Do axolotls like salt ?

[Axotolt]

Is it good idea to give them salt in aquarium

 

[ToothlessTheAxi]

I don't think that putting large amounts of salt in your axolotl aquarium is a good idea. However, when I spoke with my vet she suggested that I add about 1g of salt per litre of water to my aquarium in order to help prevent fungal infections. That being said, I guess it just depends on the amount. If there is too much, it can be harmful to there gills and such. So if you want to add any, just make sure it is a very small amount (I figured 1g = about 1 pinch, so that's what I do).

 

[Skudo09]

Do not add salt to the aquarium. They are freshwater animals and salt can be very irritating to their gills and sensitive skin. salt baths are normally recommended to treat fungus however it should be done correctly and in a separate tub, not the tank. There is a thread on how to perform salt bathes but this should only be done if treating for fungus.

 

[sde]

It is kind of depated.

Some people say:

If your water is not hard it is recommended to add minerals to the water for axolotls. The most commonly recommended way of doing this are by adding Hoftreter's solution or aquarium salt. It is important to have the correct concentration.

I often add marine salt to my water that is already hard.

And;

It has to be noniodized salt. I put about 1 tablespoon per 10 gallons. It sounds like you put way to much in.

And;

I took this right off of axolotl.org

"Axolotls prefer somewhat hard water, and those that live in soft water will often suffer from temporary anaemia - the animal becomes pale and its gills lose their colouration for a few minutes or hours. This is not a dangerous condition but it can be prevented by supplementing the hardness of the water with added salts."
I use about one tablespoon of salt water fish salt per gallon of water. You can also use aquarium salt, rock salt, noniodized salt, or Hoftretters solution.

And;

As an added point, professionals who raise axolotl larvae normally use a salt solution such as Holtfreter's or Ringer's. The point of this is to ensure that there are enough salts/minerals in the water. Unless you have very hard water, taking a step toward purer water isn't helpful. More info here:
Caudata Culture Articles - Bottled Water for Amphibians

And;

I think the keepers may have it backwards; the more dilute (close to distilled) the water is, the more stress on the kidneys. The kidneys have to maintain the normal salt content of the blood; the less salts in the water, the harder they have to work.

Here is a thread that discusses this: http://www.caudata.org/forum/f46-be...ral-discussion/98174-salt.html?highlight=salt

-Seth

 

[michael]

Is it good idea to give them salt in aquarium

yes. About a tablespoon per 10 gallons of aquarium salt, marine salt, rock salt, or noniodized salt.

 

[Bette]

yes. About a tablespoon per 10 gallons of aquarium salt, marine salt, rock salt, or noniodized salt.

I agree. That's just about what I do. I tend to only add this ratio of salt to their water when I see the first beginning of a hint of fungus. Most of the time, I use only pure fresh water for them (i have well water).

 

[keiko]

Salts can be added, but like others said it's very little. The danger of telling people to add salt to their fresh water aquariums is that most of the time they don't know what they're doing and add way too much and cause more harm than good.
Usually when adjusting the water hardness in their aquariums people add Ca and Mg instead of regular salt (NaCl).

I've been wondering about that sentence on axolotl.org about soft water and anemia. Anemia means the haemoglobin concentration in the blood is low - there are fewer red blood cells or the red blood cells are not normal. So if soft water causes anemia in axolotls then the symptoms like gills losing color would last longer than just a few minutes or hours. But the gills can lose color from time to time simply because the axie is not active so not as much blood flow through the gills. So if anyone would have more information about this I'd like to hear it.

 

[sde]

Salts can be added, but like others said it's very little. The danger of telling people to add salt to their fresh water aquariums is that most of the time they don't know what they're doing and add way too much and cause more harm than good.
Usually when adjusting the water hardness in their aquariums people add Ca and Mg instead of regular salt (NaCl).

That is why one must be careful to specify how much and what type of salt to add. If you do so, I don't see why it is dangerous unless the person adding salt to their aquarium isn't responsible and adds too much or the wrong kind.

I've been wondering about that sentence on axolotl.org about soft water and anemia. Anemia means the haemoglobin concentration in the blood is low - there are fewer red blood cells or the red blood cells are not normal. So if soft water causes anemia in axolotls then the symptoms like gills losing color would last longer than just a few minutes or hours. But the gills can lose color from time to time simply because the axie is not active so not as much blood flow through the gills. So if anyone would have more information about this I'd like to hear it.

I did a bit of research, and anemia does cause sluggishness in humans. However I don't know how long it would last in an axolotl, but I would think that Axolotl.org is correct. Sluggishness isn't the only symptom of anemia, other symptoms are light headedness, weakness, fatigue, etc.. So, if an axolotl is suffering from an iron deficiency then it might not just become inactive, it might become weak, fatigued etc.. This leads me to believe that though inactiveness is a symptom of anemia it might not cause the axolotl to be inactive for very long periods. They could be subject to a different symptom or a combination.
Hopefully that makes sense. I think I got all my facts strait on symptoms of anemia, but I could be wrong somewhere. -Seth

 

[keiko]

That is why one must be careful to specify how much and what type of salt to add. If you do so, I don't see why it is dangerous unless the person adding salt to their aquarium isn't responsible and adds too much or the wrong kind.

I definitely agree with you. But the sad thing is that many people don't really understand the chemistry behind even the simple aquarium stuff. If everyone would be ready to learn and do as they are told then everything would be great, but many people only hear the words "add salt to your aquarium" and don't pay attention to anything else.

I did a bit of research, and anemia does cause sluggishness in humans. However I don't know how long it would last in an axolotl, but I would think that Axolotl.org is correct. Sluggishness isn't the only symptom of anemia, other symptoms are light headedness, weakness, fatigue, etc.. So, if an axolotl is suffering from an iron deficiency then it might not just become inactive, it might become weak, fatigued etc.. This leads me to believe that though inactiveness is a symptom of anemia it might not cause the axolotl to be inactive for very long periods. They could be subject to a different symptom or a combination.

The only way to cure anemia is to get more healthy red blood cells in the blood - either wait for the body to produce them (takes normally about a week in humans for a rbc to mature from a haematopoietic stem cell to working red blood cell) or do a blood transfusion. So to say that if an axie is anemic the symptom is pale gills for a few minutes or hours sounds a bit off to me. If the gills were pale because of anemia then they should be pale most of the time (not to mention that anemia would have to be very bad to affect the color of the blood much). The gills can be pale for a few minutes or hours simply because the axie is inactive (no anemia). Ofcourse an anemic axie can and will be inactive too and therefore have pale gills. The point I'm trying to make is that pale gills are in no way specific only to anemia and can't really be used to diagnose anything. I don't mean to imply that axolotl.org would be wrong but would just like to hear more information about the subject. And also an explanation on how the soft water actually causes the anemia. Being a student of biomedical laboratory science this just sounds a bit like "ehh let's just write something, they won't understand it anyway".

 

[Skudo09]

Oops I didn't actually think of the OP asking about salt in terms of conditioning salts. I was thinking large quantities of salt when I answered the question. My bad...

I am a bit curious about the anemia into too. I have minor iron deficiency and have been fighting it for some time now. I don't feel tired for short moments of time. I feel tired and exhausted 99% of the time. Every task feels like a lot more effort than it should be. I don't feel more energetic after sleep. I would expect anemia in other animals including axolotls to show symptoms of inactivity, weakness, lethargy, pale gills for long periods of time rather than a few minutes.

 

[sde]

I definitely agree with you. But the sad thing is that many people don't really understand the chemistry behind even the simple aquarium stuff. If everyone would be ready to learn and do as they are told then everything would be great, but many people only hear the words "add salt to your aquarium" and don't pay attention to anything else.

Good point. Unfortunately this is true. Though saying "I put about 1 tablespoon of salt per 10 gallons" is quite strait forward some people might only see "add salt", like you say.

The only way to cure anemia is to get more healthy red blood cells in the blood - either wait for the body to produce them (takes normally about a week in humans for a rbc to mature from a haematopoietic stem cell to working red blood cell) or do a blood transfusion. So to say that if an axie is anemic the symptom is pale gills for a few minutes or hours sounds a bit off to me. If the gills were pale because of anemia then they should be pale most of the time (not to mention that anemia would have to be very bad to affect the color of the blood much).

That makes sense. I too read that it takes about a week for the blood cells to be replenished, but I thought that maybe the effect of inactiveness when anemic only occurred for periods regardless of the red blood cell count. However what you say makes a lot more sense. Plus what Skudo says obviously is more accurate than my "hypotheses".

Being a student of biomedical laboratory science this just sounds a bit like "ehh let's just write something, they won't understand it anyway".

I am not sure if you were talking about Axolotl.org or my post, but I can assure you my post was not like that at all.

 

[keiko]

I am not sure if you were talking about Axolotl.org or my post, but I can assure you my post was not like that at all.

Not meant at your post Seth at all. Sorry if it came out that way. What I meant is that on axolotl.org the paragraph about soft water and anemia sounds a bit like the author didn't really bother to explain (or didn't know) the subject properly and only wanted to pass it quickly.