Is it wrong to get rid of fish?

[Guppylover3x]

My cycle is going rather slow due to my stocking I think. I have 6 male guppies. I’m thinking of giving away two larger ones but feel a bit bad. I’ve found a live fish store that will accept them. My fish have been flashing and did this for a while I’m guessing due to ammonia. I’ve recently added salt it to see if it helps. Will my guppies tolerate not getting more treatment and entering new water without salt? My main question here is if it is wrong or not. Any advice is appreciated. Thank you.

 

[Colin_T]

Stocking levels in tanks have nothing to do with how long it takes a tank to cycle. On average it takes about 4-6 weeks for a filter to cycle and the development of the filter bacteria is directly linked to the aquarium and environment. There are filter bacteria (and hundreds of other types of bacteria, yeast, viruses, fungus) in the air around us and it takes time for the beneficial filter bacteria to settle into an aquarium and start growing. If you have an established aquarium or pond near the house, there will potentially be more filter bacteria in the air that can settle into your tank. However, if the house is kept really clean and the windows and doors are shut, not many filter bacteria will get inside the house and even fewer will get into the tank. Coverglass and hoods on tanks can also reduce the number of bacteria that get into a new aquarium.

Adding liquid filter bacteria in a bottle can help speed things up because you are adding dormant filter bacteria to the water and they quickly wake up and start multiplying. When their numbers build up to sufficient levels the ammonia and nitrite levels will drop pretty quickly.

Adding live plants, gravel or driftwood from an established aquarium can introduce some beneficial filter bacteria into a tank. However, it is only a small amount and will take time to build up in numbers. Liquid bacteria in a bottle is quicker.

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If your fish have a disease (protozoan parasite) that is causing the irritation and rubbing on objects, then they will get worse without treatment. So if you stop using salt and dilute the salt out with water changes, and the problem hasn't been cured, then it will get worse.

Most pet shops don't appreciate being given sick fish so if the fish have a disease (as opposed to ammonia irritating them), then the shop won't be real happy if you give them diseased fish.

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Just leave the fish in the tank, do water changes, and keep the salt level up unless you see some other symptoms like white spots or something else.

Reducing the number of fish in a tank won't lower ammonia levels that much. Fish food adds most of the ammonia and if you only feed the fish a couple of times a week, there will only be a low level of ammonia in the water.

 

[Guppylover3x]

Stocking levels in tanks have nothing to do with how long it takes a tank to cycle. On average it takes about 4-6 weeks for a filter to cycle and the development of the filter bacteria is directly linked to the aquarium and environment. There are filter bacteria (and hundreds of other types of bacteria, yeast, viruses, fungus) in the air around us and it takes time for the beneficial filter bacteria to settle into an aquarium and start growing. If you have an established aquarium or pond near the house, there will potentially be more filter bacteria in the air that can settle into your tank. However, if the house is kept really clean and the windows and doors are shut, not many filter bacteria will get inside the house and even fewer will get into the tank. Coverglass and hoods on tanks can also reduce the number of bacteria that get into a new aquarium.

Adding liquid filter bacteria in a bottle can help speed things up because you are adding dormant filter bacteria to the water and they quickly wake up and start multiplying. When their numbers build up to sufficient levels the ammonia and nitrite levels will drop pretty quickly.

Adding live plants, gravel or driftwood from an established aquarium can introduce some beneficial filter bacteria into a tank. However, it is only a small amount and will take time to build up in numbers. Liquid bacteria in a bottle is quicker.

-------------------------
If your fish have a disease (protozoan parasite) that is causing the irritation and rubbing on objects, then they will get worse without treatment. So if you stop using salt and dilute the salt out with water changes, and the problem hasn't been cured, then it will get worse.

Most pet shops don't appreciate being given sick fish so if the fish have a disease (as opposed to ammonia irritating them), then the shop won't be real happy if you give them diseased fish.

-------------------------
Just leave the fish in the tank, do water changes, and keep the salt level up unless you see some other symptoms like white spots or something else.

Reducing the number of fish in a tank won't lower ammonia levels that much. Fish food adds most of the ammonia and if you only feed the fish a couple of times a week, there will only be a low level of ammonia in the water.

Many thanks for the feedback. I have noticed a reduced amount of flashing since I’ve added the salt over the past day. I don’t feed much at the moment because of the cycle. I plan to add love bacteria into the tank that’s arrived today. Would it be wrong to give the fish up once treated? I am aware I would need to remove the salt from the water before I do. I think generally 10g once stocked with plants and ornaments etc is quite small anyway. Thank you very much for your help.

 

[Colin_T]

it's not wrong to get rid of fish if they don't fit in, however 6 male guppies in a 10 gallon tank is probably better for the fish than 4 male guppies. This is because any aggression from the dominant male will be spread out over 5 other fish rather than 3. When the tank is cycled you could probably add a few more so there is 8-10 male guppies together.

 

[Guppylover3x]

it's not wrong to get rid of fish if they don't fit in, however 6 male guppies in a 10 gallon tank is probably better for the fish than 4 male guppies. This is because any aggression from the dominant male will be spread out over 5 other fish rather than 3. When the tank is cycled you could probably add a few more so there is 8-10 male guppies together.

Many thanks for your response Colin. I may replace the larger ones with another 2 smaller ones. I agree with you that guppies are best of in groups of 6+ or bullying begins. I’m aware all of the salt has to be out to add more guppies though and to remove guppies from my tank. How many water changes will I have to perform to fully remove it all do you think? If the guppies don’t flash as much throughout the day today should I perform another water change and add another 2 teaspoons in like the last? Thank you for all your help

 

[Colin_T]

You can add new guppies to a tank with salt in but you don't take fish from salt water and put them in fresh water. Fish can tolerate going into brackish water (water with some salt in) quite well but moving them into pure fresh water can cause problems.

So if the tank has cycled, you can leave the salt in the tank and add new guppies. But if you want to get rid of guppies, then do a 10-20% water change each day for at least one week (preferably 2 weeks) to dilute the salinity. Then you can move the fish into fresh water.

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If you are using salt to treat a disease, you keep the salt levels up for at least 2 weeks (and up to a maximum of 4 weeks for softwater fishes) before you dilute it out. Many protozoan parasites have several stages to their lifecycle and salt might kill the adults but eggs can hatch and reinfect the fish if you remove the salt too soon. So you need to keep the salt in the water for at least 2 weeks after all the fish have shown no symptoms.

 

[Guppylover3x]

You can add new guppies to a tank with salt in but you don't take fish from salt water and put them in fresh water. Fish can tolerate going into brackish water (water with some salt in) quite well but moving them into pure fresh water can cause problems.

So if the tank has cycled, you can leave the salt in the tank and add new guppies. But if you want to get rid of guppies, then do a 10-20% water change each day for at least one week (preferably 2 weeks) to dilute the salinity. Then you can move the fish into fresh water.

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If you are using salt to treat a disease, you keep the salt levels up for at least 2 weeks (and up to a maximum of 4 weeks for softwater fishes) before you dilute it out. Many protozoan parasites have several stages to their lifecycle and salt might kill the adults but eggs can hatch and reinfect the fish if you remove the salt too soon. So you need to keep the salt in the water for at least 2 weeks after all the fish have shown no symptoms.

Many thanks for all your help. I will keep the salt in for another week as it’s been in a week already. Then I’ll look at removing the fish after the 10% daily water changes for the additional week. I’ll check where my readings are up to after this and see if I can add anymore fish in. Hopefully the bacteria I add in helps. Thank you.