Any thoughts on the need to add salt to Koi ponds ?

Les

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

During winter, 0.05%, but dont add rock salt directly to the pond when the water is
cold and the salt may sink to the bottom and sit there undissolved and the fish
settle down onto it.
In summer up to 0.1% which wont affect plants. This is around 0.9lbs per 100
gallons.
For parasites there are medications that are known to work better than running salt
up to 0.3% . This concentration kills plants and (??? kills algae and biomedia???) I
dont know, but I would worry about that too. It also can stress the fish out and
trash fins.
The internal salt level of fish and humans is 0.9% ..
Ingrid

Lee Brouillet wrote:

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!)

Okay, I'll bite. How do we do this?

Joe



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You start off with a Known level of salt, tested either with a salt test kit
or with one of the meters. You add a known/weighed amount of salt to your
pond, preferably somewhere where it won't hurt your fish, like in your
skimmer box or the bottom of your waterfall (if designed that way), where it
can dissolve without your fish being able to get to it. Wait a few days for
the salt to completely dissolve and get evenly distributed in the water,
then test the water again to find out what the salt content is. Then go to
this site: http://www.perigee.net/~jrjohns/volcalc.html
or http://www.akca.org/library/salt3.htm or sign up at Roark's site
http://www.click2Roark.com ; he has a very easy-to-use calculator. This
will tell you what your ACTUAL pond gallonage is. I found that the L x W x D
gives an invalid approximation unless your sides are completely vertical,
your bottom perfectly straight and level, and you're not dealing with any
curves. O'wise, you're lulled into a false sense of water: I thought I had
in excess of 1800 gals. and found out I only had 1200. That can make a big
difference in meds.

Hope this helps.
Lee

"joe" wrote in message
...
Lee Brouillet wrote:

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!)

Okay, I'll bite. How do we do this?

Joe



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http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----

"Lee Brouillet" wrote in message
...
You start off with a Known level of salt, tested either with a salt test
kit
or with one of the meters. You add a known/weighed amount of salt to your
pond, preferably somewhere where it won't hurt your fish, like in your
skimmer box or the bottom of your waterfall (if designed that way), where
it
can dissolve without your fish being able to get to it. Wait a few days
for
the salt to completely dissolve and get evenly distributed in the water,
then test the water again to find out what the salt content is. Then go to
this site: http://www.perigee.net/~jrjohns/volcalc.html
or http://www.akca.org/library/salt3.htm or sign up at Roark's site
http://www.click2Roark.com ; he has a very easy-to-use calculator. This
will tell you what your ACTUAL pond gallonage is. I found that the L x W x
D
gives an invalid approximation unless your sides are completely vertical,
your bottom perfectly straight and level, and you're not dealing with any
curves. O'wise, you're lulled into a false sense of water: I thought I had
in excess of 1800 gals. and found out I only had 1200. That can make a big
difference in meds.

Hope this helps.
Lee

"joe" wrote in message
...
Lee Brouillet wrote:

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!)

Okay, I'll bite. How do we do this?

Joe



-----= Posted via Newsfeeds.Com, Uncensored Usenet News =-----
http://www.newsfeeds.com - The #1 Newsgroup Service in the World!
-----== Over 80,000 Newsgroups - 16 Different Servers! =-----


Thanks for that very useful information, Lee.
There are no negative responses to the post so that must be the way to go,
although I don't think that adding salt to a pond is generally appreciated.
Les.

There are many pros and cons to salt. Depending on where you live and your
water source, you may already have .02 to .12 salt in your pond, just from
the "natural" salt content. You won't taste salt in that concentration, but
it will be there. That's why you have to test for salt FIRST, before you add
the measured amount. Otherwise, you get skewed results. Keep watching this
newsgroup and other "fish" boards over the next few months as the ponds
"wake up" and the fish are distressed: the use of salt is frequently
advocated for problems. It's not a bad thing, just if it's kept at higher
levels for too long. Also, if you ever need to use formalin, ANY salt can
have deadly consequences.

Short of actually metering your water when you initially fill your pond -
something none of us EVER seems to remember to do - the salt test is the
only way I know to determine the *actual* water in your pond. For what it's
worth, your weekly water changes will reduce the salt to Zero over a few
weeks/months, depending on the size of your pond and the percentage of salt
you used. Caveat: you MUST do water changes, not just "top off". "Topping
off" refills water that evaporated, which means that everything in the pond
simply becomes more concentrated as the volume decreases. Actual water
changes are needed to dilute/remove the chemicals and other chemistry (such
as the growth hormones the fish excrete) from the water.

Hope this helps.
Lee


"Carola / Les" wrote in message
. ..


Thanks for that very useful information, Lee.
There are no negative responses to the post so that must be the way to go,
although I don't think that adding salt to a pond is generally
appreciated.
Les.

Jo Ann says 0.025 or 1/5 lb of salt per 100 gallons is fine with Quick Cure. More
and it rips up the gills. Ingrid

On Thu, 06 Feb 2003 17:04:05 GMT, wrote:

Jo Ann says 0.025 or 1/5 lb of salt per 100 gallons is fine with Quick Cure. More
and it rips up the gills. Ingrid

I've had it up to 0.1% salt and used formalin, didn't see any negative
behavior from the fish.... but I did not look closely at the gills, so
minor damage could have happen. I'd go with what JoAnn said, she probably
looks at gills more often than I do. ;o)

Les, One of the Vets, Sandy Yosha, that taught the wet lab for the AKCA
KHA's recommended salt ONLY when there was a problem.

Many hobbyist, including myself, have had good results with an increase in
salt (0.1%) in the spring and feeding Romet B. Throughout the season we
lower our salt content with water changes and might (or might not) bring it
up again in the fall. A lot depends on fish behavior, I add salt if I see
even one fish flash, but only to 0.1%.

I do have to add though, a lot of my success, imo, is due to a profuse
period of quarantining any new fish and I haven't added a new fish for
almost 2 years now.
(But that's what happens when the pond is full. ;o) ~ jan

See my ponds and filter design:
http://users.owt.com/jjspond/

~Keep 'em Wet!~
Tri-Cities WA Zone 7a
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