Salt for guppies?

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Guppyman34

Aquarium Advice Freak
Joined
Jan 15, 2012
Messages
206
Okay, well i was at my lfs today, and 1 girl told me to add aquarium salt for my guppies specifically, as she said they are brackish fish, but said it would be fine for platys, corys, neons, and my new Bolivian. Not wanting to cause a feud or make her feel bad we bought the aquarium salt (it was only 4$), but I'm not using it if it's gonna harm my fish, and I've never used it before, so I thought I'd run it past all you guys here:) has anyone heard of this?
 
This can be a very touchy subject in general, but my personal opinion is that aquarium salt is a complete waste of money. Guppies are not brackish and aquarium salt doesn't replicate brackish conditions. I'm afraid that they may very well be clueless. ;)
 
Guppyman34 said:
Okay, well i was at my lfs today, and 1 girl told me to add aquarium salt for my guppies specifically, as she said they are brackish fish, but said it would be fine for platys, corys, neons, and my new Bolivian. Not wanting to cause a feud or make her feel bad we bought the aquarium salt (it was only 4$), but I'm not using it if it's gonna harm my fish, and I've never used it before, so I thought I'd run it past all you guys here:) has anyone heard of this?
Guppies are not brackish. Im not sure why she thinks that. Lol.
 
Mollies are
Maybe she was mixed up
AQ salt is a waste of money
JMHO
 
Ok thanks, I didn't think they were brackish, but it can help if any of my tropicals get ich or other diseases right? She actually said it was good to add regularly for all fish, which really confused me....
 
Myth, legend, and profits.... for the most part.
 
Guppyman34 said:
Ok thanks, I didn't think they were brackish, but it can help if any of my tropicals get ich or other diseases right? She actually said it was good to add regularly for all fish, which really confused me....

Yes, it can help fish overcome ich. That is one of the only advantages.
 
Ok this is one thread I have to jump on board with because I've been also wondering this. I had gotten a guppy about four months ago from my moms tank, she was stressed and had ich. I looked at every website imaginable and decided to try aquarium salt. It was advised to me by my lfs (she also breeds guppies in her home) that the salt can help as a stress coat, and adds electrolights to the tank. I've added a little to my tank for a while now and my guppies were doing great (until a horrible mishap on my part) (on another thread) I'm kinda wondering what would happen if I stopped adding the salt.
 
Even still, the LFS doesn't necessarily keep them in the right kind of water either. Examples of that are dragon gobies and monos. Some LFS keep all of their fish in aquarium salted water.

Mollies in the wild tend to stay in or near estuarine environments where salinity varies depending on a bunch of factors that change regularly in certain parts. With that in mind they are easily adaptable to full FW and have been proven to do so in the fishkeeping industry.

Adding aquarium salt is not the same as replicating brackish conditions. If one plans to do it right then adding a marine salt mix and using a hydrometer to maintain a ballpark specific gravity would be a good start.

Aquarium salt does have its uses, and it's more than treating ich. Salt does help ease stress in some situations with certain fish, it treats against other parasites besides ich, and it can help ward off fungus. That's all well and good, but not all fish are salt tolerant, and really shouldn't be exposed to it long term. It takes pretty significant levels to be effective at these treatments so it is something best reserved for if/when a problem arises.
 
Aquarium Salt in Freshwater Tanks

Okay, well i was at my lfs today, and 1 girl told me to add aquarium salt for my guppies specifically, as she said they are brackish fish, but said it would be fine for platys, corys, neons, and my new Bolivian. Not wanting to cause a feud or make her feel bad we bought the aquarium salt (it was only 4$), but I'm not using it if it's gonna harm my fish, and I've never used it before, so I thought I'd run it past all you guys here:) has anyone heard of this?

Hello Guppy...

I'd agree with adding a little standard aquarium salt to the Guppy tank. I've added a teaspoon or so to every 5 gallons of my new water for years and my Guppies and Corydoras are extremely healthy. My plants are thriving and I change half the tank water every week or so and life in the tank world is wonderful.

Good decision on adding a little salt. I think most tropical fish would benefit from a little added to the tank water. That LFS gal is a pretty smart cookie.

B
 
Brackish Water

Hello...

Just thought I might be able to clear up the term "brackish". Any freshwater with a trace of added salt can be referred to as "brackish". Brackish simply means that the water in question has more salt in it than freshwater, but less salt than sea water.

Pretty simple.

B
 
B, aquarium salted water and natural brackish water are not the same. That's like saying if you put enough aquarium salt into a freshwater tank to raise the SG to 1.026 that you have a marine tank, it's just not accurate.

I don't have issue with people that like to salt their freshwater fish, I'm just trying to clear up some of the mythology around the subject.
 
I agree with jetajockey. Adding aqua salt to fw does not make it brackish. It's lacking the minerals and trace elements that are found in products like instant ocean and natural seawater.
 
Barakis said:
so by that respect, adding the salt makes them brackish? this statement is quite confusing.

I think they mean that some lfs have the fish accumulated to brackish conditions where others may not. Just because salt is added to the tank doesn't mean that the fish is going to become brackish
 
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