When we use salt there are both fors and against or pro and con .
We must however when salting our ponds get it right i;e the use of non ionated salt in our ponds , you can if you wish buy your salt from a dealer but it works out cheaper by going to the supermarket and buying cooking salt (not table salt) it works out at around 45 p per 3kg bag.as opposed to what the dealer is charging for a sack of so called medicated salt.
Our opinion is that salt can be very benificial to treating our koi, however there is another group of koi keepers who wont even contemplate using salt in their ponds
You can give your koi a long term treatment by adding to the pond water*but it is most useful as a short term treatment
Pro's
Salt is known to have a mild bacterial property, this makes it rather useful at controling bacterial infections.
It promotes a mucus flow over the skin of your koi thus it is useful in protecting agaist Fungus, Parasites and last but not least bacteria.
This is because the extra mucus created makes it that much harder for any of the above to cause an infection on your koi.
It can help protect against protozoan parasites, including costia,chilodonella trichodina, flukes and other ectoparasites.
It assists in osmo-regulation problems can help with congested and caused by bacterial ulceration
It is safer to use than our chemical based treatments , de-stresses your koi
will not effect your biological filtration (a major plus) in our book.
Cons
Once we have added salt to our ponds you have the problem of it remaining in the pond it doesnt evaporate from the pond and our filters do not remove it.*
It takes Physical removal by yourself in the form of water changes, a great tip here is to buy yourself a salt meter from your local dealership to give us the ability to see how much salt is left in your pond after a waterchange.
Salt is a ****** to remove, it will take more than a few water changes to be rid of it from your pond.
It becomes a major headache, if your koi despite the salt doesnt recover this is when the chemical treatments come in to play them being that much stronger in what they do.
Why because in some cases it can react in a negative way with the treatment used i;e Malachite green and formlin can be used but if the PH is above 8.0 then the formalin can react in a toxic way to your koi causing major implications.
Beleive it or not you can even overdose with salt ( you must work out the correct amount to be added to your pond this is very important)!!!.......
Sadly what happens is the osmotic pressure between the koi and water goes into reverse thus your koi can release to much water and sadly die on you basically the become de-hydrated to the point of death .
If you by mistake add the salt to your filtration will it do damage , the answer to that I'm affraid is yes because it will kill off your beneficial Bacteria which is found in your filters
If you allow the salt concetrations to remain high for say an extended period then certain pathogens will build up a resistance to it as a treatment thus making it ineffective for future use against them
So there we have it the pro's and cons of using salt in your pond to treat your koi with.
Basically if like ourselves you have a large QT setup of over 300 gallons or more then we would advise you treating your koi in QT and not in the pond that way you have total control over everything and can simply drain your QT setup after successfully treating your koi , then there can be no cock ups to do with salt.
Dave
We must however when salting our ponds get it right i;e the use of non ionated salt in our ponds , you can if you wish buy your salt from a dealer but it works out cheaper by going to the supermarket and buying cooking salt (not table salt) it works out at around 45 p per 3kg bag.as opposed to what the dealer is charging for a sack of so called medicated salt.
Our opinion is that salt can be very benificial to treating our koi, however there is another group of koi keepers who wont even contemplate using salt in their ponds
You can give your koi a long term treatment by adding to the pond water*but it is most useful as a short term treatment
Pro's
Salt is known to have a mild bacterial property, this makes it rather useful at controling bacterial infections.
It promotes a mucus flow over the skin of your koi thus it is useful in protecting agaist Fungus, Parasites and last but not least bacteria.
This is because the extra mucus created makes it that much harder for any of the above to cause an infection on your koi.
It can help protect against protozoan parasites, including costia,chilodonella trichodina, flukes and other ectoparasites.
It assists in osmo-regulation problems can help with congested and caused by bacterial ulceration
It is safer to use than our chemical based treatments , de-stresses your koi
will not effect your biological filtration (a major plus) in our book.
Cons
Once we have added salt to our ponds you have the problem of it remaining in the pond it doesnt evaporate from the pond and our filters do not remove it.*
It takes Physical removal by yourself in the form of water changes, a great tip here is to buy yourself a salt meter from your local dealership to give us the ability to see how much salt is left in your pond after a waterchange.
Salt is a ****** to remove, it will take more than a few water changes to be rid of it from your pond.
It becomes a major headache, if your koi despite the salt doesnt recover this is when the chemical treatments come in to play them being that much stronger in what they do.
Why because in some cases it can react in a negative way with the treatment used i;e Malachite green and formlin can be used but if the PH is above 8.0 then the formalin can react in a toxic way to your koi causing major implications.
Beleive it or not you can even overdose with salt ( you must work out the correct amount to be added to your pond this is very important)!!!.......
Sadly what happens is the osmotic pressure between the koi and water goes into reverse thus your koi can release to much water and sadly die on you basically the become de-hydrated to the point of death .
If you by mistake add the salt to your filtration will it do damage , the answer to that I'm affraid is yes because it will kill off your beneficial Bacteria which is found in your filters
If you allow the salt concetrations to remain high for say an extended period then certain pathogens will build up a resistance to it as a treatment thus making it ineffective for future use against them
So there we have it the pro's and cons of using salt in your pond to treat your koi with.
Basically if like ourselves you have a large QT setup of over 300 gallons or more then we would advise you treating your koi in QT and not in the pond that way you have total control over everything and can simply drain your QT setup after successfully treating your koi , then there can be no cock ups to do with salt.
Dave