Can Mollies Live Without Salt

[Flame82]

My dad bought back 4 mollies- silver and black (2each)
He has a few kribs and fish which eats up mess. Is he able to add sait without causing problems to the other fish,
Can he go without adding salt.
The lfs said to him you dont have to add said but can help. Is this right
thanks
tom

 

[Chri$]

Well i have just 1 molly living in my tank and i have never added salt and he is fine, never had any problems.

 

[brewyn]

not normaly my topic this, but I have black mollies and I believe that out of all the mollies, the black mollies are prone to white spot, hence why myself and others add salt to the water.

 

[nmonks]

See the pinned topic on exactly this.

Yes, you will come across people who have kept mollies in water without salt. But on average, most mollies, most of the time, do best in tanks where a little salt is added. It needn't be much salt. Many hard water fish, such as rainbowfish and other livebearers, are totally cool about a little salt. Kribs don't mind it, either, and there are plenty of nominally freshwater fish that are perfectly healthy in slightly salty water, such as glassfish, bumblebee gobies, and wrestling halfbeaks.

The fish that don't like salt are most of the catfish, and all of the barbs and tetras, among other things.

Cheers,

Neale

 

[Fadi]

nmonks, how do gourami handle the salt?

 

[nmonks]

Badly. Only a few labyrinth fish live in slightly brackish water. The Asian climbing perch and the giant gourami are the two that come to mind. Most of the others don't want salt in their water (though I know a lot of betta people add tiny amounts to their tanks). If you're going to add salt, mollies really shouldn't be kept with gouramis.

Cheers,

Neale

nmonks, how do gourami handle the salt?

 

[babybell911]

Me and my mum keep mollies in freshwater aquariums have done for ages and they do just fine. I had a spot of fungus in my tank recently (cleared up now) and the only ones who werent affected were the mollies!

 

[black molly3]

Not at all mollies dont need salt to live.
iv had mine since monday and nothing has happened. no problems

 

[HendrixTheOscar]

Mollies are freshwater fish and should not be kept in salt water.

In response to one of the other posts on this thread about black mollies being prone to white spot, all my others got it except the black one.

My mollies were kept in fresh and reproduced as well. Keep them in fresh.

 

[nmonks]

This is certainly true for most species of wild molly.

However, the problem is that fancy mollies (such as black mollies) are hybrids, and no-one knows what their species make-up is. Adding salt will do no harm. It is easy to adapt sailfin mollies to marine conditions, and black mollies are routinely used to mature reef tanks.

The need for salt is inversely proportional to the alkalinity of the aquarium. At a high pH and hardness, mollies will often do fine without salt. But read through the number of threads here and at other fish forums of people with mollies suffering from fungus, fin-rot, and "the shimmies". These can be prevented entirely by adding salt.

(While brackish water also kills whitespot, I'm not aware of mollies being any more prone to whitespot than any other fish.)

Hence, most of the time, for most mollies, adding salt is a reliable, preventitive measure. It isn't essential, but it is very useful.

Cheers,

Neale

Mollies are freshwater fish and should not be kept in salt water.

 

[brewyn]

I will always use salt in with my mollies, Iv'e never suffered a problem, they appear healthy, they are prolific breeders, but the same mollies in the LFS are always dying and always full of whitespot etc. it has already been mentioned that they are highly recommended for cycling marine tanks. it could be that the quality of the water plays an important part in the well being of the mollie, in this area mollies are prone to white spot.