# safe to use aquarium salt in planted tank??



## crazydeweycat (Apr 21, 2011)

I seem to have an outbreak of ick, weird cause everything has been stable for months. 

Anyway in past I have used salt dosing to rid the problem, however that wasn't in a planted tank. So will salt harm my plants?


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## Steve001 (Feb 26, 2011)

Don't use salt.


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## Optix (May 31, 2011)

salt is not a bad thing in general, but to get it to the levels where it is effective vs ick it will "shock" your plants and make them have to adjust to the high salt content...and then adjust back

...the ick removal chemicals are quite effective..but be careful not to stain the sealant seams in your tank with it...or increase your water temp and do very frequent water changes to 1. speed up the ich life cycle and 2. remove free floating ich parasites

removing ich completely from your tank is almost impossible without going the chemical route..but generally, if your fish are happy and the tank is healthy an outbreak is rare


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

*F y i*

Fish wormer kills Ick and snails too.
*flubendazole*
Velvet and Ick are also covered by a flu treatment Doc sells as little or as much as you want.
Other sources are out there in the UK and maybe others via the web but I’ve ordered from ‘the Doc’.
http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/ItemsForSale.html
Article links;
http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/FlubendazoleTreatment.pdf
http://www.inkmkr.com/Fish/FlubendazoleArticle.pdf

My thread with info here aimed at quarantine.
http://www.plantedtank.net/forums/fish/138137-quarantine.html

HTH


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## sewingalot (Oct 12, 2008)

I took Mike's advice before and found flubendazole works great for ich and velvet. But whatever you do, don't be stupid like me and accidentally use *fen*bendazole at those doses. It's deadly.


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## zavikan (Jan 5, 2009)

ooorrrr.....just slowly raise the temp of the tank and let the system take care of itself? It has NEVER failed me. NEVER.

People are to quick to take medicine I say. The idea that you can't get rid of ick without medicine is pretty ignorant (sorry). I have nothing against dosing medicine when needed, but honestly, it is preferable not to here.

Look up raising temps to cure ick. It works, and makes sense.


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## wkndracer (Mar 14, 2009)

zavikan said:


> ooorrrr.....just slowly raise the temp of the tank and let the system take care of itself? It has NEVER failed me. NEVER.
> 
> People are to quick to take medicine I say. The idea that you can't get rid of ick without medicine is pretty ignorant (sorry). I have nothing against dosing medicine when needed, but honestly, it is preferable not to here.
> 
> Look up raising temps to cure ick. It works, and makes sense.


True on all points save one (imo) also loaches and several other species don't tolerate heat well. But back to that single point, most people worm every pet they own except the fish they prize. Flu is part of that treatment most miss. The fact that it treats other issues is only a plus on that point. I've lost prize angel stock to internal parasites before and won't again.

Yes,,, I medicate healthy 'looking' fish.


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## crazydeweycat (Apr 21, 2011)

thanks for the advice, I've never had this problem before and I would rather not have to use chemicals if possible.

the fish are all tetra's and the temp is currently 83C. What temp should I try raising it to?


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## BBradbury (Nov 8, 2010)

*Aquarium Salt in a Planted Tank*

_Good morning crazy..._

_Yes, it's safe to use aquarium salt in a planted tank, if you keep the doses low. If you're treating "Ich" or White Spot, you need to add one teaspoon of aquarium salt to five gallons of your water change water. A 25 to 30 percent water change should effectively kill the virus._

_In small amounts, aquarium salt is very benefical to plants because it replenishes needed minerals in the water. It also improves your fishes' immune system._

_I've used it occasionally to keep my tanks free of disease causing bacteria. My tanks have been running for years and I've never had a problem with diseases._

_B_


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## d3snoopy (Apr 1, 2011)

Optix said:


> ...the ick removal chemicals are quite effective..but be careful not to stain the sealant seams in your tank with it...or increase your water temp and do very frequent water changes to 1. speed up the ich life cycle and 2. remove free floating ich parasites


Yeah, my tank sealant is a dull blue color now thanks to an ich treatment. It doesn't look very good. I don't know exactly how you would protect against it happening, so I'd make sure I do it in a quarantine tank that you don't mind getting blue. I'm not aware of any structural consequences to the discoloration. Correct me if I'm wrong.


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## seove (Aug 25, 2014)

I got caught up in using Instant Ocean in my planted tanks to provide the minerals that fish need and then when I saw the first sign of ick, I would add a pinch and also add a pinch to the 10 gallons of new water at water changes. Slowly, I nuked my plants and had to do several major water changes to recoup. That was one lesson on "more is not always better". Now I use a very small amount (1 gram every 6 weeks). I really think that with good water quality and plants, ick problems will be very minor and infrequent.


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## TINNGG (Mar 9, 2005)

I once used Instant Ocean to treat Ich and had the most incredible outbreak of thread algae I've ever seen. It was beautiful...in a weirdly amusing way. I'd clean it up in the AM, only to have my tank look like it had been invaded by a mass of aquatic fairy spiders by evening. Took several weeks to clear that up. I can only guess that the minerals made something really happy.

If you can get your fish out of the tank, treat them in a q/t tank, leaving your nice, planted tank devoid of fish for a week or three. Should break the cycle in that system while treating the fish too.


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