Salt or not?

[lgb]

I saw it mentioned once again that livebearers need a little salt in the
water. I've got a tank with platys in it, but they share the tank with
a betta, some otos, and an SAE. Another tank has cory cats as well.

Is salt harmful to any of those? If not, how much per gallon should be
added. I've seen anywhere from a teaspoon per 10 gallons to a
tablespoon per gallon. The latter I'm sure is a bit much - I'd have a
marine tank without intending it :-).


--
BNSF = Build Now, Seep Forever

[Elaine T]

lgb wrote:
> I saw it mentioned once again that livebearers need a little salt in the
> water. I've got a tank with platys in it, but they share the tank with
> a betta, some otos, and an SAE. Another tank has cory cats as well.
>
> Is salt harmful to any of those? If not, how much per gallon should be
> added. I've seen anywhere from a teaspoon per 10 gallons to a
> tablespoon per gallon. The latter I'm sure is a bit much - I'd have a
> marine tank without intending it :-).
>
>
Platies don't need any salt and nothing else in your tank likes it.
Guppies and swordtails are fine without salt too, although they like
some if the water is very soft.

Mollies are the livebearers that really require salt. In the wild they
live in anything from fresh to marine and tend to breed in brackish.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[ToeKnee]

On Sat, 14 May 2005 18:10:16 GMT, Elaine T >
wrote:

>lgb wrote:
>> I saw it mentioned once again that livebearers need a little salt in the
>> water. I've got a tank with platys in it, but they share the tank with
>> a betta, some otos, and an SAE. Another tank has cory cats as well.
>>
>> Is salt harmful to any of those? If not, how much per gallon should be
>> added. I've seen anywhere from a teaspoon per 10 gallons to a
>> tablespoon per gallon. The latter I'm sure is a bit much - I'd have a
>> marine tank without intending it :-).
>>
>>
>Platies don't need any salt and nothing else in your tank likes it.
>Guppies and swordtails are fine without salt too, although they like
>some if the water is very soft.
>
>Mollies are the livebearers that really require salt. In the wild they
>live in anything from fresh to marine and tend to breed in brackish.


No argument with Elaine on this.

I have a 45G with a large mixture of rescue fish. Originally started
to be a live bearer tank (I adore swordtails and collect unusual
colors, I am quite picky), it has become a hodge podge of fish.

I have a pl*co, about 7 corys (several breeds) swordtails, danios,
clown loaches, and a pair of ottos. Previously we also had some
beautiful Angel fish. They outgrew the tank and were given to a
friend with a new 200G.

I have always occasionally added aquarium salt to the tank, every
couple of months or so. I'd guess about 1/2 cup. The Swords love it,
and swim in the dissolving salt plume. The Danios are even attracted
to it. Occsionally I will see the clowns there as well.

While I know most of the fish in this tank are not normally considered
canidates for salt, I have not seen any negative affects. Even the
ottos have seen no worse for the wear. After six months in the tank,
they are fat and content. They are quite active.

Over all, I only add the salt these days to satisfy those fish that
like it, and only occasionally on schedule (Fridays, with water
changes on Sunday or Monday)

I know there are some that will have some negative comments for me
about this activity, but I see the results. I have not had any water
issues in a long, long time, the water is crystal clear, and I have
not lost a fish in over a year. In fact, even the panda corys have
laid eggs (clown loaches ate the eggs {bummer}) hopefully they will
again, and I will be able to save the eggs next time.





--Tony

[Charles]

On Sat, 14 May 2005 18:10:16 GMT, Elaine T >
wrote:

>lgb wrote:
>> I saw it mentioned once again that livebearers need a little salt in the
>> water. I've got a tank with platys in it, but they share the tank with
>> a betta, some otos, and an SAE. Another tank has cory cats as well.
>>
>> Is salt harmful to any of those? If not, how much per gallon should be
>> added. I've seen anywhere from a teaspoon per 10 gallons to a
>> tablespoon per gallon. The latter I'm sure is a bit much - I'd have a
>> marine tank without intending it :-).
>>
>>
>Platies don't need any salt and nothing else in your tank likes it.
>Guppies and swordtails are fine without salt too, although they like
>some if the water is very soft.
>
>Mollies are the livebearers that really require salt. In the wild they
>live in anything from fresh to marine and tend to breed in brackish.

And for a completely different opinion regarding mollies:

http://www.afae.it/pages/tematica/articolipoecilidi/The_great_molly%20salt_debate.htm

For goldfish and koi, at a water garden shop where I spend too much
time, we have gone to keeping the water at 0.3% salt. the water is
naturally 0.1% so we add salt to bring up the level, measured with a
conductivity meter.

We have had a dramatic drop in fish loss after doing this. Before we
did this we had significant losses, probably due to paracites. Since
we started the losses have beeb one or two fish.

for a home aquarium, I wouldn't add salt unless the water was already
very soft, mine is anything but.

[Elaine T]

Charles wrote:
> On Sat, 14 May 2005 18:10:16 GMT, Elaine T >
> wrote:
>
>
>>lgb wrote:
>>
>>>I saw it mentioned once again that livebearers need a little salt in the
>>>water. I've got a tank with platys in it, but they share the tank with
>>>a betta, some otos, and an SAE. Another tank has cory cats as well.
>>>
>>>Is salt harmful to any of those? If not, how much per gallon should be
>>>added. I've seen anywhere from a teaspoon per 10 gallons to a
>>>tablespoon per gallon. The latter I'm sure is a bit much - I'd have a
>>>marine tank without intending it :-).
>>>
>>>
>>
>>Platies don't need any salt and nothing else in your tank likes it.
>>Guppies and swordtails are fine without salt too, although they like
>>some if the water is very soft.
>>
>>Mollies are the livebearers that really require salt. In the wild they
>>live in anything from fresh to marine and tend to breed in brackish.
>
>
> And for a completely different opinion regarding mollies:
>
> http://www.afae.it/pages/tematica/articolipoecilidi/The_great_molly%20salt_debate.htm
>
> For goldfish and koi, at a water garden shop where I spend too much
> time, we have gone to keeping the water at 0.3% salt. the water is
> naturally 0.1% so we add salt to bring up the level, measured with a
> conductivity meter.
>
> We have had a dramatic drop in fish loss after doing this. Before we
> did this we had significant losses, probably due to paracites. Since
> we started the losses have beeb one or two fish.
>
> for a home aquarium, I wouldn't add salt unless the water was already
> very soft, mine is anything but.

That's a great article. Thank you very much for the reference. I also
worked at a fish store that used both 0.1% salt and copper for all the
FW fish, including cories, cardinals and other Amazon fish that are
notoriously salt-sensitive. I never saw a spot of ich there.

I'm currently experimenting with silver lyretail mollies in an outdoor
tank that is not salted, but running on my very hard tap water. I
bought them a few weeks ago and a few young are already growing out. So
far, so good, and that tank has quite a few temperature swings.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com

[Charles]

On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 03:50:51 GMT, Elaine T >
wrote:

>Charles wrote:
>> On Sat, 14 May 2005 18:10:16 GMT, Elaine T >
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>lgb wrote:
>>>
>>>>I saw it mentioned once again that livebearers need a little salt in the
>>>>water. I've got a tank with platys in it, but they share the tank with
>>>>a betta, some otos, and an SAE. Another tank has cory cats as well.
>>>>
>>>>Is salt harmful to any of those? If not, how much per gallon should be
>>>>added. I've seen anywhere from a teaspoon per 10 gallons to a
>>>>tablespoon per gallon. The latter I'm sure is a bit much - I'd have a
>>>>marine tank without intending it :-).
>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>Platies don't need any salt and nothing else in your tank likes it.
>>>Guppies and swordtails are fine without salt too, although they like
>>>some if the water is very soft.
>>>
>>>Mollies are the livebearers that really require salt. In the wild they
>>>live in anything from fresh to marine and tend to breed in brackish.
>>
>>
>> And for a completely different opinion regarding mollies:
>>
>> http://www.afae.it/pages/tematica/articolipoecilidi/The_great_molly%20salt_debate.htm
>>
>> For goldfish and koi, at a water garden shop where I spend too much
>> time, we have gone to keeping the water at 0.3% salt. the water is
>> naturally 0.1% so we add salt to bring up the level, measured with a
>> conductivity meter.
>>
>> We have had a dramatic drop in fish loss after doing this. Before we
>> did this we had significant losses, probably due to paracites. Since
>> we started the losses have beeb one or two fish.
>>
>> for a home aquarium, I wouldn't add salt unless the water was already
>> very soft, mine is anything but.
>
>That's a great article. Thank you very much for the reference. I also
>worked at a fish store that used both 0.1% salt and copper for all the
>FW fish, including cories, cardinals and other Amazon fish that are
>notoriously salt-sensitive. I never saw a spot of ich there.
>
>I'm currently experimenting with silver lyretail mollies in an outdoor
>tank that is not salted, but running on my very hard tap water. I
>bought them a few weeks ago and a few young are already growing out. So
>far, so good, and that tank has quite a few temperature swings.


I'm doing something similar, not with lyre-tails, just platinums. I
had some wild caught mollies there for a while, but due to a mess
around the house, I could not get near the tank for a couple months,
and they died. I originally got the platinums at the pet store, put
them into a large container at the garden shop, and they made lots
more. We have them in most of the ponds. Since they seem to be P.
latipinia, or atleast mostly so, I am hoping they will last over
winter here.

something funny, in the outdoor tank I also have some blue-fin
killifish. They were hard to feed, when I put the first mollies in
and the mollies started feeding, so did the killifish. When I could
get back to the tank and the mollies were gone, the killifish wouldn't
eat any more, and looked very emaciated. Since I put the new mollies
in, the killies have started eating again.

[lgb]

In article >,
says...
> >lgb wrote:
> >> I saw it mentioned once again that livebearers need a little salt in the
> >> water. I've got a tank with platys in it, but they share the tank with
> >> a betta, some otos, and an SAE. Another tank has cory cats as well.
>
I wrote this in May! Charles, maybe you need a better news
server :-).

--
BNSF = Build Now, Seep Forever

[Elaine T]

Charles wrote:
> On Fri, 19 Aug 2005 03:50:51 GMT, Elaine T >
> wrote:
>
>
>>Charles wrote:
>>
>>>On Sat, 14 May 2005 18:10:16 GMT, Elaine T >
>>>wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>>lgb wrote:
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>>I saw it mentioned once again that livebearers need a little salt in the
>>>>>water. I've got a tank with platys in it, but they share the tank with
>>>>>a betta, some otos, and an SAE. Another tank has cory cats as well.
>>>>>
>>>>>Is salt harmful to any of those? If not, how much per gallon should be
>>>>>added. I've seen anywhere from a teaspoon per 10 gallons to a
>>>>>tablespoon per gallon. The latter I'm sure is a bit much - I'd have a
>>>>>marine tank without intending it :-).
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>Platies don't need any salt and nothing else in your tank likes it.
>>>>Guppies and swordtails are fine without salt too, although they like
>>>>some if the water is very soft.
>>>>
>>>>Mollies are the livebearers that really require salt. In the wild they
>>>>live in anything from fresh to marine and tend to breed in brackish.
>>>
>>>
>>>And for a completely different opinion regarding mollies:
>>>
>>>http://www.afae.it/pages/tematica/articolipoecilidi/The_great_molly%20salt_debate.htm
>>>
>>>For goldfish and koi, at a water garden shop where I spend too much
>>>time, we have gone to keeping the water at 0.3% salt. the water is
>>>naturally 0.1% so we add salt to bring up the level, measured with a
>>>conductivity meter.
>>>
>>>We have had a dramatic drop in fish loss after doing this. Before we
>>>did this we had significant losses, probably due to paracites. Since
>>>we started the losses have beeb one or two fish.
>>>
>>>for a home aquarium, I wouldn't add salt unless the water was already
>>>very soft, mine is anything but.
>>
>>That's a great article. Thank you very much for the reference. I also
>>worked at a fish store that used both 0.1% salt and copper for all the
>>FW fish, including cories, cardinals and other Amazon fish that are
>>notoriously salt-sensitive. I never saw a spot of ich there.
>>
>>I'm currently experimenting with silver lyretail mollies in an outdoor
>>tank that is not salted, but running on my very hard tap water. I
>>bought them a few weeks ago and a few young are already growing out. So
>>far, so good, and that tank has quite a few temperature swings.
>
>
>
> I'm doing something similar, not with lyre-tails, just platinums. I
> had some wild caught mollies there for a while, but due to a mess
> around the house, I could not get near the tank for a couple months,
> and they died. I originally got the platinums at the pet store, put
> them into a large container at the garden shop, and they made lots
> more. We have them in most of the ponds. Since they seem to be P.
> latipinia, or atleast mostly so, I am hoping they will last over
> winter here.
>
> something funny, in the outdoor tank I also have some blue-fin
> killifish. They were hard to feed, when I put the first mollies in
> and the mollies started feeding, so did the killifish. When I could
> get back to the tank and the mollies were gone, the killifish wouldn't
> eat any more, and looked very emaciated. Since I put the new mollies
> in, the killies have started eating again.

That's really interesting. I've seen picky fish like discus feed more
freely with a few other hungry fish to guide the way, but once they eat
I've never seen them stop.

I don't know whether my mollies will overwinter, but I'm doubtful. I'm
in zone 10 and don't get frost, but it still gets rather cold. I bought
them on impulse because I haven't yet found the killies I want for the
tank locally. They'll live in a heated bucket wherever I decide to
overwinter my water hyacinth and lettuce. Good to know that mollies and
some killifish can live together peacefully.

--
Elaine T __
http://eethomp.com/fish.html <'__><
rec.aquaria.* FAQ http://faq.thekrib.com