Another volatile subject (sigh).

The "standard" at the moment is to put salt to .3% when the fish are sick,
that it will eliminate a lot of fish parasites. However, more and more of
the parasites are becoming salt-resistant (such as costia). And other forms
of medication can become toxic when salt is present. Salt at that level will
also have very detrimental effects on your plants. However, fish have about
the same salt level in their bodies that we do, so a small amount of salt
helps with osmotic issues. No salt and it makes their kidneys work harder.
Salt can also be used to protect the koi during nitrIte spikes, such as
incurred during the cycling of a new filter. And salt is a benign media to
establish the ACTUAL number of gallons in your pond for medication purposes
(something I heartily recommend that everyone does at least once to
establish your actual gallonage - preferably in advance of needing to know!)

Personally, I keep the salt level in my pond at .05%, which is the natural
salt level of the koi (and us, too, I think!). At that level, it offers
benefit without having detrimental issues. I can add more if I need to, but
it's enough to offset osmotic and nitrIte issues. So I walk a fine line
between both worlds.

Lee

"Carola / Les" wrote in message
. ..
Any thoughts on the need to add salt to Koi ponds ?

Les