salt or no salt

[guppies]

I have a 90 gals tank, with around 60 cardinal in it and some shrimp with be 15 of them, some i put some salt in once in a while for water change. I also have 3 smaller tank for guppies.
1 - 25 gals with maybe 8 female and 4 male guppies
1- 10 gals with maybe 40 new born guppies
1- 5 , 1 - 10 all setup no fish in it.
should i put salt into the guppies tanks too !
Thanks

[JSchmidt]

Why would you add salt, esp. for the tank with cardinals?

Jim

[guppies]

I didn't add salt in yet, I through salt might help to kill some bad stuff in the water. the box say will help fish to claim down and help fish to prevent getting sick...lol

[stoopid]

I use it as a "tonic" still, and because I have a Mono that likes his water closer to brackish... there's a real split in the fish keeper's community about the usage and effectiveness of salt. So far I've only seen good come from using it.

[Faramir]

Cardinals come from extremely pure, soft, acid waters with low TDS. What is dissolved in the water is mostly organic acids.

I don't think raising the TDS of water that's already loaded with ions by comparison with salt is going to do them any good whatsoever.

[tricksterpup]

Here is a very good artical on salt and mollies, but I believe this works for all livebearers. It was written by Dr. Ted Coletti of the ALA and FAMA.
http://tcoletti.tripod.com/molly_salt_debate.html


One of the main discussions is that Salt is a "tonic" that helps many fish get over ailments. Well yes this does help with external parasites. But this doesn't help the problem, reason for many live bearers become ill is due to bad water quality and over crowding. If you do regular water changes, then you never ever really need to add salt to your tanks.

jim

[guppies]

Thank you all for the great help.

[cdawson]

Originally posted by stoopid
I use it as a "tonic" still, and because I have a Mono that likes his water closer to brackish... there's a real split in the fish keeper's community about the usage and effectiveness of salt. So far I've only seen good come from using it.

Your mono needs SW as an adult, you should be moving it into actual brackish water soon. I have 3 and they really do ALOT better in brackish to SW. If you keep it in FW for long periods of time it'll succumb due to the minerals and additives that are in SW they aren't getting.

[Z Man]

Yes, salt will raise the Total Dissolved Solids in any tank but Neons should not have any salt added. I just don't understand how people can add salt without knowing the TDS of the tank. If you have hard water to begin with, salt will only make it harder. Depending on your fish's wild habitat, they may or may not require harder water. Do a test before you add anything!

[stoopid]

Originally posted by cdawson


Your mono needs SW as an adult, you should be moving it into actual brackish water soon. I have 3 and they really do ALOT better in brackish to SW. If you keep it in FW for long periods of time it'll succumb due to the minerals and additives that are in SW they aren't getting.

Well, mine's still a juvi but I want to start the transition sometime for him. I will probably add a tad higher than tonic levels once he becomes an "adult". I won't be doing brackish because I don't have a seperate tank for him (and he would be the only one requiring it). At the time he looks sick from the water quality I will trade or sell him back to the LFS, but I figure that's a good year away... in the meantime he seems very happy and active. Thanks for the info! :)

[Sumpin'fishy]

Well, that is definately a STOOPID idea!!! (LOL, had to do it :p )

Seriously, though, if you look at it from the "reality" it's going to probably turn out to be, you really are kidding yourself with that mono, Stoopid. Let's say that in a year or so the fish does indeed start to diminish in overal health. If it's only minor, you probably won't even notice it (because the change is fairly gradual, and hard to notice suddenly), and if you do see some odd behavior, it really could just be anything! Your fish could have a tummy ache (not impossible) or have gulped too much air and swimming funny, or your wife happened to apply her perfume too close to the fish tank (thus getting some into the water :rolleyes: ). These things are fairly mild and doing a water change and time will clear them right up (although perfume could be major:eek: ). To get rid of the fish with minor symptoms seems silly to me when you could easily bring him back to full health.

Now lets say the symptoms are greater. The fish stops eating, has chronic disease problems, or is listless on bottom of tank when all water parameters are fine! You will probably stress out the mono, as well as the other fish, by attempting to use chemicals to treat some "phantom disease", which in the end will cause him to grow even weaker. And if you do notice he's badly in need of some better water conditions (due to one of the above symptoms) and you take him to the store to sell him....SHAME ON YOU!! You'd probably be lucky if the store takes him, but if they do, he will be even more stressed by the move and being housed in a new tank! Even if this tank is ideal chemistry for an adult mono, it won't be ideal for him until he acclimates to it! Someone also has the chance to buy him the same or next day in most stores, and this will further decline any attempt at recuperation. My fish store doesn't give refunds on fish!

To sum it up, if it's bad enough to notice it....he's probably a gonner! In my opinion (and I'm sure many will have my back on this one), if you can't adequately house a fish in conditions that are "good" for it's general health and well-being, you should not keep it any longer (and should research beforehand the needs of the fish). I don't mean to bash you, but there are laws against keeping dogs and cats in inappropriate conditions, and there SHOULD be for fish and other animals kept as pets as well! There really is no difference, morally, is there? Would it be good to keep a child locked in a room with a smoker for it's entire childhood with no ventilation? I don't know if that's a good example, but you get the picture.