Beware When Adding Chemicals And Pond Salt To Your Garden Fish Pond
Take Care When Adding Pond Treatments To Avoid Damaging Bacteria And Fish
Many pond keepers like to add pond salt to their fish pond, as a matter of course. I think that somewhere along the line they must have read about this or heard say that this is a good thing to do! I am of a different opinion and am in general against adding pond chemicals to any fish pond, unless absolutely necessary.
It is in my opinion, if anything a mild tonic and nothing else. Pond salt does indeed have its uses in treating certain fish disease problems; particularly parasite infections. The infected fish however would normally be treated in isolation in a separate tank or large bowl. The concentration of salt would be much higher and the infected fish would be subjected to the salt bath for a much shorter period of time.
I just can’t see how adding salt to a pond for the sake of it can do any good. In fact the opposite is true! Chemicals have a habit of reacting together; in some instances this can have disastrous consequences. Here is an example ...
You have added salt to your pond water because a friend of yours told you that he had read somewhere that this is a good cure for pond fish parasites.
After a week or so nothing seems to have happened and the fish is still plagued by parasites and rubbing itself against the sides of the pond, in a desperate attempt to itch itself. You then decide to do some research and read on the internet that potassium permanganate is a great cure.
Great! You now add the potassium permanganate to the pond, applying the correct dose. What you did not realize is that pond salt and potassium permanganate react together to form chlorine. This is highly toxic to Koi, goldfish and aquatic life, even in small doses.
Potassium permanganate by the way is a common pond chemical. It is the pink mouth wash that dentists give you to rinse your mouth out.
Pond salt is also bad when used in conjunction with Zeolite. Zeolite is used in pond keeping as a means of absorbing ammonia, which as we know is produced by pond fish and decaying organic matter. Unfortunately when Zeolite is packed with ammonia and mixes with the pond salt it releases the ammonia back into the pond water, in high concentrations. Ammonia is a toxic chemical
Do not add chemicals to your pond unless you are absolutely sure you need to and you know what the consequences might be.
A biological pond filter that is correct for the size of your fish pond will prevent the vast majority of common pond problems.
When Adding Chemicals To Ponds Consider The Following ...
It is critically important before you add any chemical treatments to your pond to know the actual pond volume, including the volume in the waterfall, filters (if large) and streams etc i.e. ALL the water in your system and not just the pond.
Once you are fully aware of the volume then be sure that you add the correct dosage, following the instructions carefully. Be very careful of over dosing.
When fish ponds are over dosed, usually through the instructions not being followed correctly or the pond owners not being aware of the correct dosage to apply, there can be some dire consequences.
Malachite Green for example is a dye commonly used to treat Koi and goldfish parasites as well as fungus disease in fish ponds. An overdose of Malachite Green would more than likely kill the parasite or fungus! However it would also kill off the nitrifying bacteria, colonizing the pond biomedia, housed in your garden pond filter. The end result of this is a severe increase in the levels of ammonia in the pond water. Ammonia is highly toxic to pond fish and in some instances will cause fish fatalities. On the other hand if the dosage is too low then the Malachite Green treatment will be ineffective.
Many pond chemical treatments have a given shelf life; they will need to be used within their use by date. Once you have added the treatment, not realizing that the use by date has expired, you will more than likely want to add a dose of the same product that is within date! Does this mean that the out of date treatment hasn’t worked and it is okay to apply the same dosage with the new treatment? Who knows! By adding a new treatment you may be over dosing because the old treatment has in fact still had an effect. It would be my recommendation not to treat the whole pond; instead treat the infected fish (‘s) in isolation from the pond, in a large tub.
If you insist on treating the whole pond then it is advisable to switch off the pond filter for an hour or so. Make sure that it is no longer than this as after 5 to 6 hours the nitrifying Nitrosomonas and Nitrobacter bacteria, responsible for breaking down ammonia, will be totally wiped out!