How, Why & When to add pond salt
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 5 ก.ย. 2024
- How, Why & When to add pond salt, this can be one of the most confusing things to a pond owner. In this video i will explain how to make it super simple!
A few common questions among pond keepers are, ‘Why should I use salt in my koi pond and how much should I add’? If used in correct doses, pond salt can offer many benefits to koi carp and pond water.
Before there was an extensive range of pond treatments available on the aquatics market, pond salt was the go-to solution for killing parasites and protecting koi carp during the winter months. In winter, salt helped koi by replacing salt that the fish naturally produce themselves. When pond water gets colder, the fish’s metabolism slows down and their organs begin functioning less than they would in warmer water. Using a small amount of salt helps to replace the natural salt they would normally produce but are unable to due to the slower functioning - this would, in turn, make the winter time more bearable.
Where / When To Put Salt in Your Koi Pond:
As stated above, putting salt into your pond in winter is a good idea only if you do not have a pond heater. If you have a pond heater, this will be enough to keep your koi functioning, healthy and warm enough through the cold. When temperatures begin to rise in the spring, make sure to change out the salt water using a ‘little but often’ approach. This means you do not have to perform any large water changes, just slowly change out the salt over a few weeks.
At the end of the day, you must remember that koi carp are a freshwater species and therefore should not live in salt water continuously over time. If salt is always used then the effects will stop working. It would be like if we took paracetamol every day - eventually we would become resistant and the effects would cease.
An exception to this would be if you have a quarantine facility with a heater. In this case, using some salt can still be a good idea because it is a temporary tank set-up and can play a role in increasing the fish's natural disease resistance.
If you are using pond salt to treat parasites, add the appropriate dosage of salt (keep reading for dosing instructions below) and keep in the water for 2 weeks. After 2 weeks has passed, begin changing out your pond water to reduce the salt levels. Continue to change the water until there is no salt left. Again, if pond salt is used continuously, parasites will build a resistance to tonic salt and other pond water treatments will be required.
Types of Salt and Appropriate Dosing Levels:
A good salt to use is a tonic salt that contains no harmful additives and will be safe with fish, plants and filtration bacteria. Tonic salt is used because if its therapeutic and restorative effects.
The dosage of pond salt is extremely important. It is recommended that 1 gram of salt is used per litre of water. It is also a good idea to space this out over time; using the ‘little but often’ approach again is probably best. Space out your salt treatment over the span of 3-4 days. Some people treat their whole pond at once but it is recommended that if you choose to do so, this is only carried out one time. Do not use treatment for the entire capacity of your pond more than one time. Just like any living organism, too much salt at one time can be deadly.
It is also important to let the salt dissolve in a bucket of the pond water before adding it to your pond. If this is not done, salt residue can build up on the bottom of your pond and can come in direct contact with your koi fish which can cause burns.
Pond Salt and Pond Plants:
While pond salt can aid in getting rid of and controlling pesky algae and blanketweed, certain aquatic plants are sensitive to salt. It is important to monitor salinity levels with a salinity meter so that you avoid pond plant mortality. To make it a bit easier, here is a list a few different pond plants and the levels of salt that they can tolerate:
If salinity levels reach 0.10% or above - anacharis, water hyacinths and lotus will not be able to live in the water.
If salinity levels reach 0.20% or above - lavender musk and water lilies will not be able to live in the water.
If salinity levels reach 0.30% or above - the majority of other aquatic plants will suffer. This includes forget-me-nots, zebra rush, cattails and floating hearts.
How to work out how much salt to use,?
1 Kilo of salt per 1000 litres increases salinity by 0.1%
0.3% = 3 kilo of salt per 1000 ltr
0.4% = 4 kilo of salt per 1000 ltr
0.5% = 5 kilo of salt per 1000 ltr
0.6% = 6 kilo of salt per 1000 ltr
0.7% = 7 kilo of salt per 1000 ltr
0.8% = 8 kilo of salt per 1000 ltr
0.9% = 9 kilo of salt per 1000 ltr
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Thanks for watching!
Great video Jack 👍
Really useful information.
Stay safe.
Cheers Keith, glad you found it informative
Nice intro on the video J and WB.
I hasten to guess that you’ve been busy in the fish room with the new build given this is the first video for over a week which is unusual for your channel but good things come to those who wait.
Very informative video, as I previously said I have very limited knowledge on Koi but always leave your videos with lessons learned which is always a pleasure and keeps me subscribed. Massive thanks and stay safe, hope to see you soon bud.👍
You'll be the first one round when it's up and running, the fishroom is like a bomb site currently with moving new stands etc in which is why it was easier to do bits in the coldwater room, however I have some tropical stuff recorded last week hence the delay in upload which I'll get up this week!
The Balding Reefer would be a pleasure to come over to see the fish room and meet you J.
Drop me you number on messenger bud
The Balding Reefer will do
In which time and which temperature ee give salt in water
Thanks
A very interesting video Jack. Can the salt 'solution' stay once in a pond or does the water have to be changed somehow? I have a 4000 litre garden pond with large goldfish; presuming 2.2lb of salt per 1000 litres... I'll be making it up in small batches and introducing it via the waterfall outlet from the filter to the pond. Does that sound ok to you?
Perfect mate :) salt will stay in until you dilute it out buddy
Thank you - that'll be by rain and top-ups as nature provides and requires. @@TheBaldingReefer
0.1 % salinity goes a long way in keeping fish healthy while not damaging plants or good bacteria. If salt is so bad the ocean will be a dead place wont it. haha. The salt in saline solution in our contacts is at 0.7%. Our eyes dont get burned by it, so fish wont get burned by a mere 0.1%.
Just what I needed to know
My meter has 0.00's so would it be 0.05% or 0.50% ??? Thanks
0.5% mate
Is it a good idea to salt bath a new koi that’s your bring home from the dealer to de stress ect from the journey
I would personally recommend this
Balding Reefer awesomeness
Would it be ok to use the aquarium salt that I already have in my outside pond rather than buying more? Is there a major difference?
Aquarium salt is is same thing :)
The Balding Reefer awesome, I’ll use it then. Thank you.
Hi there. I’m wondering how much salt I should add to my 500 gallon pond? I don’t want too much in, one of my fish have ammonia burns so I want to fix that.
I wouldnt add salt to ammonia burns, fresh water and some melafix will help this
Hi pal I have a 1000gallon pond so how much pdv salt should I put in cheers great video 👍🏻👍🏻
What percentage do you want to get the salt level to bud?
No higher than 8 kilos of salt for a 0.8 salt reading, then weekly water changes of 10% to lower the salt concentrate slowly
@@TheBaldingReefer that's what I was wanting about 0.6 reading thankyou
6kg you will need buddy
@@TheBaldingReefer brill thankyou 👍🏻👍🏻
I have a 330 gallon pond how much Blagdon salt fo I need to use , I have a fish with dropsy also using ulcer treatment , my fish are also breeding do I leave it , please could you help me
Hi Beverly, use 1kg per 1000litres, that will give you a reading of 0.1% id go up to 0.4%
@@TheBaldingReefer the instructions are baffling us , do we put it in over 2 to 3 days , it mentions changing water do we really need to do that , typical the fish are chasing the females even my poorly one but not as much as the other females she is massive bless her , I would like to help her but don't want to damage any eggs which they usually eat , I had thought she was pregnant but reading up she has dropsy such a shame as she's my biggest koi we also haven't a clue with what we are doing, I bought a 2.27 kg bag of Blagdon tonic salt thank you for all your help x
Marine
What about my plants tho?
They will be fine :)
The Balding Reefer Ok, thanks for reply, perhaps I will take them out for a few days to be safe. I will think bout it :)
My pleasure, but they will be fine don't worry
Pond fish gold fish have mouth riot help
If you put them in a hospital tank and use a course of esha 2000 this will help or use melafix too