i need to add salt and baking soda to my tank to treat a nasty ulceration that meds haven't helped and to stabilize my pH/alkalinity....i asked if i could do both at the same time and was told i could and that adding salt at .01% would cause no harm...(as far as how long i was to leave it in the tank, etc.....) i was told to add 1 tsp per gal.....isn't 1 tsp per gallon in a 26 gal tank WAY more than .01%.....please help clarify this for me......"round eyes" will be very appreciative i'm sure!!!!!!!! thanx

HI Dragonwitch,
Yes, there's deffinetly a glitch here,lol! You have to watch the decimal point,lol!

1 tsp per gl is 0.1%, not 0.01..... And yes, take the salt to 0.1% at the 1 tsp per gl.


Baking soda has nothing to do with ulcers, it is used to raise the KH that supports PH. Unless you have a kh/ph/gh problem, leave it out!

There's several safe treatments for ulcers, a iodine (betadine or peroxide may be used also) swab, done once being careful not to get into the eye's, gills or mouth, a quick blow to dry, rinse and back to the salted tank. Tricide neo dip or spray.

Again, a iodine swab and a sealer of fixadent powder adhesive may be applied, here's the instructions for that and you would also possibly want to knock the fish out with oil of clove or finnequel to do this:

Fixodent, called Fasteeth. use the Extra Hold - Use the POWDER. tincture of benzoin (in a spray bottle).

Clean the ulcer very well, pull loose scales and trim any frayed skin. Using Q-tips, clean with peroxide, then paint with iodine. If you've pulled scales, get into the scale pocket. If the scale is loose enough to get under it, do so. Then spray the powder on the ulcer and overlap a bit into good skin. If you get the tip of the bottle wet, you will need a safety pin or something similar to open the hole again. At this point, if you have the ticture of benzoin, spray with that as a final sealer. If not, then just return the fish to the pond. The powdered adhesive will get sticky, forming a bond that will last about 3-5 days in the pond before wearing off. It keeps the med in and the water out during that period, allowing the fish a chance to heal.
Tincture of Benzoin is purchased from a pharmacy over the counter.

Sorry about that, I didn't see you needed to raise the kh & ph, yes, do so, its safe!

Must clean my glasses.........

actually i need to bring my alkalinity up about 30 pm....to be approx. 150ppm, since my most recent water change, my pH has been pretty stable. misinformation about the frequency of water change , etc......caused some serious problems with water quality, but think i've just about got it under control.........for how long do i add salt to the tank? when i do my next water change, i only add 1 tsp. for the new water going in right? how long should it be before i start to see some improvement in the tail ulcer? this tank has been up and running for about four years and i was doing pretty much the same as always with no problems in water quality...........why such a major problem now?

Yes, the WQ being stable is most important. When its not it can bring out the worst. Bacteria is ever present in the water and with our fish, so stressful situations will lower immune systems, allow them and/or parasites to get a grip.

1 tsp per gl you exchange would be right. I would let it go for at least a couple of weeks and then the salt can be decreased through the water changes. You should see the ulcer start to heal, generally white is a sign of recovery and healing. With ulcers this can take a while, if you don't see the edges and sore starting to heal then its possible to re-treat with another swab or switch tactics. If you see any fuzzy growth starting instead, then let us know and we can get a different tactic going.

Excellent advice from Kathy. However, I'm not sure who told you to get the KH up by a mere 30ppm to 150ppm. 120ppm is fine. Sure, 150ppm is good but so is 200ppm. We usually tell people to aim for 150ppm when they start from next to nothing but there is little difference between 120ppm and 150ppm. If your KH drops below 100ppm then I would boost it back up to around 150. It is better not to chase water quality if it is not that bad in the first place. I can't see a big waterQ problem here. Are there other issues you haven't mentioned?

there were some other issues......nitrates off the chart, pH not even registering, alkalinity almost as bad, but the other issues have been addressed, at least they were at the last water change (5 days ago) and they appear to be holding so far. as far as healing of the ulcer.....you said white means healing........so if the edges are noticeably white that's a good thing, right? as far as the salt content decreasing following subsequent water changes, do you mean i shouldn't add more salt during the next few changes?

ok i lied........just tested my water, and my nitrates have peaked to about 90 from 40, my alkalinity has dropped to about 80 and my pH is at about 6.8!!!!!!!!! what am i missing or not doing?

Dragonwitch,

I think you need to be honest with us and give us as much info as possible. All this talk of issues and "being addressed" is not helping us. As far as I know, your way of addressing the issue means washing the filter under a running tap with soapy detergent. We need to know if we are dealing with some fundamental problem here or just something transient.

In terms of why the nitrAte is raising and KH falling, one scenario will be when a filter is cycling and you have all these build up nitrIte being converted enmass into nitrAte and the nitrifying bacterias will also consume carbonate (measured by KH) so you get the double change.

It is time to starting adding a little bit of baking soda everyday until your KH is around 150ppm. Do several partial water changes (~30%) to bring the nitrAte back down.

i'm not rinsing the filter in soapy water.........i do change the bio filter about every 3-4 weeks and the undergravel carbons about every 5-6 weeks.....the filters in now are less than one week old since i changed everything when i did the last water change six days ago and added salt for the first time. as a general rule, i do rinse the biofilter about two weeks into the cycle, but only with clear running water. last night, i added 1/2 tsp. baking soda, and retested in an hour. and again five minutes ago.....my nitrates are still around 90, my pH is about 120 and my alkalinity is between 6.8 and 7.2. should i add another 1/2 tsp. baking soda now, or do a water change a couple of days early and then add it?

Well, there's at least one problem. The filter should never ever be cleaned or rinsed with tap water. It kills the bio bugs. Gently rinse the filter in tank water your changing out dureing a WC in the bucket. It (filter pads) need not be changed frequently either. Most prefer to replace only when the cartridges filter pads get wore from cleanings. What is the filter system your useing? If it has Bio media, it shouldn't be changed at all...

For example, I have penguins and emporer HOB's, I take the cartridges out and swish them around in the bucket to clean them, the cartridge is a plastic one with pad and has carbon inside as well. If I need to replace the carbon, I can pry a edge loose and put new in and superglue the edge back down. Its ready to go back in. The bigger models also have bio media cartridges that I used to put glass in, those are rinsed also in tank water. If I have to a maintenceing on the filter, they also have bio-wheels, all of those should be left in the bucket with the tank water while servicing things such as impeller, intakes and things like spray bars.

When replaceing cartridges themselves, if it has more then one, it should be done in alternating weeks. I run double HOB's as well, so if I need to put in a new one, then A gets done, next week B.

Rinseing any of the parts in tap water is a big no-no, Chlorine kills the bio bugs as well which live on all surfaces. Alway's use the water you have taken from the tank!

I hope this will help some anyway! IMHO, I would do a change as My evil Sib has suggested and get the nitrates back down. 40 and under is acceptable, the lower the better of course.