I need to know this equation... - this is not homework, it's about goldfish

Question

Okay, the amount of salt to put in with freshwater fish per "Southern Regional Aquacultural Center" as of May 1998 for treatment of ICH or White Spot Disease is 2 to 3 ppt. (Parts Per Thousand... incase you don't know what "ppt" means. Now I know that means for 3 gallons of salt, I'd have to have 1,000 gal of water. I need to know what the equation is to figure out how much salt to put in a 10 gallon tank. And then how to convert that to tsp or tbsp. Thank you.

And please don't just tell me the generic 5 tbsp per 10 gallons because I know that much. And it's not enough, so I'm getting a little more aggressive with this. That's why I want to use the equation to see for myself what is actually the amount I can use as put by an authority on the matter.

Answer 1

ok 10 gallons equals 2560 tablespoons  so one part per thousand would be 2.56 tablespoons.  So 2ppt would be 5.12 tablespoons and 3 ppt would be 7.68 tablespoons or just a hair over 7 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons

Math explained:  

There are 16 tablespoons in a cup and 16 cups in a gallon (2 cups in  a pint, 2 pints in a quart 4 quarts in a gallon)  

16 tablespoons times 16 cups is 256 tablespoons  times 10 gallons is 2560 tablespoons in 10 gallons.

2560 divided by 1000 is 2.560 so 2.560 is 1/1000 of 2560 or one part per thousand.  Double that (5.12) for 2 parts per thousand and triple (7.68) for 3 parts per thousand.  

1  tablespoon equals 3 teaspoons, and .68 is approximately 2/3 so you get 7 tablespoons and 2 teaspoons for 3 ppt

Answer 2

Doing the math:  the 10 gallon tank would require  a little more than a half a cup of salt (8.937 Tablespoons!)  I think that is way too much!  To do a treatment for stress or disease of fish in a FRESH WATER aquarium, the advise given  by every web site I've queried is that no more than 1 TBSP per each 5 gallons is more than sufficient.

Based on the formula that you gave :  10 gallons is 1/100 of the 1,000 gallons you came up with.  That thousand gallons required 3 gallons of salt.  So you need 1/100 of the salt.  One gallon of salt equals 297.89 TBSP, so 3 gallons of salt equals 893.67 TBSP.  Dividing  893.67 by 100 ( or 1/100 of 893.67)  equals 8.937 TBSP.  Given there are 16 TBSP in a cup, the 8.937 TBSP would equal a little over 1/2 a cup.

Hope this answers your question or helps you to understand the formula.

ADDITIONAL INFO: The differences in the number of tablespoons between my answer and BMTHESF's is that I am working with dry US gallons for figuring the salt (297.89 TBSP per dry gallon) versus BMTHESF's liquid gallon measurement (256.0 TBSP per liquid gallon) of salt.

I decided to check the site you referenced and I just might rethink the quantity of salt : increasing to half a cup per 10 gallon tank. I'll let you know.

Answer 3

First salt will not help your goldfish and will do more harm to him than good.  Salt DOES NOT releive stress in fish it actually stresses them out more.  It causes their bodies to create a thicker slime coat than normal placing more stress on the fish.  Also, salt interfears with the fish's ability to process the water it needs effectively.  Especially goldfish and koi.  these fish DO NOT have a stomach there fore having to use the water differently than other fish.

The amount of salt you need to add is 2.5 tablespoons for your 10 gallon tank.  This will not kill nor ward off ich either.  Only a salt dip can possiably help a fish with ich.

Do not elevate the temperatures.  You have a goldfish.  You need to lower the temperatures.  this causes the life cycle and reproduction of the parasite to SLOW down so it can be treated and killed and not with salt but with medicine.

Guppies are by nature salt water fish, they can handle and process the salt goldfish cannot.

Table salt that does not contain anti caking agents can be used even with iodine since every living thing needs iodine.  

Here's the math   there are 256 tablespoons in a gallon.  2560 in a 10gallon tank  divided by 1,000  = 2.56 to be exact

Answer 4

First, be sure you have the right kind of salt -- table salt will kill your fish. Buy salt from pet store.

Second, you can put about 1 level tsp of sea salt in a ten gallon tank.

Third, consider scrapping the salt and using a normal ick medication that would be more effective in killing the parasite.

Answer 5

Converting to liters will be extremely useful.  One gallon = roughly 3.785 liters.  One ppt = gram/liter.  A 10 gallon tank = 37.85L.

2ppt = xgram/37.85

x = 75.7 grams of salt for a 10 gallon tank.

3ppt = xgram/37.85

x = 113.55 grams of salt for a 10 gallon tank.

Keep in mind, this is GRAMS, not teaspoons or tablespoons or any other measure of volume.  The grain size will cause the volume to change, but will not affect the mass.  If you have a small scale that weighs grams, this will help immensely.  I just weighed out a teaspoon (5mL) of Morton iodized salt, and it comes out to 8.4 grams, so the same grain size would require just under 9 teaspoons to reach 2ppt in a 10 gallon tank.  The kind of salt you use doesn't much matter as long as it is sodium chloride (epsom salt is magnesium sulfate).  As your source (an EXTREMELY reliable on, at that), and NUMEROUS other STUDIES have noted, most related to commercial fisheries, which NEED a cheap treatment for such a common disease, salt IS effective.  To say that it isn't, and throw out that it's stressful, and the temperature should stay low is simply ignorant-- please disregard the above post.  If you keep the temperature low, the parasite will take MUCH longer to reach a vulnerable stage, which means it must be medicated MUCH longer, which is far more stressful than cranking the temperature up to 80-82* and adding the appropriate amount of salt.