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Salt, a great gift for
any aquarist!
Being a good remedy...
Since I started rearing my first goldfish with my dad, he has
emphasized the use of salt to me. Every Discus lover and breeder
I meet say the same for Discus.
Why?
- It's damn CHEAP!
- The filter will not be adversely harm in anyway.
- Majority of fish species and Discus will not be harm.
- Promotes growth of slime coating.
- Together with some medication can help your Discus recover
faster.
- Sick fish will not be push "over the limit" unlike Potassium
Permanganate or formalin.
- At least 7 parasites are eliminated quickly, such as Costia,
Trichodina and Chilodonella as well as flukes and other ectoparasites.
- When in contact, it's not harmful to humans.
- It can also assist osmoregulation problems caused by bacterial
ulcers; help clear congested gills.
- It helps calm fishes suffering from stress.
How it helps?
Osmosis, as you will recall, is the movement of water from
an area of high concentration to an area of low
concentration.
Killing of parasites
If we reverse the osmotic gradient by adding salt to the water
(making the environment low concentration of water), the osmotic
flow will reverse. So now, instead of water being drawn into
the parasite, it will now be drawn out, dehydrating the organism.
Haha! Clearly, smaller organisms such as flukes, will be affected
quicker than the much larger Discus. In addition to controlling
parasites, short-term baths help clear congested gills by lifting
away cellular debris and excess mucus.
Getting rid of osmotic stress
One effect of stress is to interfere osmoregulation, a long-term
salt bath (5 grams per litre) can help alleviate osmotic stress.
It reduces the osmotic gradient and thus reducing the water
flow into the fish. This is particularly important in soft water
because it contains less dissolved substances and thus creates
a stronger osmotic effect than hard water. The same effect occurs
with bacterial ulcers. Ulcers are holes in the skin; water can
flood into the fish's body. Reducing the osmotic gradient by
adding a small amount of salt to the water, will reduce water
ingression to the fish.
>> Treatment dosages:
Prolonged immersion:
5 grams per litre(5 ppt - 0.5%). Such a treatment would be
useful if treating bacterial ulcers and reducing your fishes
stress level.
Bath treatment for freshwater ectoparasites and bacterial
gill disease.
15 grams per litre (15ppt - 1.5%). As to how long you can leave
discus in the solution this varies greatly from seconds to 30
minutes, on average so watch for them to tilt and watch their
gills closely to ensure they are still moving. Once the fish
are back in the fresh water tank they should regain composure
in a few minutes. During the treatment your fish may show some
interesting discolouration, do not worry this is short term.
You can do it 5 times in a day with no lasting negative effects
and the dips should continue until signs of infection are gone.
>> Points to remember...
- Fully dissolve all salt to prevent injury to your fishes.
- Aerate the water in bathing treatments.
- Remove fish if they ‘go over’ as weaker ones may not stand
the full treatment time.
Salt can be bought from anywhere. Some people prefer to buy
them from aquarium shops, but I just use home salt from my mum's
kitchen. I must say, that all aquarium shops should have salt
for sale. Only use salt that do not contain anti-caking agents
such as sodium ferrocyanide, or your fishes health would be
in danger.
Regards,
Sam Chng
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