A black spot on my black molly

[coltin]

I came across some info that says Bristlenose plecos can tolerate the salt dose I mentioned earlier, so that's good to know for future reference, oldsage.

[oldsage]

Thanks Collin, appreciate the help.

[sidthy]

I've always found that salt is a better option than pimafix, melafix or bettafix for treating fish health issues.

Using salt is a great way to treat various fish diseases without relying on chemical-based medications. Salt is relatively safe and commonly used in the aquaculture industry to treat food fish for diseases. I've found that it's effective in treating minor fungal and bacterial infections, as well as external protozoan infections.

Salt won't treat whitespot or velvet, but it's great for treating most other types of external protozoan infections in freshwater fish. It can also treat early stages of hole in the head disease caused by hexamita, but you need to clean up the tank at the same time. Plus, it's effective against anchor worm, fish lice, gill flukes, skin flukes, epistylis, microsporidian and spironucleus infections.

When using salt, I add a heaped tablespoon of rock salt, swimming pool salt, or non-iodised salt per 5 gallons of water. If I don't see any improvement after 48 hours, I'll double the dose. I keep the salt level like this for 1 to 2 weeks.

The great thing about salt is that it won't affect the beneficial filter bacteria, fish, plants, shrimp or snails. After the fish have recovered, I do a 10% water change each day for a week using only fresh, dechlorinated water. Then I do a 20% water change each day for a week. This helps to slowly dilute the salt out of the tank without harming the fish.

If you do water changes while using salt, make sure to treat the new water with salt before adding it to the tank. This keeps the salt level stable and minimises stress on the fish.

When adding salt, I dissolve it in a small bucket of tank water and then slowly pour it into the tank near the filter outlet over a couple of minutes.

I've come across that myth too, that catfish can't handle even a temporary dose of salt, but it's simply not true.

[oldsage]

We're going with Collin's suggestion and will get the salt treatment going as soon as Linda gets back with the right stuff.