Salt solution for goldfish

[alison]

My largest goldfish has had white spots on his side for a little while. I thought that they might be carp pox as they looked like little waxy spots. Anyway on looking at him today it looked different so I netted him and tried to take a better look. I don't think they look like fungus or cottonwoolly but other than that I can't describe them properly. They just seem a little translucent/gooey. (maybe that is what fungus looks like )
I just thought that what I would do is to give him a salt bath. What I need to know is how much salt do I use and for how long do I keep him in the solution.
I am sure that I read it as 0.3% which they said translates to 1 teaspoon of salt to a gallon of water. Is that correct? If it is I will gain the gallon of water from the pond add a teaspoon of cooking salt and leave him in for a maximum of twenty minutes keeping an eye on him all the time for lack of oxygen etc. Does this sound right to you. If not WHAT do I do?? Thanks for your help.

[seanmckinney]

http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/salt.htm
personally I wouldnt use a volume measure, 0.3% is 1/2 an oz per gallon, I thought baths could be 1% but check that in the link.
NOT cooking salt, it may contain anti caking agents

[alison]

I have always been told that cooking salt is fine and it is just table salt that you cannot use - even though my mother in law had aquarium fish and she used table salt for her treatments and the fish always recovered
I have decided that rather than take him out and stress him more I am going to treat the whole pond with a fungus and parasite treatment. If that doesn't work I will think again, and maybe use the salt. It is just good to know what to do should an emergency crop up. Thanks for your advice Sean.

[seanmckinney]

DO NOT salt the pond, it can kill plants and snails, I know koi keepers do it permanently but do you take medcine when you are NOT sick

[alison]

Sorry I didn't mean I was going to salt the pond as I know it kills the plants etc, I meant that I would quarrentine the fish and salt it. Good information for others though that don't know. I will use something like Eradick which is safe for plants and especially for Orfe who are more susceptable to other treatments.

[Linda]

Hi Allison, is it possible to do a scrape of the fish and look at it under a microscope?. I 'm not keen on 'blanket' chemical treatments in a pond, especially when you're not sure if you are treating the right thing. I don't salt my koi pond Sean, it's not as popular a thing to do as it was years ago. I'm wondering if you've got white spot Alison?

[alison]

Hi Linda. They started off just looking like small round white marks just on one side of the fish. I thought it might be carppox with them looking like they did. Anyway on looking this week they had grown and so I decided to net the fish and see what it was. It doesn't look like a fungus really but it just looked a bit gooey and I felt like I wanted to just wipe it away. I resisted the urge as I didn't want to hurt the fish. Up to now I haven't done any treatment and I am in a bit of a quandry.
I had introduced some new fish into the pond a few weeks ago from another pond and so did a five day pond treatment with Eradick, but turned my UV back on the day after. It appears that I should have left it off for another 5 days, so maybe that is why he has not improved. I have been and bought some more, but I just don't know wether to leave things to nature to see how it progresses rather than retreat the pond, especially in this warm weather. I will go and see if I can find some pictures on the internet that will help identify the problem. I will look for white spot and let you know.

[Linda]

thought i'd had magic moment this morning.. knew which post i was looking for, but couldn't see it. too many rooms for my fuddled mind alison any progress with the diagnosis?

[alison]

It isn't white spot. I haven't been able to find anything that looks like it really. I haven't been able to get a good look at him since but he is eating and swimming fine and looks well everywhere else. I will just wait and see I think. If it does appear to be getting worse I will net him for a good look and then treat as neccessary. If it just looks the same or getting better I will leave well alone. Sometimes I think we do worry too quickly and nature has a way of healing in the wild. Thanks for all your concern

[Linda]

the current heat will help, warmer water helps a fish heal. fingers crossed.

[alison]

I didn't know that Linda. That is a good thing to know. I wasn't sure if the heat might increase any fungus etc. It is so nice that we can gain so much useful information from each other.

[alison]

Just thought I would let you all know that the goldfish is much better. The marks are just like little lumps now and do not cause him any trouble at all. You must have been right about the heat Linda as it has healed much quicker than I thought it would have. So good news.