How many of you do a salt dip?

R

Ricochet

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Nov 27, 2002
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I was reading a thread where anonapersona posted about doing a salt dip and was curious about it.

How many people on this forum do it?

What is the proper way of doing it (salt concentration, length of time, etc.)?

How much more does it stress the fish out (after getting netted, bagged, and taking a ride in the car)? Do most of you who do the salt dip do it as soon as you get home with the fish, then put them into a quarantine tank for several weeks?
 
i find a salt dip streeses the fish alot more then the catching process at the LFS i add salt to my tank for treatment buts thats is not when introducing fish etc
 
Resources

These are the resources I've used to get the details about how to salt dip. I was very familiar with the process with pond fish, details on the Puregold site, and the solutions stated at the Skeptical Aquarist site for tropical fish are almost identical.

The Skeptical Aquarist

Puregold

Meanwhile, I'm also very curious as to how common this is! This is the first time I did it for tropical fish -- the tiny tetras did just fine, FWIW.
 
Originally posted by RTR
Nope, not me.
Click to expand...

Well, I was hoping that there might be more discussion on this, but no one else seems interested. :(

RTR, why is it that you do not salt dip?
Do you think that fish in general do not need it, or are they harmed by it?
Do you treat fish some other way for parasites, or do you just wait to see if they actually show any symptoms?
Do you buy from sources where they have done treatments of some sort on the fish?

I am trying to learn good procedures in aquaria and I would like to know why you do what you do, or don't do!
 
Are we talking about a prophylactic salt dip? I choose not to treat prophylactically for fear of exacerbating other illnesses but...

... Stephen Meyer from AFM does that with any new Koi that he buys to rid the slime coat of any external parasites...and that has worked well for him...so I wouldn't completely rule that out as an option, but I would probably try to discern if there are external parasites prior to a salt bath anyway.
 
That Puregold site is full of good material. I hadn't seen it before. But half a cup of salt in a gallon, which cleans koi of skin parasites, is just too strong for small tropicals I think. My own salt baths aren't really dips. i add salted water to the travelling bag, as part of water changes/ transfer into quarantine, and I net out the fish when they look stressed.

I can't say I've been so successful in not introducing pests into my tanks over the years, either. :rolleyes:

The Shedd Aquarium passes all their freshwater fish through a full-strength seawater bath before moving them on to quarantine, according to an interview that was published a while ago.

What do y'all think about cleaning new arrivals with potassium permanganate baths?
 
Dang...does Shedd find that there are certain species of fish that "just won't thrive" in their tanks? (Could that be related to their seawater baths?)
 
Yep, I was...

That sounds interesting...a little perplexing from the persepctive of what I had read, but if it works for them, then I guess it works...and I need to read a more diverse set of literature on these topics.
 
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