Really Really Really Really Confused

[paul_219]

Ok i am confuse on water changing and when to add salt to the tank. I have a 29 gal tank i have some sail fin mollies and platies in my tank. I use to do weekly water change about 50% water each week and some marine salt to my tank. When i do this the next day i find a dead fish in my tank platies. Sometimes i see a fish like hitting its self on the gravel i do a 15% water change and add marine salt also, maybe i will treat it. When i remove the dead fish the next day i add some marine salt to the tank maybe the water is infected. Now here where i am confused. Someone just told me that do 10 to 20% water change every 15 days without adding salt. Each the next time i mean after 30 days they told me to add some marine salt when finished the water change? Now plz help. It could be the reason of platy dying because of weekly water change and add marine salt each time to my tank. when is the best time to do a water change? And how often should i add salt? If there is a dead fish is it better to do a water change and add salt or no? 10x. Plz help

 

[dizzied]

Do you know what your water's SG is? Platies can only live in low-end brackish.

Likely, you're killing your platies because either the SG is too high, too unstable, or the salt hasn't fully dissolved yet when you added it in.

 

[rdd1952]

I'm certainly no expert on salt as I never use it but one thing I do know is that as water evaporates, salt is left behind. If I'm not mistaken, people with saltwater tanks top off almost daily to keep their SG where it should be. So if you aren't topping the tank off as it evaporates between water changes, you are letting the salt content build. For instance if 1" of water evaporates over the 2 weeks between water changes, that is about 1.6 gallons in a standard 29 gallon tank. If you simply do water changes without topping off the water with unsalted water, the salt content and SG will build until you have a much stronger salt content that you really want.

Someone please correct me if I am wrong about this.

 

[-germ-]

Sounds about right, i've heard similar mentioned elsewhere although i haven't looked into detail.
I'll try and drag something up, anyhow;
Paul219.
Hello.
Do you still have the Hillstream Loaches and Gourami in this tank?

 

[paul_219]

Yeah they are the healthier fish in the tank and most active.

 

[chishnfips]

I wouldn't have thought you would be able to keep gouramis and loaches in a brackish setup, I dont really know about sailfin mollies but platies would certainly be ok in a fresh water tank, I reckon to save all the hassle, move the mollies and keep the rest and make the tank freshwater, you have less problems,.

 

[paul_219]

Dont have another tank. Sorry.

 

[chishnfips]

You may want to decide what type of fish you would like to keep then, and what sort of setup, as you cant really mix the two without problems.

 

[dizzied]

It should be freshwater if you want to keep it all. Mollies do better in freshwater than gouramis and loaches do in brackish. I'm surprised that the platies were the ones that choked, and not the gouramis/loaches.

 

[paul_219]

Yeah i also surprised. LOL

 

[Espada]

I use to do weekly water change about 50% water each week and some marine salt to my tank.

I'm not a salt expert, but when I buy salt I always buy salt labeled as "freshwater salt". If companies sell specific salt for freshwater then I assume that it differs from marine salt. The package shows exactly how much I need to add. I've used it tons of times to reduce stress or for the general health of the fish and never saw any negative side effects, only positive ones.

 

[chishnfips]

There are two different types of salt you get, tonic salts (probably the one you are talking about) and marine salt, Tonic salt is practically no use thats what I have heard anyway (i have never used it), marine salt is much better. Instant ocean salt is the main one people use.

Either way though he doesn't need that much salt in his tank

 

[FiSh123FiSh]

platys are realy supposed to be in tropical tanks arent they?