Guppies and salt and do they ever stop eating

[Beling]

I'm wondering how many of you use a little salt as a preventative in your guppy tanks. And what kind. Also, I've had different kinds of fish, no guppies since I was a little kid. I'm surprised that these guppies seem hungry--always. I don't want to overfeed, as it's a mosquito-trapping tank. But they seem hungry, even though they look fat.

 

[Sir Guppy]

I’ve had times were my guppies have started to get sick, and after I pour in some salt they tend to recover. (The brand I use is API. Whether it is better or worse than other salts I do not know)

Guppies do tend to be greedy, and they are type of fish that I think if you fed them enough they’ll eat themselves to death lol. With them, I don’t think I’d worry about underfeeding.

 

[Colin_T]

Guppies do best in water with a GH (general hardness) around 200ppm and a pH above 7.0, but will be fine in water with a GH between 150-300pm. If the water is too soft (not enough minerals) they have more issues and die sooner.

Adding salt (sodium chloride) can help compensate for low minerals like calcium and magnesium but is not good for most freshwater fishes due to the damage the salt can do to their kidneys. Kidney damage is more likely to occur in softwater fishes like tetras, barbs, rasboras, angelfish, Corydoras, Bettas and gouramis that are exposed to salt for more than a month.

As a general rule it is not recommended to add salt on a regular basis due to the damage it can do to the fish's kidneys.

If you have soft water and keep hard water fishes, add a Rift Lake water conditioner to increase the magnesium and calcium levels in the water.

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Most guppies from Asian fish farms are infested with intestinal worms and this cause make the fish eat more. Section 3 of the following link has information about deworming fish. Threadworms are the most common intestinal worm in aquarium fishes.

What to do if your fish has Stringy White Poop.

Fish do a stringy white poop for several reasons. 1) Internal Bacterial Infections causes the fish to stop eating, swell up like a balloon, breath heavily at the surface or near a filter outlet, do stringy white poop, and die within 24-48 hours of showing these symptoms. This cannot normally be...

www.fishforums.net

 

[emeraldking]

I only use pure sea salt as a preventative. Which works perfectly. But I don't only use them with guppies but also other kinds of livebearers. But not all livebearers do appreciate salt. So, be aware of that...

Not just guppies, but also other kinds of fish can be on the hunt for food in a continuous way... As if they never get fed. That's quite normal.

 

[Beling]

Thanks, all! I did see evidence of worms and treated with "General Cure" which seems to have worked. I'd seen a lot about salt, and in my experience it has kept the water very clear (when I had brackish fish). But I think I'll just deal with the green FRESH water.