On Fri, 18 May 2007 20:10:47 CST, "Paul" wrote:

Does anyone know what are ideal salt readings levels are in a pond with fish
and plants? Getting confused Thanks...............

I don't think there is a magic number for salt levels in a
koi/goldfish pond that the salt level must maintain. The tap water in
my area doesn't have any and most of my friends and club members don't
add salt. I raise the salt level to .1% every winter in the hopes the
fish will develop a good slime coat to help prevent parasites from
latching on just at the critical time the fish are coming out of
hibernation (close to.) temperatures and their immune systems are
cranking up. I then let the salt level drop as I do water changes and
it almost disappears by the following winter cold spell. Yesterday it
was at .03%.

Some argue the pond should always contain enough salt to prevent brown
blood disease, others argue high nitrates occur mostly at startup of a
new pond and if the filter is working properly there won't be enough
nitrates in the water to cause brown blood disease.
There are lots more, but here are a couple opinions.
http://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/scripts/htm...DOCUMENT_VM007
http://www.koiclubsandiego.org/library/salinity.php
Note the San Diego tap water reads 0 to 5 ppt and that is what Norm
Meck called acceptable range.

Salt tests on plants:
http://tinyurl.com/2c8gwm
As a medication:
http://tinyurl.com/jg6hp

BTW if you choose to use salt, the best bargain is solar salt for
water softeners at Lowe's and similar stores. It comes in 40lb bags
and sells for about $4, and is 99% pure salt.

Regards,

Hal