Pond Boss Forums STOCKING A NEW POND Raising Forage and Bait Inland Silver sided shiner

Re: The salt bath during transport. How much salt will be used? (i.e. what % will the salt water be?)

Salt in the water for transport is completely different than using a salt dip to kill external parasites. You cannot transport them in water salty enough to kill external parasites, it would kill the fish for that length of time. You dip them in a 3% salt solution until they lose equilibrium, then remove them immediately and place in fresh water.

The salt "dip" duration could be as short as 30 seconds or a few minutes, but once they start to turn on their sides, remove them immediately and place in fresh water.

I would not use ANY of the water that they were in from the original BOW to put in the pond. Here's what I'd do if it was my pond.

Transport them in 1/2% salt solution using the water from the BOW.

Net them out and place in a tank of 3% salt solution that is the same temp as the transport water.

Once they lose equilibrium, dip net them out and place them in a 2nd tank that has your pond water in it, at the same temp as the transport water temp.

Once they recover, then use pond water to bring the water temp in the 2nd tank to pond temp, not changing temp more than 5 degrees in an hour. Make sure that there is plenty of O2 in the water. If you see them piping at the surface, you have to have a way to introduce O2 quickly. OR, move them to a 3rd tank with the same water temp.

I'd even go as far as having an aquarium water test kit and use it to monitor ammonia in the water that the fish are in if you are hauling a goodly number of fish - i.e. more than 1/4 pound per gallon of water. If you use O2, you might be able to go to 1/2 pound per gallon depending on water temp.