petem ,

Check the search under this site (GardenQuest). I pulled this off one.

"Add some salt to the pond at the rate of 1.25 lbs per 100 gallons of water. Add 1/2 one day and the other half the next.
Mike"

As in mike_il, a very knowledgeable fellow.

2155 /100 X 1.25 = 26.9375 lbs.

Also, I would invest in a salt meter (@ $70). That way you can maintain the recommended (suggested) level of .10 throughout your pond season.

LP

first: why are you adding salt? parasites? Just becasue you think you should? The reason why will determine how much.

second: don't use "pond salt". Go to Lowes or Home Depot and get the 40lb bag of water softener salt for around $5. It's the exact same thing as the pond salt product without the 300x mark up.

third: 1 pound of salt per 100 gallons is .12% saline. so in 2155 gallons, 21.55 pounds of salt will achieve .12%.

fourth: salt has it's uses, but it is not needed year round. In fact long term exposure can cause more harm then good.

Surfhead,

Whoa !

Please tell me your argument to this statement:

"fourth: salt has it's uses, but it is not needed year round. In fact long term exposure can cause more harm then good."

I'm coming down from running my pond at a .30% salt level for a month because my fish were showing signs (like dying) before hand from high levels of bad bacteria levels (my water tested fine). I am doing water changes/flushes now and the level has dropped to .14% and I continue to flush. Now my question:

I was under the impression (books, articles, koi club members) that running a .10% salt level in my pond year round would be beneficial to the fish? Or is this just at certain times?(spring in / fall out).

I looked at the .10% salt level in my pond to be the same as taking an aspirin each day to help ward off a heart attack.

Comments please,

LP

why do I always open up a can of worms. I thought salt was needed year round to keep fish at optimum health (in addtion to other factors as well).

Loma Ponder: How do you test for bad bacteria vs. good bacteria. Did you have a run off from somewhere?

Do they have test kits for bad bacteria?

petem,

There are always bad items in your pond (that's why you will see the caution from people here talking about why NOT to swim in your pond... eek !)

The bad bacteria is there, just in low concentrations "most of the time". City water checks this by adding chlorine and other chemicals to suppress it.

The bad bacteria is produced when debris collects (usually on the bottom) and the stuff festers with activity (compost// break-down). Where there is gunk build-up, there is usually bad bacteria. Your fish are constantly under attack from the stuff. Now cold water temps. (below @ 60 degrees) keeps the growth and activity of the stuff low, if not shut off.

It's around 60 degrees that the bac. starts to stimulate activity and our fish are just slow to build-up defenses against attack (they need the water to be @ 70 degrees to have a much better chance of fighting off infection).

This is what I'm learning is the "spring warm-up" A critical time to keep an eye on your fish stock and make sure their environment is the best (healthy) it can be. Being new to ponding this is where I "tripped up".

I broke a couple of ponding "unwritten laws".

First I fed my fish too soon and too much for the time of year. This led to excess food dropping to the bottom and feeding the build-up of bad bacteria.

Second: I did not fully understand the needs of my filtering system and under serviced them. The good bacteria was buried in gunk and my filtration system suffered for it.

I have since corrected my mistakes, had a salt treatment going for the last month and have not lost any other fish since the beginning of treatment.

Live and learn, I am hopeful that the worst is behind me.

LP

I have no problems with a Spring salt treatment to beef up the slime coat during this vulnerable time.

Another good Spring time product is KoiZyme. It will reduce the aeromonas bacteria (bad bacteria) that cause ulcers, fin rot, mouth rot, etc. This is one of the few exceptions I have to using bottled products.

I'll just share what I did... When I opened up my pond this year all my fish began flashing. I salted my pond to 0.3% for three weeks. (by the way,I wouldn't salt my pond if my fish appeared fine)...The first week after salting the flashing became a little more frequent. After that everyone calmed down and now they are swimming around happily and look very good. I began 10% water changes every few days until the salinity level is 0.1% where I'll leave it because During the summer I do 10% water changes weekly just to keep the water somewhat healthy.

hey, what happened to my post about leeches in my pond? I registered yesterday and wrote it and saw it and now it's gone. Anybody know?

hey, what happened to my post about leeches on the turtles in my pond? I'm wondering if the salt solution will remove them. Taking the leeches off individually from 13 or so turtles is time consuming and unpleasant. I registered day before yesterday and wrote the post, and actually saw the post and now it's gone. Anybody know?

Norab, I did a search with your nickname, and the only posts I found from you were the 2 on this thread. You might try reposting this as a new message.

Brenda

Wow it is unreal to me that anyone would ever let their pond set at 10%,13% or 15% no wonder your koi are dying!!!!! At those levels the salt is eating away at their gills fins everything slowly!!!!! 6% is a high level that will keep parasites away and your koi healthy if your still doing water changes in between like your supposed to. Keeping your walls scrubbed down and clean and cleaning your filter pads. Also maintaining your media. If you have ribbing or pads changing those out when there due to be changed. Also making sure you stir your media in your main filtration 2x a years. It’s more then just throwing a higher level of salt in your pond that is going to damage your Koi!!!!! All my Koi came from Japan and if you truly want to know how to care for a Koi go get a book on caring for koi!!! You will see just how horrible your salt deal is!!! It’s kind of when you bleach your clothes, more bleach isn’t going to make them whiter! Your just going to damage the material putting to much bleach it!!!!!! If you have a parasite problem also you need a good high end bacteria!! Not a cheap quick start throw a ball kind in or empty the bag or pour the bottle. I’m talking the kind that the scoop is so tiny and you only need a couple!!! Like I said get a Japanese Koi book!!!! Buy one Japanese Koi and I guarantee you won’t go back!!!!!!!