Pond Boss Forums INTRO Questions & Observations Salt for healthy water and fish?

I could not find much on this forum (going back five years search) regarding the addition of salt to ponds. I found one recommendation of 100 pounds per acre. I've added salt to our little decorative koi pond with no ill effects. But wondering about benefit for CC, CNBG and LMBs. Also, I don't want to hurt the submerged and marginal pond plants. Our game fish pond is about 100,000 gallons covering one tenth acre. The water is limestone well water (10 ppm hardness and good alkalinity) and rain, less evaporation (central Texas hot!). Rock salt, NaCl softener salt (98% pure), Kosher salt?

I put a couple of cattle white salt blocks in my 3 acre pond once just to see if the fish would utilize them in any way. I could see them vaguely in about 3' of water off the dock for a few days then I could no longer see them because of the algae bloom in the pond.

I was curious if fresh water fish "flashed" against objects to clean themselves of parasites like I have observed some salt water fish do while scuba diving. I have seen various fish use sponges and just last week I had a couple Atlantic Spadefish (maybe 3# or so) flash off of my diving fin while diving.

But I never observed anything from the salt block lark.

I tried a search on salt here a while back myself, with no results. The inquiry was due to a conversation I'd had with a coworker who used to help manage a 30 acre lake in Texas. They were instructed to put (if I recall correctly) 500# of water softener type rock salt into the BOW. I seem to remember the suggestion was made to increase mineral content of the water.

I really need to revisit that conversation with him tomorrow.

Anyway, I would also like to know the benefits of salt, and if possible, how to determine how much should be added and how to find out if you need it at all.

Hopefully we can both gets some answers to this query!!

There have been discussions over the last few years about using salt baths for treatment and adding salt when transporting fish but I do not recall much about adding it on a pond basis.

I have a salt test kit for the little koi pond of 1,000 gallons. It's too hard to use...like a titration test. And, I was never all that careful to maintain the salt content because the little pond leaked and seemed to require about fifty gallons of water per day. I do recall the recommended salt was one half if you had plants, especially water lilies. I'll look at the koi pond web sites for current info.
We have a salt pool, the salt gets split by high voltage to make chlorine gas. Salt or chlorine, it never develops any algae.

https://youtu.be/4SBLP1gDcyA
An aquatic vet talking about salt (sodium chloride) for aquariums and ponds (I think ornamental ponds). He warns that salt is detrimental to catfish (all catfish?).