1. SALT WILL BE EFFECTIVE ON MOST AT 0.3%.
0.6% is only 0.3% below the internal salt level of the Koi. With an inaccurate test kit, one could quite easilly over dose without knowing it and de-hydrate their Koi in the process.
2. TRUE -BUT YOU SHOULD BE RUNNING DOWN WATER QAULITY ISSUES AT THE FIRST HINT OF TROUBLE.
Not sure what your point is here. Of course, water quality is parramount and must be maintained at all costs. Why then ask for trouble by killing off algae with salt which will probably result in a sudden reduction in water quality anyway? A keeper cannot water change their way out of every situation without inducing stress, the number 1 Koi killer.
3. WHICH MEDICATIONS ARE INEFFECTIVE WITH SALT.
Too much salt is just as dangerous as too much Formalin if you think about it. Certainly, Formalin is more toxic weight for weight though. Salt won't work on Gill or Skin flukes, formalin will at 65oF and above in the correct dosages.
4. TRUE BUT DON'T YOU DO REGULAR WATER CHANGES.
10% per week will have virtually no impact on a salt level of any percentage. It takes weeks to dilute the salt from 0.3% to 0.1% with a 10% weekly regime, not one week and to remove it completely takes several months. If you see a reduction from 0.3% to 0.1% in one week, your salt test kit is either wildly inaccurate (see point 1) or you are changing a lot more than 10% of your water.
5. SO. ISN'T IT ALSO THE MOST INEXPENSIVE TREATMENT FOR LARGE QUANTITIES OF WATER.
It takes over 25 Kilos of salt to raise my pond to 0.3%. It all has to be dissolved in hot water to prevent any possibility of contact between salt crystals and Koi skin which burns. Secondly, it should be added to the pond by the filter outlets to avoid filter damage. What a lot of pain and hassle.
Whoever said Koi keeping was a cheap hobby anyway?
6. IT KILLS 30-40% OF FLUKE INFESTATIONS
I would prefer a 95% kill rate to be honest. 30-40% wont do much good if your Koi are struggling to shrug off the current population, over half will survive and may be more salt resistant afterwards too.
7. ONLY IF YOU RAISE THE SALINITY ALL AT ONCE.
Salt will kill a precentage of the bacteria in your filters, FACT. If your filters are just on the edge, i.e just coping with your peak loads, adding salt could push them over the edge and result in disaster. We may well have seen an example of this earlier this year on this very board.
I agree with you that Salt can be a wonderful medication in some circumstances. I salt bathe fish from time to time and does them the world of good. Treating the whole pond though is a different matter entirely.
The way I see it, bad bacteria, parrasites etc etc, all build up when water quality suffers so the aim is to maintain tip top water for as many weeks of the year as possible, 52 preferably. If I have to use chemical treatments, I prefer a product that works quickly and efficiently, not something that might work in two weeks but might not.
Each to their own though!
Posted on Aug 12, 2004, 5:11 PM from IP address 213.120.101.21