Adding Salt To Tank I Need Help Please?

Hi all! Some of my guppies have been itching a bit and a couple have developed fungas around fins. All my water chemistry is perfect...no nitrite..or amonia. Ph is 7.2 and has been stable. Temp is 31 degrees at moment and generally stays around that. I believe this problem came with some fish i bought from mlfs. I now have the proper salt purchased from a lfs and thought I would try the old way by raising water temps to 34 and adding salt, I didnt want to ahve to medicate therefore stripping good bacteria from the tank as all is stable. I thought simple salt would be a good start.

Im concerned about my corycatfish and suckerfish...also snails and plants. Are all these fine with salt and is it 1 teaspoon per 10 litres? My lfs keeper said I could use up to 3 per litre but thought would be best to start small.

I really would love as much advise as poss...Tank has been set up for 5weeks and I dont want to make it crazy hectic again.

Don't use salt with Cories. Raise the temperature to 87F and leave it there until two weeks after the last signs of ich disappear. Ich is not the same as fungus though. There are fungal medicines.

theotheragentm said:

Don't use salt with Cories. Raise the temperature to 87F and leave it there until two weeks after the last signs of ich disappear. Ich is not the same as fungus though. There are fungal medicines.

Click to expand...

Thanks...Cories in another tank...salt in new..see how things go now...Just took pics will post soon. Anymore imput on salt would be good if anyone can help...please.

Why do you want to add salt? Salt is not a proper solution to this problem.

Please use a proper anti-whitespot or anti-fungal medication. If the fish are 'itching' themselves on rocks, it is probably whitespot they have. Treat accordingly, and follow the instructions on the packaging. Make sure there is *no* carbon in the filter, as the carbon removes medications. Once the treatment is finished, but not before, do a water change of 50% and then another a few days later.

The only salt to use in an aquarium is marine salt mix, and then only for brackish or marine fishes. There is never a case for adding "tonic salt" ("aquarium salt") to a freshwater aquarium. Some people like to do so, and that's fine, but it doesn't do anything that proper filtration and water changes won't achieve very much more effectively.

Cheers, Neale

nmonks said:

Why do you want to add salt? Salt is not a proper solution to this problem.

Please use a proper anti-whitespot or anti-fungal medication. If the fish are 'itching' themselves on rocks, it is probably whitespot they have. Treat accordingly, and follow the instructions on the packaging. Make sure there is *no* carbon in the filter, as the carbon removes medications. Once the treatment is finished, but not before, do a water change of 50% and then another a few days later.

The only salt to use in an aquarium is marine salt mix, and then only for brackish or marine fishes. There is never a case for adding "tonic salt" ("aquarium salt") to a freshwater aquarium. Some people like to do so, and that's fine, but it doesn't do anything that proper filtration and water changes won't achieve very much more effectively.

Cheers, Neale

Click to expand...

Hi Neale.. Thanks for your advice. Im just curious to know if medicating will harm the water chemistry and can I treat with guppy fry in tank? Also Will it effect pregnant females?
I think the product is

IckAway - White Spot Med 125ml

Aquarium Medication for the treatment of Whitespot.

Dosage:

5ml to 125 litres

Suitable for fresh and salt water.

I will go to my lfs tomorrow and purchase something..My concern is the guppy fry and pregnant gups.


Cheers Neale.

The pregnant and baby fish will be fine with the medication provided you follow the instructions. In fact, it is quite common to medicate breeding tanks, e.g., to stop eggs getting fungused.

Most medications are designed to be quite safe with even baby fish. I happen to use eSHa EXIT and have found it safe with even "delicate" species such as pufferfish. I don't know the brand "Ick Away" so can't comment from personal experience. If in doubt, telephoning or e-mailing their customer information people would clarify if it is safe for use with baby fish. I can't imagine it wouldn't be though.

Cheers, Neale

nmonks said:

The pregnant and baby fish will be fine with the medication provided you follow the instructions. In fact, it is quite common to medicate breeding tanks, e.g., to stop eggs getting fungused.

Most medications are designed to be quite safe with even baby fish. I happen to use eSHa EXIT and have found it safe with even "delicate" species such as pufferfish. I don't know the brand "Ick Away" so can't comment from personal experience. If in doubt, telephoning or e-mailing their customer information people would clarify if it is safe for use with baby fish. I can't imagine it wouldn't be though.

Cheers, Neale

Click to expand...

Hi neale. Im in oz. Have you heard of this product?

PROTOZIN - protozoacide

PROTOZIN is used for the control of all protozoan and fungal infections e.g Whitespot, Fungus, Neon Tetra Disease, Velvet, Costiasis and Trichodiniasis. You will require 4 separate applications to complete the course of treatment. By adding the treatment on days 1, 2 and 3 the product safely compounds in strength and does not burden the already stressed animals with a hard hitting formula. The final dose on day 6 is a preventative measure to try and ensure the organism does not re-occur. PROTOZIN's properties are highly effective at treating all its target organisms. Protozin is Waterlife's Best selling medication worldwide.
Do not use when rays or momyrids are present.

Suitable for tropical freshwater and coldwater aquaria.


Available in:
120ml (4 day course for 900 litres)
500ml (4 day course for 3750 litres)


See bottle / box leaflet for further instructions.

Protozin is an old but trusted medication. It's been around since when I started keeping fish in the 80s. I haven't used it much though. I've tended to use either eSHa Exit (because it seems to be the cheapest per gallon of water!) or Interpet anti-whitespot (because that's the one I can get on the high street here in Berko).

Really, with baby livebearers the risks are very small: baby livebearers are so well developed when born they can basically handle anything the parents can. So use whichever you can get easily and cheaply and see how it goes. Even if the worst happens and the baby fish die, there'll be some more babies in a couple of weeks anyway.

Cheers, Neale

nmonks said:

Protozin is an old but trusted medication. It's been around since when I started keeping fish in the 80s. I haven't used it much though. I've tended to use either eSHa Exit (because it seems to be the cheapest per gallon of water!) or Interpet anti-whitespot (because that's the one I can get on the high street here in Berko).

Really, with baby livebearers the risks are very small: baby livebearers are so well developed when born they can basically handle anything the parents can. So use whichever you can get easily and cheaply and see how it goes. Even if the worst happens and the baby fish die, there'll be some more babies in a couple of weeks anyway.

Cheers, Neale

Click to expand...

Hi neale. Your totally right. My petshop gave me a product called Methylene Blue..treats White spot and superficial fungal infections. Also prevents fungal infection on fish eggs, so should be perfectly safe for fry. Only bother is...it turns water blue..! I guess that wont matter when fish and tank are healthy. Babies seem to be doing fine, even the dorries are back in tank and doing fine. My lfs owner where i purchased my dorries has salt in all tanks so dorries are fine. They actually seem happier back in the large tank. Fingers crossed all goes well with treatment.

A pic I took yesterday...added more plants today though just before treatment...make sure all the nasties are gone.

The blue goes away very quickly. Don't worry about it. Besides, once the treatment is done (usually several dosages across a few days, but may vary) you do a big water change, and then another the next day, and all the blue will be gone.

Very small amounts of salt won't harm Corydoras, contrary to popular myth. David Sands, a world expert on catfish, even suggests some Corydoras can do fine in slightly brackish water with mollies. That said, Corydoras certainly don't need salt, and neither do your guppies. Your retailer probably uses salt because back in the old days, salt was helpful because it minimised the toxicity of polluted water. Old habits die hard, and in overstocked, poorly maintained retail aquaria there may even be some slight advantage to using salt. But there really is no practical, measureable benefit to adding salt to a properly maintained freshwater aquarium. It is essentially a waste of money.

Cheers, Neale

nmonks said:

The blue goes away very quickly. Don't worry about it. Besides, once the treatment is done (usually several dosages across a few days, but may vary) you do a big water change, and then another the next day, and all the blue will be gone.

Very small amounts of salt won't harm Corydoras, contrary to popular myth. David Sands, a world expert on catfish, even suggests some Corydoras can do fine in slightly brackish water with mollies. That said, Corydoras certainly don't need salt, and neither do your guppies. Your retailer probably uses salt because back in the old days, salt was helpful because it minimised the toxicity of polluted water. Old habits die hard, and in overstocked, poorly maintained retail aquaria there may even be some slight advantage to using salt. But there really is no practical, measureable benefit to adding salt to a properly maintained freshwater aquarium. It is essentially a waste of money.

Cheers, Neale

Click to expand...

Hi Neale...Today is day 3 since I treated the tank with the blue stuff..Ive had about 7 guppies die...and now the gups seem to be developing sores over them...one guppys eye is covered with fungas or something. Do you know if this is happening because the fish was infected already and the treatment perhaps brought it out? I have done a water change today of 50% and dropped temps to 27 as it was on 31 and I read bacteria grows in high temps. I have some teenage gups I raised from fry....It would be sad to lose them. Please help! Im really unsure to why this is happening. Im not sure if I should continue treatment or stop it.

Thanks, Cathy

Cathy --

The sickness with the fish is certainly not causes by the medication. It is important to finish the treatment. Of course, you might not be using the right medication, but Methylene Blue is pretty good against a variety of external infections. If the problem is already too severe, it won't help though. Methylene Blue is basically chemotherapy: it is toxic to fish, but much more toxic to external parasites. The idea is that it kills the parasites before the fish, because you use small doses for short periods. But just like chemotherapy in humans (which works the same way) it works well when used against a disease early on, and if left too late, doesn't do nearly so much good. But it is always good to treat: it kills the "dormant" parasites in the water and gravel, so that the other fish won't get infected. So even if these fish die, the rest will be fine, and the tank will settle back down again.

If I was you, I'd be dipping the "worst" guppies in saltwater once a day. This is easy to do. Put 3 to 3.5 grammes of non-iodised cooking salt in 1 litre of water taken from the aquarium. Stir well. Make sure the salt is dissolved. Net out the guppies, and dip them in this "bath" for up to 20 minutes. Guppies are extremely tolerant of salt water (they can be kept in marine tanks, after acclimation) so I'd expect them to be fine for at least 10 minutes. The longer the better. What the salt water does is draw water out of the cells. The guppies can compensate to some degree, and being bigger, the effect is slow anyway. Bacteria and fungi on the skin cannot compensate and are very small, so they dehydrate quickly. Once dehydrated, they die. This is a very old school treatment but it works very well if done properly. The "art" is doing the dip long enough that the parasites are killed but short enough that the fish isn't killed. Provided the fish is the right way up, it's fine; it's time to remove the fish when it seems like it cannot balance. Anyway, after doing this 2-3 times (as I said, one time per day), most external bacteria and fungi will be killed outright.

Temperature is probably not relevant here, but 31 F is far too warm. 25 F is fine for guppies. If the water is too warm, the water loses oxygen, and that stresses the fish.

Cheers, Neale

slipperysucker said:

Hi Neale...Today is day 3 since I treated the tank with the blue stuff..Ive had about 7 guppies die...and now the gups seem to be developing sores over them...one guppys eye is covered with fungas or something. Do you know if this is happening because the fish was infected already and the treatment perhaps brought it out? I have done a water change today of 50% and dropped temps to 27 as it was on 31 and I read bacteria grows in high temps. I have some teenage gups I raised from fry....It would be sad to lose them. Please help! Im really unsure to why this is happening. Im not sure if I should continue treatment or stop it.

Click to expand...

next time if you don't want blue stains and want something safe for fry and plants, try coppersafe by mardel. can also be used with scaleless fish. good stuff treats ich and whitespot =o)

stargirly1208 said:

next time if you don't want blue stains and want something safe for fry and plants, try coppersafe by mardel. can also be used with scaleless fish. good stuff treats ich and whitespot =o)

Click to expand...

Hi ..Thanks for the info...I actually think it might be flukes as the methblue didnt help and my fry in the net are perfectly fine considering they are only a weekish old. I read last night that flukes is transmitted through touch and perhaps thats why the fry are ok because they are seperate. I already have sterazin and its safe with corries so all I need to know now is...When can I treat considering I treated with different meds 4 days ago. I did a 50% water change yesterday and added salt last night for a spruce up in the tank. I am currently bathing my worse gups in 1 litre of the tank water with 3 grams of salt. Apparently the flukes cannot tolerate the salt and the fish can...so the fluke drops off and then you place fish back into main tank. Cant hurt trying I guess. Im tired of culling or losing gups. I spend more on gups than fish tank products...its not good, and considering im trying to get to a breeding level..I really dont want to give up on guppies yet. But learning rapidly that gups are not as hardy as once thought. Once I get this under rapts I plan to buy so many fish...then quarentine first for 5 weeks then add to tank...I have fry I plan to raise and breed. I know that each plant I purchase will be soaked in sterazin for two hours before being placed into tank. Im learning fast...lol Its only been a hobby of ours for 5 months...and we got the new tank 5 weeks ago.

Do you know about the meds and when i can dose tank with sterazin?

Thanks, Cathy