Salt and Scaleless Fish

PlatyLady · 12-10-2006, 10:58 PM

Hello, All,
I keep all livebearers except one golden algae eater and an albino corey (soon to be three cories, hopefully). Everyone keeps telling me I should really add some salt for my livebearers, but I'm wary about it because of my cory. I know this question probably gets asked a million times, but what amount of salt would be beneficial to the platies but not harmful to the cories? Thanks in advance!

Puffer Pita · 12-11-2006, 07:28 AM

Cories are not scaleless. The usual dose for livebearers is 1 tablespoon for each 5 gallons of actual volume (note that actual volume is not the same as tank size - once decor are added, they hold quite a bit less).

PlatyLady · 12-11-2006, 01:35 PM

perhaps I was mistaken about them being scaleless, but I am told that they are sensitive to salt. Is this untrue? Should I just add salt per the 1TBS/5g rule of thumb?

harif87 · 12-11-2006, 02:23 PM

Cories are sensitive to salt level changes, which is why you need to add the salt slowly, otherwise the cories will be affected by it. They can tolerate higher levels, but like i said, it has to be a slow change.

PlatyLady · 12-11-2006, 04:09 PM

how slow are we talking about? Like one tablespoon at a time once a month or something?

Puffer Pita · 12-11-2006, 05:34 PM

No, they are fine with that amount of salt added all at once. Just make sure you dissolve the salt completely in declorinated water before adding it to the tank or it can burn their gills. When doing water changes, top off the evaporated water with plain declorinated water first, then remove however much water you're going to change and just dose the amount of water you are replacing. Salt doesn't evaporate with the water, it will just get concentrated.

PlatyLady · 12-11-2006, 07:58 PM

thanks, I'll give it a shot

Buggy · 12-11-2006, 08:09 PM

This is not my post but I do have a question related to this topic. What kind of salt is best? Marine? Aquarium? Epsom? Non Iodized table salt? I have the same situation only my livebearers are mollies. I also have corys and two sharks.

PlatyLady · 12-11-2006, 08:28 PM

I've heard aquarium is preferrable when adding to freshwater tanks, but I could be totally mistaken

Puffer Pita · 12-11-2006, 09:09 PM

For livebearers, marine salt is best as it has the trace elements they need. For treating ich, whatever you have handy.

Buggy · 12-12-2006, 09:46 PM

And adding the reccomended amout of marine salt for livebearers..ie mollies and platies...won't harm corys or shark (redtail black shark and chinese shark)? What about snails?

Blue · 12-13-2006, 03:00 AM

The question is why add salt when your livebearers can adapt. I don't think it is totally necessary at all unless the livebearers have been adapted before in conditions where salinity is high.
Personally, adding salt is a waste of time and money especially when your fish have adapted to non-salt conditions. Unless your fish really require the salt, I wouldn't add it if I were you.

Puffer Pita · 12-13-2006, 07:24 AM

Yes, livebearers can adapt, but they do better with a bit of salt added. IMO its the difference between having them in acceptable conditions and having them in optimal conditions. They tend to live longer and be healthier with salt added than when they are in salt-less water.

Yes, the sharks and snails will be fine with that amount of salt.

harif87 · 12-13-2006, 12:15 PM

Also adding aquarium salt when high levels of nitrite are present. - Just another use of aquaurium salt.

Puffer Pita · 12-13-2006, 02:43 PM

Now I'm wondering, are all of these fish in a 10g tank? Along with the ones in your signature? If so, you are badly overstocked. The RTBS gets very aggressive and territorial, as do Chinese algae eaters (which are neither Chinese nor very good algae eaters). RTBS needs a minimum of 55g IMO because of that. Both the RTBS and CAE get far too large for a 10g tank.

girth vader · 02-06-2007, 11:18 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Blue

The question is why add salt when your livebearers can adapt. I don't think it is totally necessary at all unless the livebearers have been adapted before in conditions where salinity is high.
Personally, adding salt is a waste of time and money especially when your fish have adapted to non-salt conditions. Unless your fish really require the salt, I wouldn't add it if I were you.

yes and no. true most tank raised fish don't know what their native water conditions are, however over hundreds even thousands of yrs, they have adopted many internal evolutions that have helped them adapt to native conditions. You would have to breed out these adaptations for a long time. We might not know what they have done to adapt, but rest assured they have inner workings that require them to have native water conditions and need that in order to fully thrive. Could be something as small as chemo receptors, but I'm sure they are there! IMHO anyhow

Old School · 02-07-2007, 01:14 PM

Well,unscientifically speaking,the best molly tank I ever had was one with marine salt added.They did great in that environment

12-10-2006, 10:58 PM	#1
PlatyLady Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antioch/Bloomington-Normal, IL Age: 20 Posts: 74	Salt and Scaleless Fish Hello, All, I keep all livebearers except one golden algae eater and an albino corey (soon to be three cories, hopefully). Everyone keeps telling me I should really add some salt for my livebearers, but I'm wary about it because of my cory. I know this question probably gets asked a million times, but what amount of salt would be beneficial to the platies but not harmful to the cories? Thanks in advance! __________________ 10 Gallon Freshwater Community: 2 Platies 3 GloFish Zebra Danios 3 Coreys (1 Albino, 1 Paleatus, 1 Green Aneus) 1 Golden Algae Eater

12-11-2006, 07:28 AM	#2
Puffer Pita Puffer Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 1,677	Cories are not scaleless. The usual dose for livebearers is 1 tablespoon for each 5 gallons of actual volume (note that actual volume is not the same as tank size - once decor are added, they hold quite a bit less). __________________ Tina Puffers: Auriglobus silus x2 Colomesus asellus x1 Tetraodon travancoricus x1 Tetraodon biocellatus x2 Tetraodon nigroviridis x1 Tetraodon baileyi x2 Tetraodon lineatus x1 Tetraodon palembangensis x1 The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. - Mohandas Gandhi

12-11-2006, 01:35 PM	#3
PlatyLady Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antioch/Bloomington-Normal, IL Age: 20 Posts: 74	perhaps I was mistaken about them being scaleless, but I am told that they are sensitive to salt. Is this untrue? Should I just add salt per the 1TBS/5g rule of thumb? __________________ 10 Gallon Freshwater Community: 2 Platies 3 GloFish Zebra Danios 3 Coreys (1 Albino, 1 Paleatus, 1 Green Aneus) 1 Golden Algae Eater

12-11-2006, 02:23 PM	#4
harif87 Minor Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Age: 21 Posts: 996	Cories are sensitive to salt level changes, which is why you need to add the salt slowly, otherwise the cories will be affected by it. They can tolerate higher levels, but like i said, it has to be a slow change. __________________ sorry for beating you senseless "The human torch was denied a bank loan"

12-11-2006, 04:09 PM	#5
PlatyLady Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antioch/Bloomington-Normal, IL Age: 20 Posts: 74	how slow are we talking about? Like one tablespoon at a time once a month or something? __________________ 10 Gallon Freshwater Community: 2 Platies 3 GloFish Zebra Danios 3 Coreys (1 Albino, 1 Paleatus, 1 Green Aneus) 1 Golden Algae Eater

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12-11-2006, 05:34 PM	#6
Puffer Pita Puffer Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 1,677	No, they are fine with that amount of salt added all at once. Just make sure you dissolve the salt completely in declorinated water before adding it to the tank or it can burn their gills. When doing water changes, top off the evaporated water with plain declorinated water first, then remove however much water you're going to change and just dose the amount of water you are replacing. Salt doesn't evaporate with the water, it will just get concentrated. __________________ Tina Puffers: Auriglobus silus x2 Colomesus asellus x1 Tetraodon travancoricus x1 Tetraodon biocellatus x2 Tetraodon nigroviridis x1 Tetraodon baileyi x2 Tetraodon lineatus x1 Tetraodon palembangensis x1 The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. - Mohandas Gandhi

12-11-2006, 07:58 PM	#7
PlatyLady Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antioch/Bloomington-Normal, IL Age: 20 Posts: 74	thanks, I'll give it a shot __________________ 10 Gallon Freshwater Community: 2 Platies 3 GloFish Zebra Danios 3 Coreys (1 Albino, 1 Paleatus, 1 Green Aneus) 1 Golden Algae Eater

12-11-2006, 08:09 PM	#8
Buggy Room Mother Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Oklahoma Age: 42 Posts: 748	This is not my post but I do have a question related to this topic. What kind of salt is best? Marine? Aquarium? Epsom? Non Iodized table salt? I have the same situation only my livebearers are mollies. I also have corys and two sharks. __________________ Fish are people too! *My Animal Family* Dixie - Boxer/Lab Peanut -Chihuahua Cali - American Short-hair Cat B.B. - Parakeet Flower - Western Ornate Box Turtle Loki - White Ferret Odin - Brown Ferret *Aquariums* 55 gal tropical Fresh Water - 23 various fish 29 gal tropical Fresh Water - 4 various cichlids 10 gal tropical Fresh Water - 1 Red Male Betta, 3 black neon tetras, 1 Asian Glass Catfish

12-11-2006, 08:28 PM	#9
PlatyLady Member Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Antioch/Bloomington-Normal, IL Age: 20 Posts: 74	I've heard aquarium is preferrable when adding to freshwater tanks, but I could be totally mistaken __________________ 10 Gallon Freshwater Community: 2 Platies 3 GloFish Zebra Danios 3 Coreys (1 Albino, 1 Paleatus, 1 Green Aneus) 1 Golden Algae Eater

12-11-2006, 09:09 PM	#10
Puffer Pita Puffer Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 1,677	For livebearers, marine salt is best as it has the trace elements they need. For treating ich, whatever you have handy. __________________ Tina Puffers: Auriglobus silus x2 Colomesus asellus x1 Tetraodon travancoricus x1 Tetraodon biocellatus x2 Tetraodon nigroviridis x1 Tetraodon baileyi x2 Tetraodon lineatus x1 Tetraodon palembangensis x1 The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. - Mohandas Gandhi

12-12-2006, 09:46 PM	#11
Buggy Room Mother Join Date: Oct 2006 Location: Oklahoma Age: 42 Posts: 748	And adding the reccomended amout of marine salt for livebearers..ie mollies and platies...won't harm corys or shark (redtail black shark and chinese shark)? What about snails? __________________ Fish are people too! *My Animal Family* Dixie - Boxer/Lab Peanut -Chihuahua Cali - American Short-hair Cat B.B. - Parakeet Flower - Western Ornate Box Turtle Loki - White Ferret Odin - Brown Ferret *Aquariums* 55 gal tropical Fresh Water - 23 various fish 29 gal tropical Fresh Water - 4 various cichlids 10 gal tropical Fresh Water - 1 Red Male Betta, 3 black neon tetras, 1 Asian Glass Catfish

12-13-2006, 03:00 AM	#12
Blue Care Bear Lover Join Date: Aug 2006 Location: Dancing with the Devil Posts: 132	The question is why add salt when your livebearers can adapt. I don't think it is totally necessary at all unless the livebearers have been adapted before in conditions where salinity is high. Personally, adding salt is a waste of time and money especially when your fish have adapted to non-salt conditions. Unless your fish really require the salt, I wouldn't add it if I were you. __________________ Laugh and the world laughs with you, weep and you weep alone.

12-13-2006, 07:24 AM	#13
Puffer Pita Puffer Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 1,677	Yes, livebearers can adapt, but they do better with a bit of salt added. IMO its the difference between having them in acceptable conditions and having them in optimal conditions. They tend to live longer and be healthier with salt added than when they are in salt-less water. Yes, the sharks and snails will be fine with that amount of salt. __________________ Tina Puffers: Auriglobus silus x2 Colomesus asellus x1 Tetraodon travancoricus x1 Tetraodon biocellatus x2 Tetraodon nigroviridis x1 Tetraodon baileyi x2 Tetraodon lineatus x1 Tetraodon palembangensis x1 The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. - Mohandas Gandhi

12-13-2006, 12:15 PM	#14
harif87 Minor Member Join Date: Jun 2006 Age: 21 Posts: 996	Also adding aquarium salt when high levels of nitrite are present. - Just another use of aquaurium salt. __________________ sorry for beating you senseless "The human torch was denied a bank loan"

12-13-2006, 02:43 PM	#15
Puffer Pita Puffer Enthusiast Join Date: Jun 2006 Location: Wisconsin Posts: 1,677	Now I'm wondering, are all of these fish in a 10g tank? Along with the ones in your signature? If so, you are badly overstocked. The RTBS gets very aggressive and territorial, as do Chinese algae eaters (which are neither Chinese nor very good algae eaters). RTBS needs a minimum of 55g IMO because of that. Both the RTBS and CAE get far too large for a 10g tank. __________________ Tina Puffers: Auriglobus silus x2 Colomesus asellus x1 Tetraodon travancoricus x1 Tetraodon biocellatus x2 Tetraodon nigroviridis x1 Tetraodon baileyi x2 Tetraodon lineatus x1 Tetraodon palembangensis x1 The greatness of a nation and its moral progress can be judged by the way in which its animals are treated. - Mohandas Gandhi

02-07-2007, 01:14 PM	#17
Old School Fishy Member Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: NY Posts: 14	Well,unscientifically speaking,the best molly tank I ever had was one with marine salt added.They did great in that environment

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