Aquarium salt to kill diseases

I was told by a Discus breeder that if you add some aquarium salt to your fresh water tank when doing water changes it will kill some diseases or something like that. But can't remember the ratios. He also said to keep a salted mixture of water to keep your net and the likes in to sterelise. The seeverse applies to salt water keep your nets in pure fresh water. Not sure if anyone has heard or does this can you explain what it treats is it bacteria,diseases and if it is diseases what sought of diseases.

you use salt to assist with healing / medication but I would not recommend using it all the time

depends on the fish. bristlenose and discus do not tollerate salt. you can use it to cure some illnesses or help. however, its not a permanent treatment.

So what sought of illnesses would it cure,what are the symptoms of those illnesses and what ratios would you use and how would you use it. Would there be a need to remove the charcoal. Cheers Guys.

Salt is more of an aid to treating some diseases rather than a cure, it can adds electrolytes, which reduce osmotic stress to the gills and can aid in the production of the slime layer and speed up the healing of some wound sites.

But as Doug pointed out it is better used with fish that have scales, scaleless fish, like BN's, can suffer burns if the salt is not dissolved properly or just added to a tank.

Imagine touching salt with your fingers it's not a problem, but if you have an area of skin with something like a cut then you can imagine the sort of effect on a scaless fish.

Salt is also used in tandem with raising your temp in order to cure Ich.
I've used salt with my BN babies when I had a persistent strain of Ich but I went easy on the salt dosage and they all tolerated it well. I was pretty nervous about salting them tho and had my fingers crossed the whole time. Course, I did have a few that bloated which I think was due to the higher temps. Thank goodness for garlic and shelled peas.

Doug wrote:

depends on the fish. bristlenose and discus do not tollerate salt. you can use it to cure some illnesses or help. however, its not a permanent treatment.

you incorrect re Discus it helps discus fight secondary infections but you need to know when and how to use it
I keep discus and have even given the odd one a salt bath instead of a regular med it worked a treat

I am aware of this, all fish can tollerate a salt bath. epsom salts are vell know for releaving bloat etc.

what i was driving at is that they will not tollerate salt in their tank on a permanet basis. For example, goldfish can tollerate salts in their tank to quite a high concentration which helps control swim bladder issues as well as a host of other issues. Discus and bristlenose on the other hand will not, on a long term basis.

I have a guppy tank and use 3g/ltr of salt to prevent any illness etc. My other 2 tanks, BN & Growout, I dont use salt at all but have a drawer full just incase