Hi! Great website! Been referencing it for some time now, and never realized there was a forum.

I have a question about salt dips. What is the % concentration I should use for a short-term dip? I have bought a salt thermometer, the 'KoiMed 1' and can now test the amount of salt I put in by measuring in %.

I just discovered that one of my largest goldfish (6") has a cut above her eye on her head. Last year I begun salting my pond once a year each fall, bringing it to the level of 0.05%. My pond is approx 600 gallons, have 4 5-6" goldfish, 2 smaller shubukins, several baby goldfish born this year, and 5 green frogs and 1 leopard frog that I introduced this year. I don't want to increase the level of salt in the pond, so therefore would rather just do salt baths or dips.

I just tried doing the salt dip for the first time, but wasn't sure about the concentration, so I did 0.3% for about 6 minutes. Is the concentration supposed to be 3.0% or 0.3%?

I normally let my fish overwinter outside, so I would like to do what I can before the cold temperatures and freezing set in (and to protect my fish before any fungus sets in).

JC

This web site says up to 1% for no more than 12 hours. That's more of a salt bath than a dip.
http://www.ntlabs.co.uk/UserFiles/File/sal...nfo%20sheet.pdf

This site says to dip for only 30 seconds in 1/2 cup of salt per gallon. [I don't have time right now to calculate the % on that.]
http://www.mu.edu/~buxtoni/puregold/diseas...htm#SALT%20DIPS

This site says to do 2% for 30 minutes.
http://www.nfkpc.org/html/how_to_use_salt.html

My guess is that if I continued to check web sites, they'd all have their own recipe! That last one though seems about right to me.

Thanks for the quick reply.
I guess I underestimated then by doing only 0.3%. Better too little and waste my time then to do too much and regret it. I'll have to wait until the weekend before I can try it again, if I still need to at that point.