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Adding salt with mollies
Badmans Tropical Fish Message Center:
archive: Adding salt with mollies
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Megan
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Thursday,
August 16, 2001 - 01:34 am
Right now I have two guppies, four zebra danios, five neon
tetras, and two bronze cories. I would like to add two mollies
into my tank. I have added mollies before but they always
die within a few weeks. I have been reading the message
board and have learned that you should add salt to the water?
I was wondering if this salt will hurt the other fish since
they have already been living without salt for about 6 months,
or what will happen to them? Any other suggestions about
adding mollies would be appreciated.
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joycedonley
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Thursday,
August 16, 2001 - 07:37 am
Kick can tell you how much salt to add. Because you have
tetra and cories you will have to go with less than the
normal dosage.
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Kick
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Thursday,
August 16, 2001 - 10:37 am
Mollies are not a good idea for this tank. I just read a
very interesting article in Aquarium Fish magazine concerning
brackish tanks, which filled in a lot of the questions I
had concerning them. It even listed which fish "need"
a brackish environment, and mollies was one of them. For
mollies, the "least" amount of salt required is
2 teaspoons per gallon. And in my estimation that would
make the tank brackish, therefore, the tetras and cories
would be really uncomfortable and you probably would kill
them with this amount of salt.
The reason there are so many molly deaths is that these
fish are sold as "freshwater" fish, when they really
aren't. That plus over production makes them not a really
good candidate for the "community" tank of "freshwater"
species.
Look around and consider something else for this tank. The
mollies will not thrive without the salt, and the other
you have in the tank will not thrive with that high dose
of it.
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joycedonley
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Thursday,
August 16, 2001 - 11:55 am
Great advice Kick. I was thinking Megan already had the
mollies. I know when I read they actually cycle Marine aquariums
with Mollies that they had to like a lot of salt! I really
wish all LFS stores would mark brackish on their tank. I
have only seen one store locally that does!
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Kick
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Thursday,
August 16, 2001 - 12:07 pm
Up to reading the article, I "knew" they needed
the salt, but was never sure as to just how much. And I
also found out that they can thrive and do quite well in
a marine tank. No wonder so many folks have problems keeping
them. Once again, it is the "selling" factor for
the LPS. They are mass produced, relatively inexpensive
and easy to push off to beginners. Just one more irritating
thing about the majority of LPS's.
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joycedonley
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Thursday,
August 16, 2001 - 09:06 pm
Did you mean the brackish tank article in Aquarium Fish?
I think you get your magazine a couple of days before me
since I just received mine. I really liked the guppy article
too. It explained why mine only lived a little less than
a year (it was the first fish I ever bought ).
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Megan
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Thursday,
August 16, 2001 - 11:02 pm
Thanks for your help. I agree the people at the LPS really
had no idea since she always told me they would be great
for my tank. Any other types of fish you could recommend
for my tank? I'm not sure I feel comfortable taking
the LPS advice on what fish to get anymore. They had mentioned
some platies though and from what I've read they should
be ok, any thoughts? There were some others they'd mentioned
that I'd like your thoughts on, swordtails, some different
kinds of tetras or rasboras. One last question, do most
different types of cories get along with each other ok,
I was looking into a bandit cory. Thanks again for all your
advice, it really is very helpful Joyce one last thing,
just curious what the guppy article said, luckily I've
had pretty good luck with mine so far, but I was just curious.
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joycedonley
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 07:32 am
I haven't read all of it, but it said they only live
about a year...so if you have them last that long you are
doing a good job with them. They can have fry every 4 weeks
and sometimes when a female gets old she will get humpbacked.
They can live fine with the curved back although it looks
like they are deformed and at that point they will no longer
produce fry. I'll read it on my work break today and
tell you if there are any other good points. It is a long
article in the October issue of Aquarium Fish. They always
send the magazine to subscribers really early! I had fun
with my platies and swords years ago when I kept them. Be
careful with swords though if you have a small tank they
do get rather large about 4 inches. I liked my green swordtails
better than the orange ones. Platies are very friendly happy
little fish that like small groups.
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Kick
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 08:47 am
Megan, you didn't mention the size of your tank. You
will need to be careful stocking as all the fish you purchase
are usually juveniles and even the guppies can become rather
large. I have long-finned danios that are about 2 l/2 inches
and both the guppies and danios need a good bit of room
to swim. Instead of getting such a wide variety of different
species, how about adding to what you already have? Guppies
are on the shoaling order and a group of 5 to 7 of the fancy
tailed one sure makes a nice display in a tank. Also the
cories, neons, and danios like to be in large groups and
this, too, would add to the beauty. It is much better to
have shoals of 3 species than 1 or 2 of many different ones.
I know with all the different ones available it is so hard
to decide, but more of the same species gives the tank a
soothing appearance and is better for the fish.
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Jean
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 10:03 am
Hi, just reading the thread and I would love to find the
article that you guys are talking about. Where can I find
Aquarium Fish and what edition is this article in? Thanks
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joycedonley
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 11:30 am
Aquarium Fish Magazine for October. PO box 53351 boulder
CO 80323-3351 to subscribe. Some LFS stores will carry it,
but they may not have the October one yet.
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Jean
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 02:55 pm
Thanks, you guys are great!
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Megan
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 07:45 pm
My tank size is 20 gallons. I was told I would be ok to
add just a couple more, but that was by the LPS. Thanks
for the advice on the angelfish also, its good to know I
can get actual advice somewhere! Have you ever ordered fish
off of these websites, I was wondering if they are healthy
and if it's ok on the fish and everything. Oh yeah,
one more question for the experts. Do male guppies ever
not get along. I've had two males in my tank for about
5 to 6 months, before there was never any problems but the
last few mornings when I check them one of the guppy's
tails has been getting smaller. He still swims and acts
like before, but he is also smaller than the other guppy
by quite a bit. And when I turn the lights out I notice
the bigger guppy following the little one around. It really
doesn't seem to bother the little one, he doesn't
swim away or hide or anything. If he's not being bothered
by the other fish any idea what it could be. All of these
fish have been in the tank together for 5 to 6 months and
there have never been problems before. Thanks for your help.
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Megan
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 08:06 pm
Sorry forgot to add this to the other message. I already
have one male betta that lives in a one gallon bowl alone.
You had said a two gallon bowl, is he ok in this or should
I buy a bigger one. Also are there any other types of fish
that would be ok in a fish bowl? Thanks again
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joycedonley
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 08:34 pm
Megan I am seriously thinking of ordering fish from Armke's
in Texas. I just ordered some holey rock from them as I
cannot find it anywhere else.(the rock is costing me
about $60) Unless you are looking for special fish it
is very costly to order fish from the websites. I am looking
for certain types of Rift Lake Africans and just cannot
find what I want locally. If I ever do my 75 gallon tank
I will cycle it with my locally bought mbuna in my 29gallon
and add new additions from what I buy over a website. These
sites seem to have two methods of shipping. One is UPS next
day which scares the heck out of me because I would hate
to have my fish spend that much time in a bag. I think Armke's
flies theirs in and you have to be ready to get to the airport
1-3 hours after you arrange for delivery or they won't
guarantee it. The shipping charges can run up quite a bill
as well as packing charges so if you can find what you want
locally it is a lot more economical!
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joycedonley
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 08:47 pm
Also be careful that your guppy is not getting fin rot this
is treatable with meds. The article I just read said that
guppy are prone to fin rot and usually their tail will regrow
if this happens and you treat them. I wouldn't keep
any other fish in a bowl besides a betta. Mountain minnows
can live in cool water, but need filtration and room to
swim ie 10gallon tank. The same mag with the guppy article
has an article on goldfish which actually do better in ponds!
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Megan
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Friday,
August 17, 2001 - 09:05 pm
If it is fin rot how can I treat this? Will it hurt the
fish if that is not what it has, and what will do to the
other fish in the tank? Sorry more questions, but I do really
appreciate all of your help!
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joycedonley
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Saturday,
August 18, 2001 - 08:55 am
Marcyn-Two or Kanamycin will treat it. I usually use Kanamycin,
but you can find a brief dscription under medications of
fungus/finrot on Badmans main board. Sometimes stress can
also contribute to it, so if your one guppy is being pestered
by his tank mate it may have made him a little prone to
coming down with it. If his fins look whitish tipped or
just seem to be deteriorating I would treat and no the Kanamycin
never bothered any of my other fish. Be careful with treating
with your cories and make sure you don't have to use
a reduced dose. They can sometimes be suspectible to medication!
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Megan
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Saturday,
August 18, 2001 - 07:14 pm
Thanks for all of your help but I found my guppy dead this
afternoon, after I went and traveled 40 miles to buy the
Kanamycin! What luck! I removed it right away when I found
it. He still didn't have any whiteness on his tail though.
His color was really dark when I took it, but this morning
he still seemed ok. I checked everything in the tank and
its all at normal levels. Do I need to do anything to the
water or the tank after I found him. He still was showing
no signs of distress or any symptoms this morning, and there
weren't any spots on his body liked he'd been bothered,
could he have just died of natural causes, or would fin
rot kill him. I know he was at least about 6 months old.
And my guess would be closer to 9 or 10, because I go to
the pet store to buy dog food and saw him about 9 months
ago, (at least I think it was him, he's an extremely
bright blue, with two green stripes on him). Should
I hold off on getting more fish even though everything is
normal in the tank? Thanks so much for all of your help!
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joycedonley
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Sunday,
August 19, 2001 - 10:47 am
Megan guppys only live a year minus or plus a couple of
months from the article I just read. If he was 10 months
old he may have died of natural causes.The fin rot may have
been a symptom of other internal infection...hard to tell.
Hold off on the treatment if your other fish are perfectly
fine and healthy. Wait a week or two from now and then if
all goes well just replace him. Sorry you lost him and if
it was just his time the kanamycin probably wouldn't
have helped much. Keep the medication on hand though since
guppy are susceptible to fin rot maybe you will need it
in the future.
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Megan
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Sunday,
August 19, 2001 - 06:20 pm
Thanks for all your help. So far all of the other fish seem
ok. So I'll give them a little bit of time. Do you know
of any web sites that have listings and signs of fish illnesses?
Or just good fish websites (although I have found a
lot of information on this one)in general.
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joycedonley
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Sunday,
August 19, 2001 - 08:17 pm
Megan just key in fin rot or tropical fish on your search
engine(yahoo or whatever) and it will bring up a
lot of fish sites.
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Megan
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Monday,
August 20, 2001 - 11:27 am
Thanks, you're great!
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