Salt and Plants?

[bounty22]

Hi, I have been getting different advice on whether to add salt to my koi pond due to risk to my plants. Some say no problem. Some say the salt will kill my plants, others say just don't get the salt directly on the plants. I currently only have 3 plant types in the pond:
Hardy Lilies
Water Iris (in fabric planters in waterfall pools) - can't see in this picture
Spiky grass (sorry haven't found name yet, it doesn't seem to go to seed or flower, very thin tall and spiky) - bottom right in picture

I'd like to add the salt to ensure the koi and goldfish are healthy (8oz/100 gals is the rate that was recommended).

Any advice would be appreciated.

Thanks, Eric

 

[Mmathis]

Basically, salt is NOT good for plants, and koi do NOT need salt in the water. This comes from the DKP (dedicated koi ponders) who put salt in everything, and wouldn’t be caught dead with a plant in their pond! Koi are freshwater fish. IMHO, the only time to use salt is as a therapeutic treatment.

BTW, hello and welcome to our group!

 

[mrsclem]

Totally agree. When I started out keeping koi, salt was a must have in a koi pond. It does no good for the fish except as a treatment in a quarantine tank. Skip the salt, enjoy the plants. Also, there are several disease treatments that specify no salt!

 

[TheFishGuy]

unless you have some new breed of saltwater koi, it is as simple as these fish are freshwater, not saltwater. Salt can be beneficial for short periods of time to get rid of parasites however I would never recommend adding it directly to the pond, especially if nothing is wrong with your fish!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

I'll agree with the others - Salt used to be (a couple of decades ago) a 'go to' as far as adding to a pond when one even suspected a parasite problem, but.... it is terrible for your plants & (quite honestly) absolutely NOT necessary as far as a 'preventative measure' goes. Any level of salt high enough to do damage to parasites will definitely kill (or seriously damage) your plants, and any lower level isn't going to give any therapeutic benefit to your fish, so.... yeah - just say 'no' to routine salting.

 

[GBBUDD]

Very light amounts of salt are actually recommended in planted tanks. JUST ABOUT ALL WATER HAS SOME DEGREE . But as far as to the levels to keep parasites at bay, no the plants will suffer