Plants?

[dramaqueen]

I used salt regularly for awhile then I quit because of all the confusion. I've heard that it messes with their osmoregulatory system.

[Chicklet]

Never heard that one before " osmoregulatory system."

I've just been totally sold on adding salt after all I've seen...

We each do what were comfortable with....

and you know, I also heard salt was bad for cories,
She shock her head and said I been getting some awful bad information, That I need to leave the internet alone,
She told me to add the salt with my cories and watch them,,,
My cories haven't been doing to good after having gone thru a cycle process, made me sick what I did to them forcing them to endure all that..
For the first time after all that cycle they went thru, They actually started playing again, I got so excited I called my husband in to witness it,,

Oh and one corie has been laying on his side for weeks, Kept thinking he was dead, But I'll be dang if he didn't straighten up, I really can't figure that one out..

I'm just plain sold on Salt...

[dramaqueen]

I agree that we should do what we are comfortable with. So the salt didn't hurt the cories? I have heard that cories are rather delicate.

[Chicklet]

I know thats what I have heard too, But geeze I put the salt too my cories like she told and I ain't seen nothing bad yet, Just all positive,
like I stated in the previous post, I can't even tell which one was the guy living on his side for weeks any more.. You just don't know how good it is to see them play again, I use to get such a kick outta watching them play.. Finally I get to see it again thanks to the salt....

I'm not trying to say do this, I'm just really amazed at what I;ve seen and been seeing.. just needed to share

[dramaqueen]

I never had a problem with it when I used it. I'm glad your cories are doing ok now.

[Nauriel]

Oh, salt. It is wonderful stuff. And yes, if you put too much salt in, it will mess with thier osmoregulation. Basically thats just a fancy way of saying that, due to osmosis, if you put a fresh water fish in salt water, it will "shrivel up and die" because all the water in the fish is diffusing to the solvent (salt) rich water out side thier bodies, and if you put a salt water fish in fresh water, it will "blow up and die" because the fresh water will flood thier solvent rich cells.
In short, laymens terms: don't use too much salt! Its bad.

Personally, I like salt. It helped my male betta after he ripped his fins (he though it would be fun to slip past the tank divider and beat on the female. He lost the fight...) and its also helped him in stressful situations.

I also have plants, and they don't seem to suffer any ill effects from the salt. I'm careful not to add too much, because I want to be able to add a little extra just incase my betta gets parasites or bacteria. But all in all aquarium salt is pretty awesome

As for the plants...I strongly agree with the java fern. Those things are wickedly hardy. I've been pulling it out of the gravel, taking it long train rides (I'm a college student, with no car), and generally neglecting it, and it still thrives. Its even decided that it wants to have babies (I know have lots of little java ferns in my tank).

Another good plant is bamboo. These plants are also hardy. Like the java fern, they don't need direct light, and so are perfect for a bowl or tank. With my bamboo, I just stuck them in the gravel and they took up residence. They're still bright and green and making my tank look good.

I've also tried a couple other plants. Back when I lived at home, I had a nice ten gallon. I tried to plant anacharis, money wart, some plant that had the name scarlet in it, and some plant that had the word wisteria in it. These plants didn't work out as well. I think it may have been the metal band that weights down the plants. There's a very fine area of how tight the band can be. Too loose and the plants float away. Too tight and the plants rot. I couldn't find that happy medium, so I always had either entire stalkes of plants floating all over the place or mushy bits of rotted stems clouding my tank. I finally gave up on everything except my java fern.