Backyard Aquaponics
A place to discuss aquaponics

To follow up on this the salt worked. Within a couple of days the spots on the fish turned from a bright silver to white. It then has taken a couple of weeks for those to reduce.
I need to adjust the salt levels to 2PPT (?) and are waiting on a rectractometer to be delivered to do that.
Thanks for the advice.

Can anyone tell me the conversion for how much salt in US Measurements LB/Gal
I currently have all my 60 fish in a quarantine tank being treated for Flukes; Salt apparently will not treat for Flukes and they can only be treated with an organic solution that supposedly would harm our plants, or possibly us if our plants ingested it, and we then ingested the plants..... hmmmmmmmm.
We would like to salt the tank for there return however unsure how much to put in.
I was told by the aquaculture store that the salt at 3 ppt could harm or damage my plants and I would need to shut down the hole system. Is this true? AHHHHHHHH!
Any help on this would be very helpful.

We have used and regularly recommend salt treatments up to 3 ppt. Most plants that we grow tolerate tuese levels but strawberries will suffer.

Hi All!

I have just introduced baby silver perch to my system but they had to be in a bucket with a bubbler borrowed from my daughters goldfish for a while before they went into the FTs

Looks like the goldfish now has ICH. Probably because of a temp drop due to water change at the beginning of the week.

I would like to salt the Aquaponics system as a preventative measure since the baby SPs are so tiny I cannot imagine catching them to diagnose ICH.

Would the dosing rates mentioned at the start of this thread be good for preventative use as well?

I always run between 1 and 2 ppt that's 1 kg salt to 1000 litres water
Only use pure salt [bunnings pool salt ]
Not table salt as it has anti caking in it
And dump your salt in one go not bit by bit

Food&Fish I was dumping the salt in 200g portions every week to prevent sudden changes in the water chemistry and stress the fish. What is the science behind adding it all in one go?

Okay, I learned the answer from a document I read about ICH. Sudden increase in salt creates osmosis action as the killer of ICH due to dehydration of the bacteria. If we add the the salt gradually osmosis action does not happen quickly.

I also read that if you increase the water temp and dump all the salt in without dissolving it (turn off pump and if you have air stones raise them closer to the surface) the action of the fish swimming slowly dissolves the salt but because the dissolved salt is not mixed with the total volume of the tank, the salt is VERY concentrated at the bottom of the tank. ICH Protozoa drop off fish faster (faster life cycle) due to temp rise - fall to bottom of tank where super high salt concentration kills the Protozoa.

I believe it's very important to have a bubbler if you combine salt treatment with temp rise as higher temps increase a fishes oxygen needs. Only read about this in relation to treating aquarium goldfish though. I'm no expert.

This is a very useful article

Thanks SydneyChick, good technique. I will be dosing this weekend while the Canberra temps are going high.

Ive added 3 gold fish aboout 1 week ago, first fish into a new system ... I didn't add salt tho' . ... my question is can I still? .. should I?

I've read salt: "The main purpose of adding salt in Aquaponics is for disease control; salt acts like a natural anti-bacterial agent. In addition, a small amount of salt improves the mucous covering on a fish's body, and this improves the resistance of the fish to diseases and parasites. Salt may also help to prevent fungal infections." ........ so not adding it to my system wouldn't be wise considerring salt helps keeping your fish fit and healthy....

But yeah, should I look to add salt or not?

not at the moment with goldfish but you will need to once you introduce your silver perch.

You also need to check out information on the forum about salt baths and introducing fish etc.
This will need to be setup and ready to go before you get your SP.

If you have no salt in the system you can add any time I recommend 2 ppt 2 kg salt to 1000 litres water it wont heart any thing

Cheers guys.

Adding salt to fish water aquariums can help the fish reduce stress, but it could be toxic as well to some breeds. It depends on the climate, where you live, and which fish you are maintaining in your tank. Coming to the amount of salt you should add, for most of the fish, 0.3% or 3 grams per liter or 12 grams per gallon of aquarium water.