New Tank, Mollies And Salt

[Mrs Tybs]

Hi, I am in need of a little guidance. I have finally reached the end of my fishless cycle after 43 days. Off I toddle to my LFS and come away with 6 mollies, white spot treatment and a bag of salt. Only after adding salt, following instructions for minimum 0.1% for my 125 litre tank I realised in my excited haste that I now couldnt stock with the other fish I wanted but I really wanted dalmation mollies and if its what they prefer that's what they'll get. However, my LFS said all livebearers would benefit from salt so I could add platies & guppies later. Can't say I've read that anywhere!? After 24 hrs my water is now cloudy, is this normal or something else? Have I messed up my tank altogether? My mollies look very happy at the moment.

Any advice would be appreciated

 

[nmonks]

If you add 3-5 grammes per litre, you can keep guppies, platies, and swordtails with mollies. However, mollies tend to need warmer water than platies and swordtails [neither of which should be kept warmer than 25 C, and ideally 22-24 C]. Domesticated mollies and guppies at least do best when kept somewhat warmer, 26-28 C being ideal, perhaps even 30 C.

Ideally, keep mollies alone [much the best way to keep them] or else mix with brackish water species: knight gobies, orange chromides, Limia, glassfish, etc. Hoplosternum littorale catfish also work well.

FWIW, the dose required for treating whitespot, around 2 g/l, is harmless to freshwater fish, even soft water species, at least in the short term. I have a tank I'm treating in precisely this way, and it includes Corydoras catfish, a loach and a whiptail catfish along with numerous Celebes halfbeaks and a killifish. They're all fine. In fact salt is LESS stressful than most of the copper- and formalin-based medications widely used.

Cheers, Neale

 

[myenigmaself]

Hi, I am in need of a little guidance. I have finally reached the end of my fishless cycle after 43 days. Off I toddle to my LFS and come away with 6 mollies, white spot treatment and a bag of salt. Only after adding salt, following instructions for minimum 0.1% for my 125 litre tank I realised in my excited haste that I now couldnt stock with the other fish I wanted but I really wanted dalmation mollies and if its what they prefer that's what they'll get. However, my LFS said all livebearers would benefit from salt so I could add platies & guppies later. Can't say I've read that anywhere!? After 24 hrs my water is now cloudy, is this normal or something else? Have I messed up my tank altogether? My mollies look very happy at the moment.

Any advice would be appreciated

Not sure if it's related, but next time I would cycle with the salt in the tank. The more primitive the organism (such as ammonia/nitrate consuming bacteria) the more fragile they are with regards to salinity changes. If you're at a low SG then it shouldn't be too much of a problem.

Regarding guppies and platies, I've read that guppies should do just fine in a SG lower than 1.005, but nothing about platies. There are plenty of other options out there too, if you want to venture beyond livebearers.

Best of luck to you

 

[Mrs Tybs]

Thank you both for your swift replies, much appreciated. Hopefully all will settle down soon. Hubby is looking into setting up a marine tank so will save the more colourful choices for that.