Copper Copper
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  • Posted on: 13/6/2011 10:13
Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #1
Hi,

At the weekend I noticed that most of my 25 goldfish have White Spot.

After doing some internet research I decided the best treatment was to raise the salinity of the pond to 0.3%. After using a couple of online salinity calculators I added 3kg of (pure)dishwasher salt to my pond.

The fish now spend all of their time on the surface fin clamping and the worst affected fish is losing its slime coating.

I don't know if this is as a result of the White Spot or the Salt I added, the fish were on the surface quite a bit before although I am keeping a closer eye on them after identifying the disease.

I have tested the water it is all ok apart from the water is showing as alkaline.

Any ideas?

Regards,

Jon
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  • Posted on: 13/6/2011 11:16
Re: Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #2
Do you have the pH reading of your pond water before and after adding salt?

A sudden pH change will be a shock to the fish and can be dangerous.

maybe its that. Also can I ask why you didn't just use aquarium salt?

If you could post your readings for ammonia, nitrite, nitrate it would help and also tell us more about your pond. Size, filtration etc.

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Fishy-Fishy Fishy-Fishy
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  • Posted on: 13/6/2011 11:36
Re: Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #3
Hi Jon, welcome to FK

I think some dishwasher salt contains anti-caking agent, what brand did you use? Excess slime coat usually indicates some kind of irritant in the water. I would do a water change and see if that helps.

If I've worked it out right, your pond is roughly 1000 litres for 3kg of salt to be 0.3% salinity?
Copper Copper
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  • Posted on: 13/6/2011 15:03
Re: Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #4
Hi,

Thanks for the replies yes my pond it 1000 litres.

I used dishwasher salt as it was only ?1.35 for 3kg from Tesco, the ingredients say "Salt" so no anti-caking agent. Dishwasher/watersoftener salt is apparently non-iodised which is the correct type to put in a pond. I read a few discussions on the net which indicated dishwasher salt is ok.

I will re test my pond later and post the levels, I tested prior to adding the salt and the readings were zero for nirate, nitrite and ammonia, PH was 9.0.

Regards,

Jon
Copper Copper
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Re: Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #5
Just tested PH pretty sure its 8.5 there isn't much difference between the two colours though.

Regards,

Jon.
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Re: Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #6
Your pH was 9? What test kit are you using? 9 is very high. 8.5 would be survivable for goldies but not ideal. What is your tap water pH?
Copper Copper
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Re: Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #7
Hi

I think it probably is 8.5 and was the other day. I'm using an Interpet Kit that uses tablets. I've left the pond test in the tube for an hour and now it looks more like 7.5- 8.0. Tap water is 9.0 after 5 mins. The kit says that 6.5 -8.5 is acceptable for pond water.

Fish were fine until the white spot. They are still feeding although the worst, a Shubumkin, is not looking to clever and is now right at the bottom.

Any ideas?

Jon
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Re: Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #8
Normally I would suggest a water change. Have you tested your tap water after leaving it to stand for 24hrs? Water companies put all kinds of stuff in that can mess with pH and make it seem higher temporarily.

How old is the pond? Is it a plastic pond liner or painted concrete? Is there anything in or near the pond that could be messing with the pH like concrete or limestone?
Copper Copper
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  • Posted on: 14/6/2011 13:43
Re: Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #9
Hi,

Pond has a plastic liner.

Since discovering the white spot I have:

Cleaned out the pond.

Cleaned the filter (hozelock easyclear 3000)

Topped up with tap water.

Tested all level 0.0 other than Ph 8.5-9.0

Added 3kg salt dissovled in pond water 1kg 3x 12hrs apart.

I have re-tested the water today. All ammonia 0.0 Nitrate 10 mg/l but Nitrite is 0.25 mg/l!. Ph now appears between 7.0 & 8.5.

Could the increase in nitrite be due to the filter being blocked? The water was pretty murky after cleaning out and is now clean again.

I don't want to have to change the water as I'll lose the salt that will kill the white spot, its a catch 22.

Any ideas? I'll clean the filter again now.

Regards.

Jon
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  • Posted on: 14/6/2011 16:57
Re: Goldfish with White Spot Salt Treatment Help Please! #10
As an educated guess, yes a blocked filter could cause a rise in nitrite (or ammonia or nitrate). You have done a water change and cleaned it up, I think that now you will have to wait for it to clear.

I dont have a pond so I cant say if this will suit, but if my tropicals get whitespot I use Waterlife Protozin. But wait and see if the salt treatment works. Im not used to dealing with such large bodies of water so maybe a pond expert will tell you better.
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