Hi Jaime,

Commercial filter cartridges don’t usually contain zeolite (from my experience). You’d need to buy zeolite filter media separately if you wanted to use it to remove ammonia. The commercial filter cartridges you’ll find that contain activated carbon should be fine to use with salt.

If you’re looking for new filter media to try if you want to build your own filter media bag, I’ve had great results with Seachem Matrix mixed with activated carbon and Seachem Purigen.

Glad you found the article helpful! Let me know if you need anything else cleared up.

Hi Dee,

How is your goldfish doing?

What you’re describing sounds like a case of fin rot, a bacterial infection that affects goldfish when they’re under a lot of stress (probably from the white spots you mentioned earlier in the comment).

As for the white spots, if they resemble grains of salt, they’re probably ich parasites (you can read more about treating ich in my white spot disease article here). When curing your goldfish from ich, you’ll want to follow a salt and heat treatment, since higher temperatures (combined with the salt) are pretty effective at killing off the parasites.

However, if the white spots look fuzzy, your goldfish is probably facing some type of fungal infection.

Before jumping on any treatment plan, you should test the water for ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate – make sure all levels are healthy. Ammonia and nitrite should remain at 0ppm (parts per million) in an established tank white nitrates should be below 40ppm (though, you should try to keep nitrates even lower at 20ppm or below if possible). You can read more about this in my water parameter guide.

If you can keep water conditions healthy, your goldfish will have a better chance at recovery. Maintaining good water quality should also help improve the fin rot, since stress is a huge contributor.

Let me know how your goldfish is doing and if there’s anything I can help you with!

You’re welcome, Janet! I’m so glad this article has helped you!

Hi Claire,

Sorry for the confusion! If you’re giving your goldfish a salt dip, you’ll want to carefully monitor your goldfish’s behavior. The treatment itself generally lasts 1-2 hours, but if your goldfish falls over in the salt solution, your goldfish is probably too weak from infection for the salt dip and you’ll either want to add a gentler salt solution (1 tablespoon or 3 teaspoons per 5 gallons) to the entire tank for a period of time or treat the tank (and goldfish) with the appropriate medication.

Now, if the salt dip is successful, you should keep your goldfish in a cycled quarantine tank with fresh water until the main aquarium is parasite free. How long that takes will depend on the life cycle of the parasite. For example, treating ich can take 15 days or more depending on water temperature.

Keep in mind that salt doesn’t kill all parasites. For example, gill or skin flukes are generally resistant to salt treatments and will need something gentle (for fish, that is) like Praziquantel.

Hi Gary,

I’m so sorry to hear your poor comet goldfish is sick. I am happy that she’s starting to feel better – even if it’s just a slight improvement.

Have you tried testing the water for ammonia and nitrite recently? If we can pinpoint what caused your goldfish to get sick, it might help her recover. It is good that you’re providing fresh water every week. Just when you’re cleaning out the filter, be careful not to disturb the beneficial bacteria that are living in the filter media – you don’t want the nitrogen cycle to reset, especially when your goldfish is already so sick!

Let me know once you have a chance to get those water readings. I really hope she starts feeling better soon!