How to do a Prolonged Salt Bath

E

eylk

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Aug 5, 2007
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Hello,

am planning to do a prolonged salt bath for my fish tank.

Read that I should start with salt concentrations of 0.1% and work up to 1% by adding 0.1% every 4-6 hours.

Also read that 0.1% is about 1-2 teaspoon per gallon.

Question is : Do I compensate for the salt that is 'lost'?

For example, my tank is a 20 gallon, I put 20 teaspoons of salt. After 4 hours do I add 40 teaspoons or do I add another 20 teaspoons to make it 0.2%?

Thanks!
 
eylk said:
Question is : Do I compensate for the salt that is 'lost'?
Click to expand...
Yes until the end portion of the bath.

IMHO you should not be doing this just to be doing it.


I posted the following on another forum in a ich fighting thread

I have very much refined this protocol during the preceding year.

I have a community tank which includes cories, SAE's, Gold Nugget Plecos, Yoyo loaches and most importantly, for the purposes of this article, Queen Arabesque Plecos (as these are very, very sensitive fish).
I have determined this protocol to be successful without the use of medications.

I normally maintain the water temperature at approximately 78F (25.5C).

Salt is defined as aquarium salt and NOT table salt!

Upon observing a white spot on a fish or a fish brazing themself on various tank appurtenances:

Day 1
Increase the water temperature to 80F (26.6C)
Perform a 20% WC.
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 20 US Gallons of water (76L, 16.6 UKG)

Day 2
Increase the water temperature to 82F (27.7C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.

Day 3
Increase the water temperature to 84F (28.8C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.

Day 4
Increase the water temperature to 85F (29.4C)
Add 1 Tablespoon of salt per 40 US Gallons of water.

Days 5, 6, 7 and 8
Do nothing

Day 9
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 84F (28.8C)

Day 10
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 82F (27.7C)

Day 11
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 80F (26.6C)

Day 12
Perform a 20% WC.
Decrease the water temperature to 78F (25.5C).

Day 13
Return to the typical maintenance protocol.



TR
 
If you have any fish or plants in the tank, your salt bath sounds like a dangerous experiment. I didn't get why you want to do this to the tank. Once you have put salt into the tank it will not be "lost". It will still be there if you leave the tank standing and do nothing else until half of the water has evaporated. To increase concentrations just add the amount that you want to change. This brings me back to what seems like the real question which is why you would want to get the salt concentration to a level that would kill most fish and all plants.
 
Why are you doing this? If for ich, there is no reason why you can't use common table salt.

I use 2 teaspoons per gallon, dissolving half of that in boiling water and letting it cool to tank temp. Then add about a fourth of that every 4-6 hours. Do the half the next day.

I also raise temp to 82-84 degrees. And maintain for a full week after the visible signs of ich are gone.
 
Thanks for the reply,

I forget to mention that I am doing this to purge my tank and its inmates of external parasites. When I do a salt dip for all the fishes, I see white , semi transparent roundish worms swimming around. After that I scrubbed and used hot water on all the Decor, clean out the filter too. But the problem is still not completely solved. There are whitish fungus-like spots on my decor and the fishes are still suffering from itch.

Question 1:
I read in a book that I should start with 0.1% (1-2 teaspoons per gallon) salt concentration and work my way up to 1% per gallon (10-20 teaspoons per gallon).
What the authors didnt tell me was : do I add another 1-2 teaspoons after 4-6 hours OR do I add 2-4 teaspoons after 4-6 hours (to compensate)?

Question 2:
That book also stated that the salt dips only 'encourage' the parasites to release its hooks from the host (my fishes!) but may not kill it. I was wondering, if I were to do salt dip for 30 - 60 secs and then scope up the fish, is there a possibility that the parasite is carried along with the net too? And so the cycle will repeat itself with the parasite reinfecting the fish.

Thanks
 
can you post some pics?
 
To compensate for what? The salt isn't leaving the water and going into the fish, in case that's what you're thinking.
 
I think what he's asking is if he uses the same net to take the fish out of the infected tank after the salt dip and put it in the other, has he transferred the parasites to the other tank because he has used the same net.
 
If you're doing this to kill the worm-like parasites, I'd be concerned that the concentration of salt needed to kill the parasites could also kill your fish.
 
oh..... ok now i understand that I only need to 'compensate' when I do PWCs or when the water evaporates..

my camera is not very good so the pictures will not be good...

I do the salt dips for about 30 secs if the fishes are distressed I take them out immediately

Yes, I am worried that I might accidentally scope the parasite with the net when I am transferring the fish back to the tank after the salt dip.

thanks
 
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