The Puffer Forum

Yes they should.

Okay, good.

It seems as though there is a difference in oppinion on the salt treatment, so don't take my word on it but google (are tetras sensitive to salt) and base a decision on whether you think it is ok or not with the info you are given. I would hate to know that you are asking for help and were getting misinformed or hasty one sided advice. I cant say that my recomendations are the best for tetras,tetras are sensitive to meds also. I have not had ick on any tetras I have owned, so they are only recomendations and your tetras seem to be showing sensitivities, to the salt in their environment for over ten days.I made these recomendations to help, and for you another option. The idea that "maybe" this treatment is harming your fish kind of compelled me to post my two cents.By the way, we all learn everyday through trial and error, so things recomended are not always "perfect" but if your tank looks like it is in trouble go back to where the trouble began and ask yourself whats different. My apolologies PP but i really do think the salt is causing problems in the community tank and i really would like to at least convince her to question if this treatment is the new problem.

Interesting read on salt:
http://badmanstropicalfish.com/articles/article77.html

Thank you for your concern dlowis, I am giving it some thought. I'd hate to be too skeptical and have it cost me the life of many of my fish. I thought that it would be safer to use aquarium salt versus continuing to put chemicals in there. I don't know if they were already getting secondary infections before I put the salt in or after though... it all progressed gradually. I just trusted what it said on the box, that it helps to treat tropical fish diseases, promotes recovery, and reduces stress. Blargh. The article that Pufferpunk linked is interesting. I agree that it doesn't make sense to add salt as a general tonic. The question now is whether it would harm them in short term for disease treatment, or if it would cause the fish more stress, making it worse. I will look into it more. Thanks to both of you.

When I mentioned using marine salt, I was only talking about the GSP tank.

Your welcome pufferluv hope things get better for you.

dlowis, No disrespect intended towards your advise. I do agree that 1tbsp/5g is too much for a softwater fish. 1 tbsp/10g is better. Even just raising the temp with large WC, should do the trick, if fish seemed stressed by the use of salt. I've just never seen that in low doses.

PP Not a problem.thanks