Salt is Awesome =) (Columnaris? Fungus?)

[Elyse]

Just sharing a success story for anyone dealing with what I just dealt with =)

My fish were covered in something that looked like fungus or columnaris. The fish's scales began to get red speckles in places; maybe septicemia? (It looks like the fish septicemia on a Google image search) I was really freaked because I had JUST quarantined them for a month and a half.

I first treated them with Fungus Cure with no success. I then changed the water completely and added sea salt to the water (1tsp/gal every 12 hours for a day and a half, totalling 3tsp/gal)

IT WORKED!!!!!! NO MORE FLUFFY WHITE!!!

Moral to the story; research and try the less harmful cure first, like simple sea salt, to cure your fishies =)

Peace,
Elyse

[shawnhu]

I thought some really smart people on here said salt doesn't work? Glad you saved your fish!

[Skip]

I thought some really smart people on here said salt doesn't work? Glad you saved your fish!

:)

http://25.media.tumblr.com/445e9e3e26ccdf8ce9380658f044e3fa/tumblr_mky23oiTiz1rblqp8o1_250.gif

[blueluv]

I thought some really smart people on here said salt doesn't work? Glad you saved your fish!
http://forum.simplydiscus.com/showthread.php?70580-How-To-Do-a-Salt-Dip

[John_Nicholson]

Salt works great and has been a staple of the fish world for years.

Glad it worked for you.

-john

[YSS]

Salt works for human as well.

[Skip]

Bath Salts are my Fav!!!!!!!

[lipadj46]

Bath Salts are my Fav!!!!!!!

+1

sent from an undisclosed location using morse code

[kaceyo]

[QUOTE=John_Nicholson;1004976]Salt works great and has been a staple of the fish world for years.]

+1
Salt is one of the first things I try in many situations, though at much higher levels than usually recommended.

[nc0gnet0]

Moral to the story; research and try the less harmful cure first, like simple sea salt, to cure your fishies =)

An the side by side comparison to nothing but clean water in one tank and an anti-biotic in another are where?

[fredyx]

An the side by side comparison to nothing but clean water in one tank and an anti-biotic in another are where?

+1

[Elyse]

An the side by side comparison to nothing but clean water in one tank and an anti-biotic in another are where?

I don't know; but in my case, clean water didn't work, then fungus cure didn't work, but the salt worked almost right away =)

[nc0gnet0]

Well I am glad yoru fish are better. It's just that your conclusion is flawed. Perhaps the fungus cure did work, it just took another day? Or (more likely) the fish's immune system beat back the bacteria on its own. Maybe the salt did in fact help, but there are 100's of conclusions like this made about pimafix too. But to say:


research and try the less harmful cure first,

nope not going to buy into that, Research and try the BEST cure first.

[Elyse]

Research and try the BEST cure first.

Agreed, that's better =)

It turned out through research that salt was the best cure in my case. It just so happened that salt is less harmful that most chemicals and I was overly happy about it. I should have researched more and tried salt first, because they were getting worse when they were on Fungus Cure and getting worse with daily WC , in a bare bottom tank and with a UV sterilizer...so their immune system couldn't beat it. But if it were a different case and I had done the same research and found that another chemical maybe the solution and that salt wouldn't work or even might not work, then I would have gone with that chemical, no matter how toxic is...as long as the fish were cured....I'm just glad in this case, that salt was the solution...but ya, the key is to research and give them a medication that has the highest chance of curing them, so that you aren't, through trial an error, putting them through too much....=)

[PP_GBR]

E

Did you turn of the UV while using FC? I'm just curious. I do use salt and lot of it.

[Elyse]

E

Did you turn of the UV while using FC? I'm just curious. I do use salt and lot of it.

Ya, I turned it off just in case, I wasn't sure if FC degraded with UV...

[pHii]

Do you change your water every 12hours ELyse? What kind of salt you used and where can I get it?

[John_Nicholson]

Has far as to what kind of salt I have always used rock salt. No need for the expensive aquarium salt.

-john

[PP_GBR]

I use Solar/rock salt from Home Depot for $5 a bag (40 lbs.)

[Elyse]

I used himalayan salt and sea salt, but I think any salt will due, except for those that have additives. Table salt has iodine added, and road salt has ferrocyanide added to it... so they wouldn't be good...

Many sites say to add: 1tsp of salt per gallon every 12 hours without changing the water, three times. So by the end that's 3tsp of salt in the aquarium 36 hours later =)

[LizStreithorst]

I have never had salt cure a bacterial disease (fungus cure treats bacterial infections). I think they call it Fungus Cure because the infection appears to most people to be fungal. A strong salt solution as a dip can put a big hurtin' on external parasites, though.

When I've had cross contamination problems I've always used the proper antibiotic in conjunction with fish flopping on the bottom WC twice daily. Bad water out and good water in does wonders.

You said that you had these fish QT'd for a long time. Did you introduce the sacrificial lamb? Otherwise all you are doing is keeping fish separate.

[pHii]

I'm using fungus cure right now and I have to remove the filter.. Should I remove the filter while treat them with salt too?

[LizStreithorst]

You only have to remove carbon with meds. Don't think it matters with salt.

[pHii]

after added sea salt!! my discus changed color!! should i stop??http://i98.photobucket.com/albums/l264/FeiVu716/Hau/IMG_0291.jpg (http://s98.photobucket.com/user/FeiVu716/media/Hau/IMG_0291.jpg.html)

[Elyse]

Hopefully an expert will chime in, but I think the discus changing colour just shows the fish is "uncomfortable" with the salt...my fish change colour VERY easy, even after being startled...then they brighten up when I feed them...I think in this case, it's just an indication that they're upset and need to be kept an eye on.....
I hope your fish get better!! =(

[pHii]

I think I will stop adding salt tonight!! Just do 50% water change then

[indego]

An the side by side comparison to nothing but clean water in one tank and an anti-biotic in another are where?


This may not be exactly what you are looking for, but it is certainty better than anecdotal evidence. It is (unfortunately) virtually impossible to find controlled research studies that explore the reaction of aquarium fish to medication. The only studies that I have found are from aquaculture.

Edwardsiella ictaluri (gram-negative bacterial infection)
This study shows that salt lowered mortality rates in catfish from 100% (control group) to 17% (~2.5 t./gallon).
http://www.int-res.com/articles/dao/21/d021p171.pdf

Flavobacterium columnare (columnaris) and Myxobacterium sp
I think (can anyone confirm?) that this study shows that salt (2% salinity=~76 grams or 4.3 T./gallon?!) can reduce mortality from 100% to 30%.
http://www.jeb.co.in/journal_issues/201109_sep11/paper_07.pdf

As far as anecdotal evidence goes, I have had success using salt to treat Columnaris (I did not confirm that is was Culumnaris under a microscope). I used ~2.5 t./gallon and added it over a period of three days.

[Miamiheat]

Hello,
I have a 60 GAL tank and a beginning of white spot on my fish. Raised temperature to 30 celsius = 86 farenheit and want to use salt.
The info I am gathering seems to point at a maximum of 3 tablespoons per gallon: that represents 180 spoons! Searched for an equivalent of tablespoon of salt in grams (metric system here) and it would be 20 grams per tablespoon. In a nutshell it is 2.4 kilograms of salt for a 2TBS per gal or 5.28 LBS! or 8LBS for a concentration of 3 TBS per GAL.
It seems like an awful lot...
Am I calculating something wrong?

[pcsb23]

Wow, another thread revival!!

As you already work metric, stay metric - makes the job a whole heap easier :) In my experience the maximum salt tolerance for discus in a long term bath is 3g/l - so if you have quoted US gallons then your tank is around 228 litres if the gallons are imperial ones then you have around 272 litres. So for 228 litres you will need 684 grams of salt, for the 272 you will need 816 grams of salt - easy innit?

btw ANY salt will do, I use Tesco's cooking salt as it's the cheapest in my area.

I haven't had much success using salt on ich for many years, though I haven't tried it recently. It will be interesting to see how it goes. If I were to try I'd definitely be going for the max, i.e. 3g/l.


Hello,
I have a 60 GAL tank and a beginning of white spot on my fish. Raised temperature to 30 celsius = 86 farenheit and want to use salt.
The info I am gathering seems to point at a maximum of 3 tablespoons per gallon: that represents 180 spoons! Searched for an equivalent of tablespoon of salt in grams (metric system here) and it would be 20 grams per tablespoon. In a nutshell it is 2.4 kilograms of salt for a 2TBS per gal or 5.28 LBS! or 8LBS for a concentration of 3 TBS per GAL.
It seems like an awful lot...
Am I calculating something wrong?

[Miamiheat]

Thanks,

tank is exactly 228L
I converted to gallons and Lbs as many users are in USA and dont use metric.
I threw about 1000 grams in there, about 750gr API aquarium salt and the rest kitchen salt.
Hopefully they will handle it. Based on readings i thought to keep this up to 3 -4 days (well 4 because I wont be back home until the 4th day).
Would that be OK assuming the fish don't seem to want to turn upside down? By the way it is 2 big adults and about 14 juveniles 2 inch or smaller. Tank if full bare bottom, clean, been wiped completely 2 days ago with 80% water change, yesterday another WC of 40%, 2 externals running with biomedia, and prefilters on intakes. Temperature raise from 28 to 30 as the idea was to accelerate the lifecycle of the white spot.




Wow, another thread revival!!

As you already work metric, stay metric - makes the job a whole heap easier :) In my experience the maximum salt tolerance for discus in a long term bath is 3g/l - so if you have quoted US gallons then your tank is around 228 litres if the gallons are imperial ones then you have around 272 litres. So for 228 litres you will need 684 grams of salt, for the 272 you will need 816 grams of salt - easy innit?

btw ANY salt will do, I use Tesco's cooking salt as it's the cheapest in my area.

I haven't had much success using salt on ich for many years, though I haven't tried it recently. It will be interesting to see how it goes. If I were to try I'd definitely be going for the max, i.e. 3g/l.

[pcsb23]

tbh I'd be a tad concerned with that much salt. It is the longer term damage it causes, it puts stress on the internal organs. Hopefully I'm being a little conservative, and the fish do fine. Does it look like the salt is working?

btw aquarium salt is a huge rip off ;)

[Miamiheat]

Salt was added this morning. I diluted it beforehand. Fish did not seem to want to go belly up. At work at the moment. A few of the articles I read seemed to be saying that you can go to 45-60 grams per gallon so I went conservative based on that estimate.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using Tapatalk

[pcsb23]

Salt was added this morning. I diluted it beforehand. Fish did not seem to want to go belly up. At work at the moment. A few of the articles I read seemed to be saying that you can go to 45-60 grams per gallon so I went conservative based on that estimate.

Sent from my GT-N7100 using TapatalkFor a dip maybe, not for a long term bath for discus ime.

[Miamiheat]

found them quite well after work. even less shy and more active.