is something wrong with your fish. You've checked all the water
quality parameters, pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate, heavy metals,
chorine, and DO, and they're all OK. You observed the fish swimming
and it does not have swim bladder problems. You've physically examined
the fish for the visible crustacean parasites, fish lice (Argulus),
anchor worm (Lernea), and gill maggots (Ergasilus). The body is not
swollen, there are no ulcers or wounds, the abdomen is firm, the vent
looks normal, and the gills are smooth and regular with a consistent
red color. You've now run out of things to check and you haven't
discovered what the problem is. At this point, the natural tendency is
to want to do something, so you guess at what might be wrong. You
treat for what ever you think is wrong with some chemical concoction.
When that doesn't work, you try another concoction and another until
the fish die. Flying blind just doesn't work unless you are extremely
lucky. Try salt - it is affective against lots of ailments and at the
very least it will buy you time to get help.
is a wondrous mineral for most fish including goldfish and koi. Salt
has the following benefits:
of all it is safe. You can get the dosage off by quite a bit and
not harm your fish. I know of no one that has killed their fish by
treating them with salt. I can not make that claim with any other
type treatment. The only downside to using salt is that you lower
minutely the capacity of water to hold dissolved oxygen. Known as
the DO Saturation Point of water.
relieves Osmoregulation and boosts the fish's immune system. Fresh
water fish are bags of salt water swimming around in unsalted
water and their gills are a permutable membrane. Remember in high
school science class when they talked about this. It was called
osmosis. You were probably thinking at the time, "When will I
ever use this knowledge". This is it! Two unequal solutions
separated by a permutable membrane will tend to equalize. So the
fish have to work hard, very hard, to retain their salt. This work
is called Osmoregulation. By adding salt to the water, you relieve
the fish of some of the energy that it expends on osmoregulation
and they can use this extra energy to boost their immune system.
It is a good idea to add a 0.1 % salt solution to your quarantine
tank for new or sick fish. Especially if the fish has an ulcer or
open wound. Imagine how hard it would be to retain its salt with a
big hole in its side.
blocks the affects of nitrite in the water. Nitrite in your fish's
water is absorbed into the fish's blood stream, turns the blood
brown, and lessens the blood's capacity to carry oxygen to all
parts of the body. This is called "Brown Blood Disease".
Salt some how blocks the absorption of nitrite.
kills all the protozoan parasites including ich. Since we have
already addressed the Crustacean Parasites which we can see with
the naked eye, Argulus, Lernea, and Ergasilus, this only leaves
the flukes which we will talk about later.
is easy to find and buy. In addition, it is affordable for large
salt you use is pure salt, not salt with additives like table salt
that contains iodine. You can find it in pet stores sold as Aquarium
Salt or in large bags of rock salt without additives used for water
softeners in super markets and home improvement stores. Make sure the
salt you buy is 99.9% salt (Sodium Chloride or NaCl). Usually, salt
treatments are described as a percentage of salt in the water. 0.1
percent (that is zero point one percent or 1 part per thousand) is
approximately one pound of salt per 100 gallons of water or one
teaspoon per gallon. Because the one teaspoon is by volume and not by
weight, you can only use the more finely ground aquarium salt and not
the rock salt for this method of measurement. The normal dosage is 0.3
% for almost everything. There are two exceptions. If you want to
relieve stress because you're transporting your fish or introducing
them to a new environment you should place them in a 1% salt solution.
A salt tolerant strain of trichodina has been discovered in the last
few years. So if your fish have tichodina, assume it is the salt
tolerant kind and increase the salt to a 0.6 % solution. Before you
start adding the salt, change out about 50% of the water. You should
then add the salt at a rate of 0.1 % every 12 hours until you reach
the desired level. For example, if you have a 100 gallon system and
you want a 0.3% salt treatment, you would add 1 pound of salt at
, another pound at
, and the final pound the next morning at
. If you are losing fish, you may want to consider shortening this
period. For water changes, figure you are replacing the same
percentage of salt as you do water. So, using the same previous
example, if you want to do a 25% water change, you would remove 25
gallons of water. Since you started with 3 pounds or 48 ounces of salt
in the water, you need to replace 25 % of this salt or 12 ounces. I
dissolve this in a 5 gallon bucket of water with an air stone ahead of
time and then add it to the balance of the replacement water at the
time of the water change.There
are meters that read the amount of salt in the water. Every club
should own one because with water changes, it is easy to make a
mistake and the meter makes sure you are maintaining the salt level. A
good one costs around $75.
fish keepers keep their fish in salt all the time, a practice I would
not recommend. Using this method, the fish's ability to osmoregulate
atrophies and there is no benefit to adding salt when the fish is ill.
In addition, it is believed that because of this practice, the salt
tolerant trichodina came about.
do you go from here? If you did all the things we talked about at the
beginning of this article and it was done correctly, your fish more
than likely have one of the microscopic parasites that afflict fish,
but which one? The salt will kill most of these and will boost their
immune system so they can fight off the affects of the others, but
without knowing what's attacking them; your fish are still at risk.
You need a microscope and someone who knows how to use it and can
identify the parasites that infect fish. A microscope is another one
of those things I think your local club should buy and have available
for its members.
you can't get a microscope or someone who knows how to use it, then
increase the salt in your system to 0.6 % and continue the treatment
for 3 weeks minimum. Also, treat for flukes. I would use fluke tabs
for small systems and potassium permanganate (PP) for larger ones.
Treat your system 3 times 4 days apart if the temperature of the water
is in the 70's. The PP treatment is very dangerous to your fish if not
done right, so it is a good idea to get someone who has done it before
and can help you.
conclusion, when your fish are in trouble and you're not sure what to
do, add salt to your aquarium or pond. It is safe for your fish, it
will improve their situation in varying degrees depending on what is
wrong, and most importantly, it buys you time to figure out what is
wrong and get help.