Pond Parasites - Salt Your Pond: The Easy Way!

After performing a microscopic biopsy on a client's fish, we determined that there, unfortunately, was a costia and chilodonella outbreak in the pond. FORTUNATELY, both of these parasites can be easily treated with a higher dose of salt (0.6%). Check out this video for some quick tips on how to mix up salt the easy way, and also, a great way to calculate the volume of your pond!

[@PutsPonds]

Great tip, Doc Johnson would be proud 👊🏼

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Oh dang! Thanks Dan!

[@treysmith4067]

These are great tips, thanks Alex!

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Thank you Trey, I do my best!

[@nikdi5743]

I subscribed bc they are great at what they do and very informative.

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

thank you Nik Di ! We appreciate the feedback and glad we could share some knowledge.

[@sherrygreene1359]

Thank you for the information. Have a koi with parasites (pink) looking for helpful ways to help him.

[@cepontzsons]

great info 👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍👍

[@mattsweeney8704]

Great video! What's your recommendation on treating fish with parasites? Will this salt treatment "cure" them in the pond, or better to remove infected fish and treat them separately in a fish tank?

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

It would be unfair to call this a "cure". What this treatment does is assist in boosting the immune system of the koi by stimulating their slime coat. There are certainly alternative treatments for specific ailments, but we like to use salt because it is often much less harsh, and safe and easy to administer in an entire pond. You can find a much more in-depth explanation of this and other treatments on Dr. Erik Johnson's KZbin page

[@pondandgarden]

Thanks for this info!!

[@lovejewels]

Salt is definitely the way to go

[@bradparker649]

Very informational. I've poured the salt on my falls. What are your thoughts on that? Love both methods you shared

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

It's ideal to add it into a high flowing area, so directly in the flow of the falls would be perfect. I tend to stay away from adding it to the biofalls itself, because I'd be worried about shocking the bacteria colony, but depending on how your falls are laid out, you could certainly add it right outside of where the water comes out of the biofalls, and/or where it spills into the pond. Those areas should give you optimal dispersal.

[@m0gga]

Great instructional video, thanks for sharing. Can you please advise me on a certain type of salt to use. I have a large bucket of Red Sea Coral Pro salt from when I used to have a reef tank, could this salt be used in my pond? Thank you.

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Reef salt is VERY different than what you'd use for a koi pond. Most reef salts are going to contain a mix of calcium chloride, magnesium chloride, as well as sodium chloride. I'd stick with the pure sodium chloride salt from your local pond shop, or the water softener salt like in this video. And like I said in the video, just make sure it doesn't have any de-rusting agents in it. Also make sure it's NOT iodized (like table salt).

[@musk-eteer9898]

once we salted the pond to kill the parasites, do we keep the maintenance lower level of salt year round for prevention??

[@musk-eteer9898]

thanks i found the answer after reading all the other questions

[@kiddmacex117]

What type of salt do you used in pond.salt that we used everyday at home or another salt? Please tells i wanna know

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

thanks for the question ! when adding large quanities, we will use Morton water conditioning salt, sold in 40lb bags from Lowes' or Home Depot. Small ponds your local pond store should sell a pond salt that is free of any additives. Table salt is not the right product for salting ponds

[@StewardshipGardening]

Nice tricks!

[@mra4107]

Nice! Would this level of salinity have any effect on other parasites such as leeches?

[@MrHarryc727]

Thank you for sharing

[@mfaisalbobby33]

Hello sir ,how salt effects in the planted pond, on lily and other plants and how it effect on good bacteria. Thanks

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

In a maintenance dose of 0.3% it won't effect plants at all, at a treatment does of 0.6% (like in the video), it may cause some growth issues in the plants. I imagine most common pond plants like hardy water lilies, iris, thalia would be able to tolerate it pretty well though

[@nikdi5743]

My goldfish have anchors worms 😢 I have never seen anything like it in all my fish keeping years. What’s the best treatment as I have physically pulled these worm out of my fish and some are beneath the scales. I removed some scales and got the head of the worms out. I am tired and don’t know what else to do. I been chasing worms from their skin for 7 days. Any great advice would help! We have no fish vets in my area.

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Microlift offers a product called Anchor Away. We have used it with success. It can be fustrating

[@nikdi5743]

@@LandvistaAquascapes Thank You! I received some dimilin powder this morning overnighted from a reputable koi fish farm in the U.S. I put the instructed amount in the tank and this evening starting seeing some of the worms floating in the water. I imagine I may be pulling some out possibly but this powder works. But it was not cheap and I will definitely keep your suggestion in mind. ❤️

[@anthonyruth5606]

U would be surprised how hardy fish are not all but most i added salt to my pond bc i have velvet and ich and my fish were so sad and sick over couple of days I raised my salinity to near brackish it wasn’t brackish but getting close and for two weeks the fish return back to normal and the colors look way better with the salt added I did use marine salt for saltwater aquarium so maybe the extra minerals gave the fish color idk I’m no expert

[@katarzynafaras8033]

Hi. Just tell me salinity 0.6%. for how long using the salt in goldfish tank to kill chilodonella? Do I have to repeat the treatment? Thank you.

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Hi Katarzyna, We are so sorry we missed your message. We hope that you have resolved the issue. Generally we leave the salt at 0.6% Concentration for 3 weeks to capture all the life cycles.

[@susannagardensbychilosusan1080]

I have looks like healthy fish for a few years now but i cannot get my water clear. i have a bio filter/uv bulb and put umbrellas over pond for shade 2 waterfalls have put in recommended amounts of bacteria but it never clears up. it seems to be small green algae all through water, will salt kill this type of algae, so frustrated…suggestions please

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Generally we don't find salt helpful for algae. Have you tested the pond water for phosphates? Sometimes we find this can be an undetected food source for the algae and an addition of a phosphate binder or additional plants can help resolve this.

[@raymercenilli1400]

Im infested with chilodonella ive tried malachite green and fomalin did not work so now im using salt at 9 percent i have a bog that filters my pond ive tried bleaching it i ve tried everything please help

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Ray, So sorry we missed your message. We hope you have resolved the issue. Our success with removing Chilodonella,has been salting to 0.6% gradually over 2-3 days and leaving the concentration for 3 weeks to capture all the life cycles.

[@AndrewPoole-es7iv]

Can you keep your pond at 0.3 all year

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

It’s recommended to only keep at that level during the treatment time. Salt at that concentration for extended period can harm aquatic plants

[@rosalindagallarza2989]

How long do you have to leave the salt b4 changing water

[@3535gt]

If trying to salt weeds like hydrilla, is it the same concentration or is it higher?

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Interesting question. From what I can find, it seems that hydrilla is fairly hardy when it comes to salt. it can survive up to a 7 ppt to 12 ppt range. That is equivalent to .7% - 1.2% which is right at the low-end of what you'd keep a brackish water tank at (for puffers or other freshwater fish that prefer higher levels of salt). Keep in mind that this is still much lower than the level of salt in the ocean or a reef aquarium. Those levels would be somewhere around 35 ppt or 3.5% (1.026 SG if you're more familiar with that). There are a TON of great tools on the internet for converting these values back and forth.

[@rosipm101]

Will salt ever dissipate? We put salt in years ago.

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Hi Rosie, Great question. Salt does not evaporate but it does percipitate over time. If you do water changes the salt concentration will drop. The percipitaion occurs over time where splashes of water on hard surfaces, will have salt content, that may not return to a pond, unless washed back in by rain or rinse with the hose. Koi Medics makes a reliable Salinity Meter. This is a great tool to take the guess work out of salting, however it's rarely needed except in these kind of situations. We often recommend our clients bring a water sample into us where we can use the meter and guide them further.

[@UNKNOW7V]

How long after I salt do I do a water change the water to remove salt

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

We left the pond at 0.6% for about 3 weeks before going back to do a water change and dilute it down to 0.3% You can absolutely keep the pond between 0.1% to 0.3% long-term as a therapudic/preventative treatment. Hope that helps!

[@turtlecat7856]

What about my snails and shrimps? I don't think it's a good solution

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Most snails should be able to tolerate a low dose such as this, though I have not personally tested it. You also have shrimp in your pond?

[@MrHarryc727]

You said dose 👀🙏👍🍻🎰

[@Fazdarx08]

did it work?

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

It did! We came back out after about 2 weeks and did a follow-up scrape on a few of the fish and found NO parasites!

[@Fazdarx08]

@@LandvistaAquascapes thank you for this video!! I have a smaller pond and took your advice, week 1 and they are looking better. I had to do math with the salt but I am getting a salt tester this week. your video was extremely helpful!!! my fish are thankful too!!

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Happy to help! And glad to hear your fish are doing well!!

[@grandaddixon1146]

Can you use table salt in with your fish

[@DazzleKoi]

Shocking 'advice'. Salt may knock costia back at that level but it wont touch chilo. While people are following this advice their koi are dying. This is a short term bath treatment and NOT a full pond treatment as your description says. Getting all the salt out afterwards will take months. The correct treatment for costia and Chilo is formalin and malachite.

[@lisaoren6627]

Agreed there are several different approaches and costia can be salt resistant. This particular situation was a winter outbreak, where Formalin/Malachite was not the ideal application. This treatment worked and we were able to save further loss. Lowering the salt levels was achieved in the Spring during a clean-out with a partial water change and regular additions of water as the season warmed up.

[@reubenpilli6549]

Time stamp 9.02 : You are constantly reading the Salt Meter wrongly! For example, it is not ".026". It is "O.26".

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

This salt meter reads in PPT, so it is the equivalent of .026%

[@eweaver9101]

Will these affect large animals who drink regularly from ponds, like horses?

[@erikkop]

Treating fish with costia and using salt is that not getting more problems?? Salt will make the costia to explode in numbers. 😱😱🥴

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

We have never experienced an increased outbreak of costia after a salt treatment. drjohnson.com/symptoms-and-treatment-of-costia-ichthyobodo-necatrix/

[@Dmidnightmachine]

Epsom salt good to use?

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Epsom salt serves a completely different purpose. It can certainly be used in a ln application for pond fish, but generally it is used for other ailments such as bloating or swim bladder issues. Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate where regular salt is sodium chloride. For parasitic treatments, definitely stick with the regular stuff. Like I said in the video, water softener salt is good to use as long as there are no de-rusting agents or additives in it

[@finadic570]

Why don’t you just pure the salt into the pond directly and let it dissolve in the water

[@gqkb81]

nah. add the salt bag directly

[@VanNguyen-tt5ti]

Why to make more easy to understand like 2kgs/1000litres !

[@anthonyruth5606]

Plz remove your plants salt will destroy them I didn’t have the experience but my neighbors was treating his pond with salt and killed his blue lotus man he was disappointed bc he just got it and waited for awhile to get them

[@NielsTichelaar]

Makes no sense. why not add at the waterfall away from the skimmers xD

[@Mrkoiloverlover]

When you say 10x and 40x thinks you mean 100x and 400x 🤔✌️

[@LandvistaAquascapes]

Nope definitely 10x and 40x! Even at that magnification you can still spot them!

[@erichelfrich1011]

At 6:17, Mr Pond guy gets a first reading on his salt meter- the meter displays 0.25%. Mr Pond guy specifically says- check the closed caption, .025. At 6:26 Mr pond Guy takes another reading, the METER displays .23-.24 , he says the meter displays .2, pauses and then specifically says three-two-four. He's indicating its fluctuating between .23 and .24 but says .2 , pauses THREE TWO FOUR. Am I the only person on the planet who sees/hears this? BE EXACTING/SPECIFIC FFS when dealing in decimal places. Some less astute person might add 10 x more or less salt because you say one thing but mean another.

[@TwoKindsMusik]

Yes- trying to get proper reading on my meter- there is a BIG difference between point zero two (.02) and zeo point two(0.2) -he keeps saying it wrong .02 is miniscule compared to 0.2 could not get a point zero two reading if I tried and thought I was doing something wrong!