Do any of you keep your guppies in salted tanks? I read an article in a fish magazine about a disease that is epidemic in pet store guppies that causes death. Only way to keep it at bay is salt added to the water. I was thinking about getting some guppies but now I am not sure. What have your experiences been with guppies recently purchased?

I add salt to my guppy tank at general tonic level of one rounded teaspoon for every 5 gallons of water. and have had no illnesses or disease problems so far. I cant see that it harms.

Guppies, platies, mollies, etc like a bit of salt in their water, it won't harm them they actually prefer it. Most people don't salt the water simply because these fish are often in a community tank with other fish that don't tolerate salt very well.

If you have a community tank, check out the salt tolerance of the other species first.

edit: btw, I haven't had much luck keeping guppies and platies, they don't seem very hardy to me although everyone else tells me they are easy to keep. It's interesting what you said about that disease.

I will see if I can track down that article and get back with more info.

Thanks, that would make me feel better, most of mine don't last long once I get them home. A disease like that could be the source of the problem, I hope it doesn't effect other species.

I am pretty sure the disease was specific to guppies. If I remember correctly they said it is not a problem with the breeder's stock but once they hit the pet stores, they are exposed and they get sick and began to die. You can not get rid of it but salt will help keep it at bay. If you put them back in regular tank water, they get sick again. I don't know what concentration of salt (I don't think it said) and I don't know the name of the disease. I don't think it is a parasite, but I wish I could find the darn article! The article was saying that many guppies die from this shortly after being purchased by the home aquarist. That prompted me to start this thread to see what people were experiencing out there. I will keep looking today after work.

That sounds interesting, I hope you find the article. I started with guppies a year ago, I think I bought a total of 9 guppies from the store, I didn't get them all at the same time. I only had one that lived, I've had her since January. She had fry the first week I had her so some of my guppies come from her. Then I raised 7 fry from one of the first ones I got. Then those had babies so I have some from them. After I realized I didn't have any luck with them, I looked for females that where about to drop so maybe I'd have the fry to raise.

I found it! It is in the freshwater Q & A of the Aug. '06 Aquarium Fish Magazine. It appears "to be a protozoal infection, probably Tetrahymena" according to the author. It also says that fancy guppies are one of the few fish bothered by this parasite. Part of the problem is shipping stress and a big part of it is poor genetics due to so much inbreeding which leaves them easy targets for disease. The author has tried all kinds of meds and combos of meds to no avail. The author recommends never buying newly arrived guppies at the LFS and quarantining the ones you get before adding them to your community tanks. He said "moving the fish into sea water was the only thing that helped." Of course when they are put back in freshwater, they can get reinfected.

I guess if you have had a problem with keeping new guppies alive, this may be part of it. It might be worth exploring the salt water tank method. The article also said "guppy farms don't have a problem with it because they raise them in near sea-water strength saltwater and feed them solely on live foods."

Food for thought I guess and a starting point for more information gathering before I decide about getting some guppies for a table top aquarium I wanted to use.

Please share your experiences with new guppies, whether good or bad.

Thanks, that sounds familiar unfortunately.

I've tried treatments for bacterial, protozoan and parasites but none had any effect. Often they show no symptoms but start hanging listlestly at the top of the tank. If they do show symptoms it looks like saddleback/columnaris but a protozoan infection could look the same. My survival rate of guppies from local lfs's is about 1 in 5. They usually die within a few days or a week.

The ones that survive must have some type of natural immunity and they just keep on going. I've tried 2 groups of 5 guppies over the past 3 months and have only 2 survivers. I think I'll avoid more guppies for a while, it's too risky.

But, this is only my experience and perhaps related to the supplier of my local stores, most people have no trouble keeping guppies.

I was preparing to have Guppies in my 10 gallons tank, but now this thread worries me. Okay, so I add in some salt, but what about the bulbs at Wal*Mart that sprouts into plants? I dunno if they will tolerate salt...