What should be noted in koi breeding? Yafeng Aquarium explains in detail for you

Yafeng Aquarium

Table salt, namely NaCL, plays a pivotal role in daily life, and its uses in ornamental fish breeding are also very wide-ranging. 1. The effects of salt on fish:

1. Disinfection and sterilization

Different ratios can treat and prevent different fish diseases, mainly disinfecting bacteria, wheel animalcules (Trichodina), Chilodonella, etc. on the fish body surface.

2. Assisting in the treatment of medication

Salt can promote the fish skin's absorption of medication, thereby enhancing the efficacy of the medication.

3. Balancing osmotic pressure

We all know that the salt content inside and outside a fish's body is different, with a certain osmotic pressure, so adding salt can replenish part of the salt lost through wounds, or alleviate the fish's inability to adapt to water quality after newly arriving in a place, that is, regulating osmotic pressure.

4. Purifying water

The mechanism of table salt's action here is to increase the ion concentration in the water, causing suspended organic particles and colloids to form flocs and settle to the bottom of the pond, which both reduces dissolved oxygen consumption and purifies the water.

5. Stimulating appetite

In aquaculture, an appropriate amount of table salt is often added to feed and fed as a mixed feed, and its effect is also very significant. This is because in the physiological processes of fish, NaCL as an inorganic salt is essential for maintaining life. Na+ is crucial for maintaining the body's osmotic pressure, water balance, and acid-base balance, etc. Na+ can also maintain and enhance neuromuscular excitability. And CL- is a component of hydrochloric acid in gastric juice; the role of hydrochloric acid lies in its ability to activate pepsinogen, provide the acidic environment needed by pepsin, denature proteins in food, and aid digestion.

2. Although table salt has the above five major effects, in practical application we should still treat adding salt with caution.

1. The issue of salt dosage

Generally we just grab a few handfuls casually, rather than strictly adding it according to a percentage ratio. However, the harm of doing so is: adding too little fails to produce the due effect; adding too much will cause some water loss and make salt penetrate into the blood, leading to dehydration.

2. The issue of side effects

Even if salt is applied strictly according to the amount, there are still certain side effects. First: while killing harmful bacteria, it also affects beneficial bacteria; Second: it easily causes the fish skin to lose its protective layer, and then be invaded by pathogens; Third: if fish live in water with a high salt concentration for a long time, they easily develop a certain dependence, thereby reducing their ability to adapt to changes in water quality.

3. Coarse salt and refined salt

Whether coarse or refined, what we mainly utilize is NaCL. Of course, it is even better if it contains minerals and trace elements, because these are also one of the important nutritional elements for fish, are auxiliary factors in the metabolic processes within the fish body, and have the effect of stabilizing nerves.

Now let us look again at the salt commonly used in our fish keeping:

1. Edible salt: that is, the so-called refined salt, mainly iodized table salt (NaCL). It is said that iodine damages the respiratory system of fish; I have not seriously verified this, so I will tentatively believe it. In that case, iodine is the greatest harm of this type of salt to fish. But removing iodine is actually very simple. As long as we have studied chemistry, we know: iodide is extremely unstable in nature and easily decomposes and volatilizes, thereby losing effectiveness. So there are many ways to make iodine ineffective: exposure to sunlight, air-drying after absorbing water, ventilation, high-temperature quick frying, and so on. As long as you can think of tormenting methods and use them all, it will be hard for the iodine to stay.

There are also many fortified salts on the market now, claiming to have added various nutritional elements essential to the human body every day, such as zinc, selenium, calcium, potassium, iron, magnesium, riboflavin, etc. But I still do not recommend using this kind of fortified salt, because the acidity, alkalinity, and solubility of various fortifying elements are all different, and adding them to edible salt will greatly affect the acidity, alkalinity, and solubility of the edible salt.

The pH value of ordinary edible salt is generally in the range of 5-6, weakly acidic, and easily soluble in water. But some nutritionally fortified salts, because nutritional fortifying elements have been added, will have their pH value rise to 12, showing strong alkalinity, which is extremely harmful to fish.

2. Coarse salt: classified by origin into sea salt, mineral salt, and well salt. Industrial salt, namely large-grain salt, is also called raw salt, crystallized in the open air in salt ponds. Because it is used for industry, it has not undergone any processing (I wonder whether the large chunks of salt eaten in childhood were raw salt). Because the sodium chloride content of industrial salt is relatively low, the rest is impurities. These impurities usually consist of sodium sulfate, heavy metals, toxic substances, minerals (referring to mineral salt), etc., and their toxicity is very strong. Even if humans accidentally ingest it, they can suffer chronic poisoning, let alone fish. So it is not recommended for use.

After industrial salt undergoes rough processing, salt from some places can become non-iodized edible salt because it contains few toxic substances (of course, the state now does not allow non-iodized salt to be sold in bulk). Because this kind of salt contains certain trace elements and minerals, while harmful substances have been removed, and no iodine has been added, it is exactly what we fish keepers need, but now it is generally something that can only be found by chance and not sought. If you encounter it, there are two ways to identify it: first, visual identification: edible salt is square crystals, while industrial salt is rhombic crystals. Second, smell identification: put the salt in a red-hot iron pan; after melting, industrial salt has an irritating smell, while edible salt has no irritating smell.

In view of the above analysis: personally, I suggest using daily refined salt after deiodination treatment, which is quicker. Of course, if you can buy true coarse salt, that is also a fortunate thing.

4. Dosage and usage of salt

Soak and wash diseased fish for 10 minutes with a mixed solution of 2% salt and 3% baking soda, which can treat pinecone disease and fungal disease.

Soak and wash the fish body with a 2% saltwater solution for 1.0-20 minutes, which can prevent and treat red worm disease.

Soak and wash diseased fish with 1%-2% saltwater for 2-8 minutes, which can prevent and treat wheel animalcule disease

Soak and wash diseased fish with 3%-4% saltwater for 5 minutes, which can treat fish saprolegniasis, gill rot, and red skin disease (the concentration can be appropriately increased or decreased depending on the fish's physique, water temperature, etc.).

Soak and wash diseased fish with 2.5% saltwater for 20 minutes, which can treat fish oral trichodiniasis.

Soak and wash the fish body with 2% saltwater for 5 minutes, which can treat fish chilodonelliasis.

Soak and wash diseased fish with 3% saltwater or a mixed solution of 2% saltwater and 3% baking soda for 10-15 minutes, which can prevent and treat scale protrusion disease in carp.

Soak and wash with 7% saltwater (at a water temperature of 15°C) for 5-10 minutes, which can treat saprolegniasis in brood fish

Soak and wash the fish body with a 5% salt solution for 5 minutes, which can prevent and treat dactylogyriasis.

Soak and wash diseased fish with 3% saltwater for 10-20 minutes, or bathe diseased fish with 2% saltwater for 30 minutes, which can treat carp Philometroides cyprini disease.

Soak and wash the fish body with 3% saltwater for about 2 minutes, which can prevent and treat white head and white mouth disease.

Soak and wash the fish body with 2%-4% saltwater for 4-5 minutes, which can prevent and treat skin diseases, gill diseases, etc. caused by saprolegnia, wheel animalcules, and so on

Use a 1%-3% saltwater solution to soak and wash spawning nests for 10 minutes, which has a preventive and therapeutic effect on saprolegniasis

Use 5% saltwater to soak and wash fish species with injured bodies and fallen scales and post-spawning brood fish, which can prevent wound bleeding, ulceration, and mold infection.

Soak and wash with 3.5% saltwater and 1.5% magnesium sulfate at a water temperature of 20°C for 15 minutes, which can prevent and treat Ichthyophthirius

Soak and wash diseased fish with a mixed solution of 1/50000 copper sulfate and the same concentration of magnesium sulfate, plus 1% salt, for 20-30 minutes, which can kill Ichthyophthirius (white spot disease).

Soak and wash with 2.5% saltwater for 15-20 minutes, which can prevent and treat red skin disease.

Supplement:

Use its bactericidal effect to treat diseases

In the managementkoi, "table salt" is an indispensable necessity. The chemical name of "table salt" is sodium chloride, and the chemical formula is Nac1. When "table salt" is dissolved in water, it becomes sodium ions and chloride ions. "Table salt" has the following effects:

1. Can kill pathogenic bacteria and parasites (high concentration, short-time medicated bath)

2. Can assist koi's osmotic pressure regulation function (low concentration, long-time medicated bath)

Regarding the effect of 1, you may already be familiar with it. The bactericidal function of "table salt" has been known since ancient times and used for preserving food. For example, salted squid can be kept from spoiling, which is achieved by using a large amount of salt for pickling. Salt can be used to expel the koi parasite white spot disease protozoan and can treat columnaris disease such as tail rot and fin rot, or sleeping disease.

Usually, when using table salt for the purpose of treating fish diseases, the saltwater concentration should be adjusted to 3-4% (slightly the same as or a bit higher than the salinity concentration of seawater), and the medicated bath time should be about 5-15 minutes. If the time is too long, the koi will die. When carrying out a medicated bath, the koi's health condition must be considered to adjust the medicated bath time.

Can ease the burden on koi's internal organs

Next, let us talk about the koi osmotic pressure regulation function in item 2. So-called "osmotic pressure" refers to the movement of water in and out due to differences in salt concentration. Usually, when the salt concentration inside an organism differs from the salt concentration outside the body, water flows from the side with lower concentration into the side with higher concentration. That is, if the salt concentration inside the body is high, water will seep in; if the salt concentration inside the body is low, water will seep out from inside the body. Freshwater fish living in freshwater belong to the former, and saltwater fish living in seawater belong to the latter.

Koi are freshwater fish, so pond water often seeps into the body. At this time, the outside water and odor seep into the body together, so it is often said that "freshwater fish have a muddy smell more than saltwater fish." In this way, koi are constantly affected by osmotic pressure and pond water seeps into the body, and this water must be expelled. This function is called osmotic pressure regulation function.

Koi urinate in order to expel water, so their kidneys are very developed. Moreover, if a koi's health is poor, the urination function (osmotic pressure regulation function) bears a burden. At this time, table salt is used to help the urination function. Specifically, if the salt concentration of the pond water is made close to the salt concentration inside the koi's body, then the pond water will not seep into the koi's body, and the koi will not need to urinate, thus reducing the burden on the kidneys. Its salt concentration is about 0.5% (1 liter of water with 5 grams of table salt), which is the concentration commonly used by everyone.

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