# Salt treatment and plants



## Lord Nibbler (Dec 22, 2005)

I am using salt to clear up an aquarium with a chronic Ich problem. The salt is about 1.5 teaspoons per gallon at 76F.

I am wondering as to how long I can keep my plants in such a condition (I want to be sure to get all the Ich cysts). After 3 days, the amazon sword, java moss and coffee-leaf Anubias look ok. However, the Ambulias looks a bit paler and less resistant to algae (although it might be from the otto being less active in the salty water).


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

While salt is not tolerated well by ick, it is also not well tolerated by most aquatic plants.

As to your question of how long... well it really depends on the species, but I suggest you do not use salt to treat the ick. Rather raise the temperature to ~81F. The increased heat will cause the ick to go through it's life cycle faster and die off before infecting fish. It will also rev up the fish's metabolism and immune systems so they will be more fit to fight off an infection.

Raising the temp to kill off the ick is rather like using a weed killer. Some weed killers work by accelerating the growth of weeds, the plant goes through its entire life cycle but cannot reproduce since the seeds can't be produced and mature in such a short time.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Hmm. For the fishes and plants sake, I wouldn't do it for too long, 3-4 days max. The plants you have should be okay for a few days longer (up to 7 days total), but I think being in salt for too long will disrupt the plant's cells and nutrient uptake rates causing it's demise.

To remove ich, I find that it's better to increase the heat to 80-82 degress or so, thereby speeding up the life cycle of the ich. Good for fish, okay for plants, and bad for ich! 

-John N.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

In case you were wondering why salt is bad for freshwater fish/plants...

I believe one of the reason salt is bad for plants is because it actually dehydrates plants. Sort of an odd thing to think that a plant submersed underwater can actually become dehydrated... The salt inside the cell is not equal to the salt content in your water column, so the water inside the plant equilibrates (diffuses) by leaving the cell and traveling into the water column, thereby killing cells.

I think too much salt can also be a problem since it is similar enough to other alkali metals and alkaline earth metals like Ca/Mg/K that it displaces them from the plant's receptors. Therefore the plant can not uptake these nutrients and eventually dies.


As for being bad for freshwater fish, salt dehydrates their cells as well and they die from that.

As a side note, salt water fish do not have this problem because they either have a higher salt content then the surrounding water (meaning they need to pump water out of their bodies to keep from exploding), have a similar salt content to the water, or have a very high urea content in their body that causes water to travel into their bodies without having to drink! Sharks are one example of sea creature that survives by using urea, this is also why shark meat has a distinct flavor... hmmm


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## Lord Nibbler (Dec 22, 2005)

Unfortunately my fish were gasping at 80F, so I couldn't raise the temperature higher. The Ich seems to be a particularly resistant strain, and the typical malachite green/formalin and aqueous copper didn't work. Clout cleared it out before, but it made a mess of the aquarium and the Ich came back later.

I'll probably pull the smaller plants out and leave them in a bucket of water from the untreated aquarium for awhile. The sword plant is actually too big to fit in a 5-gallon bucket(!) so it stays.


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## John N. (Dec 11, 2005)

Interesting. How about airstone and increased temperature then. Maybe that will solve the ich problem and keep the fish from gasping. In any event, good luck!

-John N.


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## Zapins (Jul 28, 2004)

Just what I was thinking. Add the airstone to increase O2 saturation in the water. Warm water holds less gas then cold water.

Don't worry about the resistant ick, the parasite can become resistant to drugs, but it can't become resistant to temperature


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## trenac (Jul 16, 2004)

I used the heat/salt method for around a month in my planted tank with no ill effects to the plants. You have to raise the temp up to 86 degrees and add salt for it to work. I don't think heat alone will kill the ich. Also you need to continue treatment for 2 weeks after the last white spot is gone.


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## Lord Nibbler (Dec 22, 2005)

John N. said:


> Interesting. How about airstone and increased temperature then. Maybe that will solve the ich problem and keep the fish from gasping. In any event, good luck!
> 
> -John N.


Hmm, I could try as I have an unused airstone that was for a shrimp hatchery.

My Anubias and sword were getting the bits of transparent/brittle leaves on the end. I placed the Ambulias and Anubias in a bucket of unsalted water to try and revive them a bit and trimmed some of the worse leaves off of the sword and the Anubias. It is probably for the best to move around the Ambulias a bit anyway as it is a dirt magnet and had collected quite a bit that wouldn't vaccuum!


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