Cory's and salt

[jo o]

I have read thar Cory's don'y like salt,
yet my local lfs thinks its OK?
can you add ant salt to Cory's water?
Would I be better of moving my Guppies into another tank
and treating them with salt?

[Cory_lover]

I've heard that corys don't tolerate salt well, too, but personally have no experience.

Are your guppies sick hence the salt treatment? If it's not too bothersome (ie: u have an additional tank anyway), I say why risk it? May be better off separating guppies into another tank and then give 'em their salt. That way you'd be safe:)

[MChambers]

I have read thar Cory's don'y like salt,
yet my local lfs thinks its OK?
can you add ant salt to Cory's water?
Would I be better of moving my Guppies into another tank
and treating them with salt?

Guppies are fine without salt. I've done it for years. I'd just stop adding salt to your aquarium.

[MatsP]

As long as the water isn't soft (I have no idea what the water is like in the part of Australia that Jo O comes from). If the water is soft, use a bit of minerals to make the water harder, and the guppies will be fine. They do not live in strictly brackish or marine conditions.

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Mats

[jo o]

thanks for the help.
I have moved the Guppies in to a tank by them selfs they look a bit clamped,
thats why I wanted to add so salt and keep an eye on them.(have picked up a it)
The Corys and the BNs look good.
The water down here is soft

[OldMan]

If you have very soft water, don't use salt anyway. The easiest way to raise hardness and not damage your other fish with salt is to add some crushed shells or crushed coral to the filter. The stuff is basically calcium carbonate and will increase both the water hardness and will bring the pH up a little too. As the material dissolves in your water, the increase in dissolved solids will slow the dissolving and it is not very likely to overshoot the way you might if you try to add chemicals directly, like sea salt.

[jo o]

I have a bag of whole shells about the size of a five cent piece
or smaller, I have only put a few in.
How much should I use?

[apistomaster]

Corydoras do not really have anymore sensitivity to plain salt than any other SA fish species such as Cardinal Tetras. There is no reason for them to be kept in salted water. Raising the hardness, if they are going to be kept with some live bearers, is the better way to go.
You should keep one of the hardier species like C. aeneus or C. paleatus. Both of these species have been known to live many years in water with 1 tsp of salt per gal.
Avoid the black water species like C. adolphi or C. duplicareous.

I have received some Corydoras that were pretty beat up with raw torn fins and used up to one tbs salt per gal for 5 days.
Salt can promote quicker healing of superficial wounds. I use the same with newly imported wild Discus which were pretty beat up. Five days is always long enough and after that I restore them to salt free water.

[MatsP]

I'd just like to clarify that using salt for medical purposes isn't a bad idea - but that is different from "adding salt to make the guppies survive" - we aren't supposed to eat headache pills every day, but taking them from time to time isn't bad either.

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Mats