I have been raising guppies and platies for about 6 months and for the mosts part think I know what I'm doing (basically anyway), but I have a mystery and I'm afraid I may have made a big mistake. I hope I didn't because I'd feel horribly if I killed any of my sweet babies, but please someone tell me if I did.
I have a 40 gallon tank housing 5 adult guppies, 3 adult platies, 2 dwarf gouramis and one betta. Additionally there are a bunch of fry in the tank (10-20) including 8 wk old, 6 wk old and 2 wk old guppies, 4 wk old platties and 3 wk old mollies (its been busy in there!). The tank is VERY heavily planted and has a lot of very small ares for babies to hide in, so I generally feel secure allowing them to roam free. I keep the tank around 80 degrees at a high PH and add a handful of salt every couple of weeks. All my readings are completely in the normal range.
Two days ago some of my little mollies were not looking very happy, so I through in one tablespoon of salt. Since then all my 2 wk old guppies seem to have disappeared. I generally wouldn't be worried since I would expect the little guys to to stay hidden at least a few more weeks, but 3 or 4 of them have been really brave since birth and have been regularly staying out in the open, so not seeing them is weird. I even jiggled a some of the plants and java moss around to see if they were nearby their "usual spots" but no sucess. This is my first time adding salt since this batch of guppies was born. I didn't think anything of it at the time since it was a small amount, the readings weren't drastically changed, and I've never experienced any problems adding salt when earlier batches of guppy fry were in the tank...but the sudden disappearance has me worried. Is it possible that the salt harmed them? Neither of the parents ever showed any adverse reaction to the use of salt, so I can;t figure out why the babies would be harmed, but I feel horribly guilty! Please tell me if I messed up!
I have a 40 gallon tank housing 5 adult guppies, 3 adult platies, 2 dwarf gouramis and one betta. Additionally there are a bunch of fry in the tank (10-20) including 8 wk old, 6 wk old and 2 wk old guppies, 4 wk old platties and 3 wk old mollies (its been busy in there!). The tank is VERY heavily planted and has a lot of very small ares for babies to hide in, so I generally feel secure allowing them to roam free. I keep the tank around 80 degrees at a high PH and add a handful of salt every couple of weeks. All my readings are completely in the normal range.
Two days ago some of my little mollies were not looking very happy, so I through in one tablespoon of salt. Since then all my 2 wk old guppies seem to have disappeared. I generally wouldn't be worried since I would expect the little guys to to stay hidden at least a few more weeks, but 3 or 4 of them have been really brave since birth and have been regularly staying out in the open, so not seeing them is weird. I even jiggled a some of the plants and java moss around to see if they were nearby their "usual spots" but no sucess. This is my first time adding salt since this batch of guppies was born. I didn't think anything of it at the time since it was a small amount, the readings weren't drastically changed, and I've never experienced any problems adding salt when earlier batches of guppy fry were in the tank...but the sudden disappearance has me worried. Is it possible that the salt harmed them? Neither of the parents ever showed any adverse reaction to the use of salt, so I can;t figure out why the babies would be harmed, but I feel horribly guilty! Please tell me if I messed up!
