Salt in freshwater aquarium

[aquafun]

Hi my girlfriend wants to put salt in a freshwater aquarium because she read somewhere that it is good for the fishes as she suspects one is ill. Is this advisable

 

[debbie]

A little bit of salt will not harm them but what kinds of fish do you have and what is wrong with them??

 

[keebler]

yeah, that's actually pretty common. If you go to a store like walmart, you should find some freshwater salt (sounds stupid), this is good for some fish, such as guppies.

 

[reefkprz]

freshwater "salt" is used for many things in freshwater aquaria. freshwater salt and marine salt mixes should never be confused with eachother as they dont even come close to eachother in chemical and mineral make up.
Make sure she doesnt use it on soft water fish because it will spike the PH of the tank.
appropriatly dosed it can help with electrolyte balance, slime coat and as a general tonic. many fish benifit from a high quality salt used appropriatly. dont just do the "I heard its good so I'm going to add some"
what kind of fish is she keeping?
what sized tank?
how old is it?
what kind of filtration?
when was the last time a water change was performed?
how deep is the substrate?
does she gravel vac when douing a waterchange?
how large are the water changes?
how often?
there are about 50 other questions to go along with these but this is a good starting point.
the common mistake is for people to think all freshwater fish are the same and need the same things.