Salt

[kingkong]

#3 any salt with anti-caking is BAD. OK, #1 table salt has this ingredient and also some #5 water softener salt has anti-caking. So I thought this was bad? #4 Kosher salt has an additive that is more toxic than table salt? May it be YPS. Kosher salt is as pure as it comes 99.9% NaCl with 13 ppm of iron (yps) put in it.

[dick benbow]

keep in mind for our watergardner/koi lovers that salt is extremely hard on plants
about one cup per 100 gals is about all most will tolerate!

[REC]

Hi JG, I always like a good challenge... let me see if I can address your issues:

First, like any other med or chem we use in our ponds, we MUST read and understand what is in the meds/chems. I preach to never add anything that a) the local pet store recommends and b) without checking the ingredients and when in doubt there are lots of good folks on K-B and KV to help.

And this holds true for salt... we need to read the labels because salt is not salt is not salt. The water softener salt I mentioned above is labelled as "pure salt" or 99.7% pure salt. There are no other additives. Water softener salts with additives clearly state this, especially the anti-caking agents.

Table salts have nice easy to read labels and will tell you if they have anything else in them. The iodine content is clearly marked. There are both the iodized and non-iodized versions of table salt.

Kosher salts are all over the map. I never cared about kosher salts until I got into the koi health hobby and always figured it to be a good candidate for low-volume use. But then I read the label on a few of the kosher salts and saw some additives, like YPS that are not good for fish. So, as a blanket statement I just say avoid kosher salts.

Bottom line is simple... read the labels on salts and all other meds/chems and understand what they are and how they will affect your fish, the water, and any other meds/chems in your pond/tank.

Did I address your challenges??

REC

[adreamer2]

Got a 14" sanke in my indoor tank that is flashing something terrible.....

he is beginning to "hang" on the side of the pond.....

I am now thinking about soaking him in some salt for about 10 minutes, but I could really use some advice here.....

I treated the whole pond last week with Jungle Pond Fungus Eliminator....

((Because the Melafix was just plain junk... Even killed some of my little guys))

So, I went out and got some Kordon Ponod Rid-Ich + Disease Treatment....

Got a feeling this stuff will work, but with the Jungle Pond still in the water, I want to wait until I have completely changed the water by taking this stuff out.....

Any ideas, help or advise, would be greatly appreciated......

Also... I am going to get a stool sample and check its "dung"..... eeeh.. Now. that sounds just plain nasty doesn't it.....


adreamer2

[REC]

Can I assume that this fish did not just start flashing out of the blue... what led up to this be behavior?? Addition of a new fish?? Or plants?

A salt bath is usually a good first step.... for stronger fish, start at .6% (two tablespoons of salt per gallon of water) for 30 minutes. If the fish reacts by, take him out in a hurry and put him in clean water.

If the fish is weak, start the bath at .3% and then work up to .6% as the fish tolerates it better.

Of course, this presumes that anything the fish might have is not salt tolerant. Flukes won't be affected. The best course of action is to get a microscope and re-live your high school biology days and see if anything is wiggling under the scope. This will allow us to pin-point the problem and treat accordingly instead of guessing..

REC

[Mike T]

IMHO, you should determine what the problem is, then treat the koi and/or pond for the problem...

It boggles my mind that we will nuke the pond not knowing what the problem is... possibly causing more problems... we need more common sense and less chemicals... Sorry this is one of my pet peeves

While I'm on my soap box... Remember "Good Water Quality and Common Sense Fish Loads" will eliminate 99.9% of our pond problems...

Aloha! Mike

[dragonkoi]

hope this helps http://www.allaboutkoi.co.uk/salt-johnson-a-33.html

[elunned]

Quote: Originally Posted by dragonkoi hope this helps http://www.allaboutkoi.co.uk/salt-johnson-a-33.html

Malarky!! (a more polite term than cowpies) If you are going to quote Doc' J's mythinformation that salt easily and quickly clears 7 of 9 parasites, at least send folks to the vet's own website.

If you can look at feces under a microscope, PLEASE look at a sample of the slime coat. Stop throwing things in the water, and focus on identifying the cause of the problem.

[dragonkoi]

its cheap and it wont hurt your filters

[junglegeorge12]

Huh? Did I miss something here REC? I don't recall 'challenging' you, sorry if I did something that offended you in some way, I do not recall seeing this thread b 4.