Opinions on Salt

[Phil Slaton]

I have been seeing more and published on the benefits of adding salt to grow tanks. I raise Koi, Trout and Catfish. What is the opinion out there in our Aquaculture world, should salt be added to the tank water in low quantities, say 1 to 1.25 ppt simply to condition the water before fish are added?

Thanks for taking the time to reply

[TCLynx]

Salt can be a good tonic for the fish as long as it is done properly.  Be sure to research proper salt levels for the types of fish you are dealing with.  Some fish can handle seawater (tilapia) while others would be badly distressed by 5 ppt (channel catfish.)

Salt dips or baths can be used as well but again, carefully.

I don't add it as a matter of course.  However, it is good for treating certain issues with the fish.  If I get a disease outbreak, my usual method is to salt to 3 ppt (provided it isn't a strawberry system.)

When I transport my fish, I like about 3 ppt in the transport water (no fish died as a result of moving to my grown fish to the new farm.)

When I get new fish, I usually salt the quarantine system to between 1-3 ppt.

If you were to regularly add salt to keep it at some particular level, you should probably get a hygrometer or whatever it is you use and make sure it is one that can measure from 0-10 ppt rather than the higher range which would be useless to freshwater aquaponics but is the more normal one to find.

Where people usually run into problems is by continually adding salt and having it build up or by misunderstanding the amount that needs to be used.

[Phil Slaton]

Thank you for the responses.

[Phil Slaton]

Any crystal salt will do?  Home Depot cheap?

[Leo White Bear]

I have been reading that you should NOT use iodized salt, Sea salt is the usual salt of choice

White Bear

[Phil Slaton]

Thanks Leo.

[TCLynx]

Right, avoid table salt that may be iodized or also avoid table salt that has anti caking agents.

I generally get the cheapest solar pool salt or solar water softener salt by the 18 kg or 40 lb bag at the grocery or hardware store (normally between $4-$8 for the bag)

Here is a blog post where I have numbers for figuring how much posted salt for fish health

[Phil Slaton]

Thank you.

[Jim Fisk]

Hi Phil, I had a bad infection in my blue gill pop right from the start. Came with the fish. (won't be driving 4 hrs to that fish farm again) Salt seems to have saved the day but I ran their fish tank on bypass, not into the system. In other words I dump it out the back dr of the gh slowly during the day. I salt at night and flush during the day by running the flush water thru 200' of garden hose laying in the sun so as to avoid chilling down the ibc. Winging it a bit but I shut off the water late afternoon and add another 1.5# of salt for the night for 200 gal. I will put them back into the system in a day or so as the fin fungus seems to have been thwarted. Given no reason I will personally avoid the salt. Solar Salt for water softener at Lowes around 9.00 for 40# as I recall. Careful as there are 3 kinds. You want the chem free "pure" one that you could put on home made pretzels:-) Hope this helps. I like TC's advice: "When I get new fish, I usually salt the quarantine system to between 1-3 ppt."

For how long TC?

BTW Southern States Farm Supply has  fish program for anyone in their area. 70cents ea. I will try them next time I need fish. They send a truck to their stores about every 6 wks. Anyone had exp with them?

[Phil Slaton]

Theanks JIm.

[Sean-Michael Gettys]

that's interesting. It doesn't sound like a good idea to me. But then, we have really salty water here. I mean, where's the salt  go? It doesn't evaporate, so with the water here in Arizona, you're just adding more and more salt that isn't going anywhere. I've actually been worried our tank will eventually be too salty.

[Phil Slaton]

Keep your water at 1 ppt or 1.5 ppt.  It is good for the fish.  If they get sick, run it up to 4 ppt as TCLynx directs in his write up on salt.   I have become a believer.

[TCLynx]

Sean-Michael,

    If you have already salty water, then you definitely want to be careful about salting.

Even if your tap water is not salty, you DO NOT keep adding salt.  The trick with salt is you add it up to your desired salt level and then you leave it alone.  The plants will use up salt but only very very slowly.  If you keep adding salt to a system regularly it will become too salty. 

When I've needed to add salt to a system, it is only like once or twice a year.  I've usually used a conductivity meter to make sure the salt level is pretty near 0 before salting and it is normally down close to 0 again in three months or so.

When I quarantine, I usually try to do it for 6 weeks.  I usually like to salt when I get them but I normally don't add any more salt after bringing it up to 3 ppt initially.