steed1172

i have an albino cory that will dart to the surface and gasp...i have hear this is normal, and that if he is "forever" at the surface there is a problem, he(or she) is the only one going to the surface i don't have any water quality problems and there is "about" 1 tablespoon of salt per 8 gallons, is even this much hurting him? he stays at surface for about 20 seconds to 2 minutes....

PS first post getting used to how this works, thanks.

Shawnie

welcome to fishlore steed1172!!
cories and salt dont mix are you using salt for any particular reason? staying at the top is not good at all ..they do dart now and then though....

steed1172

it is my ONLY fish that is doing it, also i have snails... they are extremely happy and active going about killing and eating everything i give(or let them to get) i use the salt for my bumble bee gobies(as they are not true freshwater fish) so i added the small amount of salt

Shawnie

just because only one is not feeling well now, doesnt mean they all wont eventually..if I were you, and you can , id get a tank for the gobies as the other fish and inhabitants are NOT brackish or salt water tolerant..and you might have more issues soon beside the one cory ....neons and angels dont care for salt either ....

steed1172

i have heard that the small amount of salt i add to my aquarium is very beneficial to almost all freshwater tropical fish(that have scales...corys do not have scales i know) it's supposed to help them grow a slime coat that protects them from diseases, and that amount doesn't hurt them.... is this NOT true?... if this is not true good thing i have other tanks

Shawnie

its more of an old school way.and MOST of our fish we get from LFS now a days, have never seen salt....it makes them overproduce slime coat which in turn, can stress them out big time from the overproduction..there now is much more natural more fish friendly ways to do this....most of your water conditioners have that ability now and salt isnt needed..but each person believes in different ways...I can say angels, tetras, and your cories, will not like it ...so a few water changes with some stress coat+ will get rid of the salt and help their slime coat more naturally......

Regal

The way I understand it... the salt irritates the fish's skin so that their bodies produce more slime coat to try to overcome the damage being done by the salt. Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, of course.

Angelfish tetras and cories are all fish that can't tolerate salt. Even if one has gotten sick faster than the others I'm sure the others will have problems soon too.

You can't combine two types of tanks and have healthy fish. Neither type of fish is in an appropriate environment. Since you have other tanks, this is a problem that's easily solved.

eiginh

I agree with the salt info! It's a real bad way of producing slime coat. I would really put the gobies in a different tank and like what shawnie said use stress coat to help your other fish buddies produce more slime coat.

steed1172

alright thanks... time to get another heater i guess....have tanks and filter... but not extra(working) heaters....

steed1172

one last quick question would my kuhli loaches stand the salt as their colors match i would like to keep them together

eiginh

"Water Conditions: Although they come from soft acid water originally, kuhli loaches adapt to most water conditions. Just keep their water clean." got it from this site http://aqualandpetsplus.com/Oddball,...%20Loaches.htm

Not sure if they're ok with salt though b/c they don't have any scales.

steed1172

no scales?... ... my independent research comes up with 40% tiny tiny scales to 60% no scales.... i would like some one to verify scales skin bone plates or what for kuhli loaches
:EDIT: nvm about that ... fishlore had a kuhli loach profile... it says scaleless.. so that's what I'll go with

eiginh

They have scales to a certain degree but it's not enough to protect them from salt. At least I would think b/c I used to have clown loaches they are super sensitive to medicine and salt and ICH!