These are the readings from my tank. I know guppies like harder water and neons like softer water. I just used 90% regular conditioned tap water and 10% RO water. My tank is 25 gallons. Added 4 teaspoons salt for the whole tank. 2 make guppies, 3 female guppies, 5 neon tetras. Planted with 2 bunches of water wisteria and 1 bunch of Cambodia. Lost a bunch of female guppies recently to some Columnaris-like infection, so disinfected the whole tank and reset it up without the air stone since Columnaris is an aerobic bacteria. Water is still oxygenated through a mini waterfall that comes from the filter. (Added bacteria supplements for cycling) Are these acceptable readings for both species to coexist? (Pic attached)
Need some advice on keeping guppies and neon tetras together
- Thread starter Kimnar
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Whole pile of problems here 
What is the general hardness (GH) of your water supply?
Guppies need water with a GH of at least 200ppm and preferably more.
Neons don't live long water with a GH above 300ppm and naturally occur in water with a GH below 100ppm.
Without knowing what your GH is, it is pointless adding R/O water. If your water is soft and you add R/O water, you will make it even softer (have less minerals in it), which is great for the neons but bad for the guppies.
Paper test strips are not that reliable when it comes to telling you exact numbers. But looking at the GH it appears to be low, less than 150mg/l (mg/l is the same as ppm), and that is too soft for guppies.
If you want guppies and neons then set up 2 tanks and keep guppies in one and neons in the other. Then you can provide each species with the correct conditions they require for optimum health.
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Salt (sodium chloride) should not be used on a regular basis in tanks with tetras. It can be used in tanks with livebearers like mollies, guppies, swordtails & platies but not tetras. Tetras did not evolve to deal with salt and have kidney problems when kept in brackish water for long periods of time.
Salt (sodium chloride) can be used to treat fish for certain diseases and you use 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres for tetras, barbs, corydoras, etc, and you double that dose for livebearers. You can double the dose rates for salt but only for 2-4 weeks. If you keep the salt levels high for any more than 1 month, the soft water fishes (tetras, barbs, cories) can suffer from kidney damage.
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Turning the air pump off or reducing aeration is not going to make any difference to diseases like Columnaris. The diseases are introduced into aquariums with contaminated fish, shrimp, snails, plants or water, or any item that has been in an infected tank, including filters, filter material and ornaments. This is why all new fish, shrimp, snails & plants should be quarantined for at least a month before being added to the main display tank.
re: Anaerobic vs Aerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria can only live in an environment that does not have any oxygen, eg: your intestine.
Aerobic bacteria can only live in environments that have oxygen.
If there is sufficient oxygen in the water to keep the fish alive, then there is sufficient oxygen for aerobic bacteria. Turning the aeration off makes no difference to aerobic bacteria. However, it can impact on fish health because fish like oxygen and keeping the oxygen levels high, helps reduce the stress in fish.
What is the general hardness (GH) of your water supply?
Guppies need water with a GH of at least 200ppm and preferably more.
Neons don't live long water with a GH above 300ppm and naturally occur in water with a GH below 100ppm.
Without knowing what your GH is, it is pointless adding R/O water. If your water is soft and you add R/O water, you will make it even softer (have less minerals in it), which is great for the neons but bad for the guppies.
Paper test strips are not that reliable when it comes to telling you exact numbers. But looking at the GH it appears to be low, less than 150mg/l (mg/l is the same as ppm), and that is too soft for guppies.
If you want guppies and neons then set up 2 tanks and keep guppies in one and neons in the other. Then you can provide each species with the correct conditions they require for optimum health.
-----------------------
Salt (sodium chloride) should not be used on a regular basis in tanks with tetras. It can be used in tanks with livebearers like mollies, guppies, swordtails & platies but not tetras. Tetras did not evolve to deal with salt and have kidney problems when kept in brackish water for long periods of time.
Salt (sodium chloride) can be used to treat fish for certain diseases and you use 1 heaped tablespoon per 20 litres for tetras, barbs, corydoras, etc, and you double that dose for livebearers. You can double the dose rates for salt but only for 2-4 weeks. If you keep the salt levels high for any more than 1 month, the soft water fishes (tetras, barbs, cories) can suffer from kidney damage.
-----------------------
Turning the air pump off or reducing aeration is not going to make any difference to diseases like Columnaris. The diseases are introduced into aquariums with contaminated fish, shrimp, snails, plants or water, or any item that has been in an infected tank, including filters, filter material and ornaments. This is why all new fish, shrimp, snails & plants should be quarantined for at least a month before being added to the main display tank.
re: Anaerobic vs Aerobic bacteria. Anaerobic bacteria can only live in an environment that does not have any oxygen, eg: your intestine.
Aerobic bacteria can only live in environments that have oxygen.
If there is sufficient oxygen in the water to keep the fish alive, then there is sufficient oxygen for aerobic bacteria. Turning the aeration off makes no difference to aerobic bacteria. However, it can impact on fish health because fish like oxygen and keeping the oxygen levels high, helps reduce the stress in fish.
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