# salt bath opinions



## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

Does anyone have any opinions about using a salt bath to treat gill flukes or parasites on gills??


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## alfadog (Dec 18, 2009)

Salt is a very good and natural med. Plus higher temp when treating them. plus salt is a good preventitive source. I always use salt in my tanks all the time.


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## smellsfishy1 (May 29, 2008)

Salt works well with mild illnesses like ich along side heat but other parasites like the ones you mentioned may need a more aggressive treatment.
Some illnesses are very resistent and I just can't see a salt bath doing much good once the illness has taken a strong hold.


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

Well there's adding salt to the water and there's salt BATHS--or dips and there's a big difference between the two-- both in the amount of salt used and how long the fish remains in the solution.

When treating for ick we add salt, between 2-5 tablespoons per five gallons, depending on whether it's combined with heat. We leave the fish in the salt for ten days or longer.

With a salt BATh we go with much more salt.  8-10 Tablespoons per gallon  and the fish is only in the solution for five minutes--maybe less.

Salt Baths work on parasites and also bacterial infections--but you should definitely read up on them before trying it. 
In the library section of the this site look under Cichlid Health and then the Columnaris article by Dougall Stewart. He gives a throrough explaination of salt baths and how to do them.

Additional reading that describes how a salt bath kills parasites, (it dehydrates them!) can be found here: 
http://www.fishdoc.co.uk/treatments/salt.htm

Robin


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## jagz (Nov 1, 2009)

Thanks guys. Robin Have you tried the salt bath to treat gill parasites before?


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## Robin (Sep 18, 2002)

No I haven't. Unfortunatley/fortunately my tanks have been illness free for many years now however if I was faced with something like gill parasites I would try the salt baths. As long as you follow the directions and are able to hover over the bucket/tank that the baths are being administered in so you can remove the fish at the exact right moment, then its a good method.

The advantage with the meds is that you can drop the pills or whatever in and you don't have to hang around the tank and watch. Although any time you're treating a sick fish you should keep a fairly close watch on them.

Please let us know what you do and how it works.

Robin


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