59 pm

Emma Turner wrote:Kuhli loaches are freshwater fish, often actually found in blackwater areas, so salt should not be added to their tanks - especially long-term.

Emma
Thats what I thought! I dislike people trying to prove me wrong. :wink: Thanks for the info Emma.

Also thank you moonpye for the added info. :D
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Post by Diana » Sun Nov 18, 2007 6:17 pm

I also have not had to battle Ich in several years. I keep no salt in my freshwater tanks under normal conditions.
I will set up a quarantine tank that matches the water in the store (including salt) for new fish, then change that water over a period of a month or so to match whatever tank the fish are going into.

The medicinal benefits of salt are not the salt itself, but the change that happens when you add it to a previously salt-free tank.
Many parasites are killed by the change in osmosis that happens when salt is added to the tank. If the salt is kept in there all the time the fish and parasites get used to it, and it no longer serves as a medicine.

Fish that live in fresh water have metabolic systems set up to remove excess water in their bodies. When the osmotic difference between the tank water and their body is a large difference they develop a strong water removal system. If the fish then get sick, and you add salt, they do not have to work so hard to remove the water, because less water enters their system when the TDS is higher in the tank. The fish can then use the energy for fighting the disease. If salt was in the tank all the time they would not have developed so strong a system.

The original use of salt was likely in the days before aquarists had tests that would show them what was going on in their tanks. During the initial cycle, or when a minicycle happened, there would be some nitrites in the tank. The fish keeper had no way of knowing this. Salt IS a very good way of preventing brown blood disease when used during cycling. It is not needed all the time, though, because nitrite is not normally in the tank in dangerous levels.
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MoonPye
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Post by MoonPye » Mon Nov 19, 2007 3:43 am

Diana wrote:
The medicinal benefits of salt are not the salt itself, but the change that happens when you add it to a previously salt-free tank.
Many parasites are killed by the change in osmosis that happens when salt is added to the tank. If the salt is kept in there all the time the fish and parasites get used to it, and it no longer serves as a medicine.

Fish that live in fresh water have metabolic systems set up to remove excess water in their bodies. When the osmotic difference between the tank water and their body is a large difference they develop a strong water removal system. If the fish then get sick, and you add salt, they do not have to work so hard to remove the water, because less water enters their system when the TDS is higher in the tank. The fish can then use the energy for fighting the disease. If salt was in the tank all the time they would not have developed so strong a system.
Diana thank you for this info. Probably why it was working for us. Since I still have a few new fish I will continue to use salt, but I will start to wean the tanks off of it and see what happens. That makes perfect sense about using the salt in a Qtank to match the fish store's water..

Again, thank you. I will not use the salt long term then, and will let you know how it works out.
~Monica in NEPA ~ We got Dojo Mojo!
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cybermeez
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Post by cybermeez » Mon Nov 19, 2007 11:30 pm

I've used 1 tablespoon of kosher salt per each 10 gallons of water long term in my mixed loach tank. There are both Kuhlis and Corys in residence in this tank and none of them have shown any signs of having problems tolerating that level of salt.

It's entirely possible that the natural chemistry of my tapwater contributes to my success with salt. Your mileage may vary. My fish just seem to do better with it in the water as part of normal maintainance.
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Post by winner2010 » Sun May 23, 2010 12:12 am

this is definatley needs sorting through

neon tetras ok
other tetras ok as long as there is 5 specimens per species
balas ok BUT they willost likely tear through the neons and similar sized fish of that sort
sharks, just 1 or else theyll fight
zebra danios, ok but might become food
clown loaches, should be ok
khulis school so theyll need 5+ specimens, might also become food
knives are a no,1 alone needs 200 gallons
bettas will definatley not be happy in there
corys,again school so 5+ and the small ones might become food
gouramis ok
dollars ok but you cant get live plants, theyll eat them to the roots
stick to 1 please of the SAE

the koi for your pond sounds odd, woudnt they need a chiller if tropical fish need no heater in sri lanka?

dont know about the filtration, yeas 200+% overstocked, already listed food issues, and ill get to that
try substituting the small fish with say non-nippy barbs and the larger tetrs like congos.

discus for this a really big no no

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