# Salt?



## garryc (Jan 21, 2006)

I spoke to a guy at the local tractor supply at some length. He stated that he stocked his pond with bucket transfer. I asked him about disease and he told me he did the same as he does in his aquarium. He puts 3/4 cup of canning salt in a bucket with 4 gallons of water. He said he did it with bluegills and bass. 

What he said was that all those parasites are already in the pond. He said it's just that the fish loose resistance when they are transferred because of injury to the skin and loss of slime coat. He said the salt causes them to generate slime and kills what is on the surface.

He said the fish are in for exactly 5 minutes, then he dumps the whole lot in the pond. Salt is so dilute at that point it hurts nothing. 

I'm not worried about getting undesirable species, I can do that fine, I was only worried about parasites. We took a big hit on bluegill die off this year, I'm thinking about this. Maybe 60 or so.


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## [email protected] (Dec 22, 2006)

Well, I haven't heard of using that high of concentration for that short amount of time. I'm not saying it's wrong...just don't know or tried it. As far as I know, the salt baths are only good for protozoa and not higher parasites like lice or fungus or bacteria. Normally the concentration would be about 5 teaspoons of sea salt per gallon and the fish would stay in for 30 minutes. The biggest benefit is that is does stimulate the slime coat which is often damaged in transport and this is a good thing to do anytime your transporting bluegill/bass (not catfish) but this isn't the end of the story.

There are also a couple of more steps typically used when bringing in wild fish to an existing popuation that remove higher parasites, fungus, bacteria and common diseases. 

Google Formalin, Malachite Green, Permanganate, Methylene Blue. Some can be used together to cut down on the steps and all don't necessarially need to be done. The medicated solution is made in distilled water with a lot of aeration. I've done some of this to treat fungal infections in aquarium fish but never as preventative for pond fish. 

I really don't think that transplanting fish is a huge risk as long as the fish are properly IDed especially in a pond that has probably had many transport stockings over the years. It's usually good to isolate new fish for a couple of weeks to see if they develop any problems then treat the new fish if needed...this is better than trying to treat a whole pond of should should an infection break out.

Personally, I've come to the conclusion that transporting caught fish simply isn't worth the risk or expense. You don't know how old the fish you are transplanting are and in the case of bass, they generally don't grow well (usually lose weight) once transplanted. 30 4-6" bluegill would cost around $45 at a fish farm. Since this isn't your pond, probably need to be extra careful as everyones reaction to a problem you create or they think you create will likely be like your reaction to the guy who started the aerator incorrectly.


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