Newbie with a fungus problem? Q FOR RAY
Good to see that the white spot on Raven has cleared up; one less thing to have to worry about. Goldfish should have no osmotic problems at 1 tsp/G salt, and there’s no need to add any more if the septicemia gets worse. One tsp/G is not much more than the token recommended level of 0.6 tsp/G when we say to use 1 Tbs/5 Gallons when treating Ich — for even the most salt-intolerant fish, like Cory’s and Tetra’s. With nitrogenous waste still present in your water column, I would not reduce your salt level much lower.
When opening the link for your files to check out your Excel Sheet for salt levels, I noticed one of your other files with a heading, “Should I Change The Water During The Initial Nitrogen Cycle,” to which the opening statement was, “Not if you can avoid it.” This of course is quite true, as the more water you change (and the less ammonia and nitrite are available for the nitrifying bacteria), the longer it will take to cycle the tank. But there comes a time, if these consistent levels affect the health of your fish, that changing out water can no longer be avoided. This is primarily why we advocate fish-less cycling — it can otherwise get rough on your fish.
There is a helpful point I left out from my lost post only as I had forgotten to include it again (and just another reason why I hate losing a post), which should be useful to you. To at least address the toxic issues of your ammonia poisoning, this waste product being the more toxic of the two (ammonia and nitrite), by using Prime (SeaChem) or Amquel +, this ammonia will convert to harmless ammonium which will still be used by your nitrifying bacteria. This should help if you feel you need to reduce the salt level somewhat to avoid osmotic problems, as well as not going too ballistic in changing out water — while increased PWC’s are encouraged to further reduce your nitrite, this is not quite as toxic as ammonia — besides, your cycle should be near complete.
In looking over your salt reduction chart, it’s now more understandable when you say you added salt while at the same time reducing the total salt level. Had you not added back the 1 tsp/G of salt while doing the PWC at the 2.29 tsp/G level, it would have dropped to 1.91 - 1.92 tsp/G instead of 2.08 tsp/G. I know you’ve since done more PWC’s, but I can see by this exactly where the salt went each time. Ray
Category: Philippines Internet Koi Society
