The Koi Network

The purpose if this website is to hopefully help people understand more about their koi and to help those starting out or thinking of keeping koi. If you can not find any help here then we are only a phone call away, you are also welcome to bring up any problems you might have at our social meetings, where someone will be able to help you.

See "EVENTS" for our next planned event.

SPRING/SUMMERTIME, THINGS TO DO:

Parasites Thrive While Fish Immunity Is Low

Parasites and bad bacteria such as aeromonas and psuedomonas thrive in cooler water temperatures than the 15 degrees needed for the fish’s immunity systems to become fully operational. This is truly the worse time of year for the fish. If there are any health problems with the fish at all it is during this transitional time that it will surface.

Here are a few tips to make the transition easier on your fish:

Avoid Stressful Events — Not a good time to pack them up and take them to a koi show or other event.

Thoroughly Clean the Pond — If sludge is ever allowed to collect on the bottom of your pond, or stagnant areas anywhere in your system, this is the time it has to be removed from the pond. Sludge makes great living quarters for parasites and disease. Pay special attention to your filter and settlement chambers.

Watch for Signs of Ulcers and Infection — Red sores cannot heal if the immunity system is not functioning. If any redness that is not the color of the fish is seen, bring the live fish in for a check-up, as soon as possible. Do not wait till half the fish is rotten away, it is a lot easier and cheaper to treat sooner rather than later. Or have them scraped and checked under a microscope to see if they have any parasites!

REMEMBER: your fish need more oxygen in hot weather, and especially if their water is green.

The beginners nightmare !!!

So, you're new? Don't let it get you down. Here's a really simple synopsis for the beginner.

You should print it out for future reference.

The first thing you will do is buy sick fish. You won't notice that the fins are clamped, you won't ask the vendor to feed the fish and make sure the fish eat for you. You won't notice or consider the fish with sores, even though they spell sure death for the seemingly healthy ones you will buy.

You will take your new pets home and then realize you do not have a pond for them yet, so they will spend their first few weeks “bonding” with you in your Jacuzzi or bath. Later, you learn to identify the healthy groups of fish by their playful activity and their endless appetite. Straight away, you start having better "luck" keeping Koi.

Once you've gotten healthy fish, you will kill them with your water quality. You'll not be able to resist that “lovely spotted one” or that “super shiny one” and will keep adding fish to a system which is too small, over crowded, with only a small filter.

You'll let those important aspects of water quality catch up with you, and you won't test for these parameters until it's too late. By then, even if you correct the problems and upgrade your filtration, the base group of fish will be lost.

Still, you'll return and buy new fish, buy test kits, and learn to manage the water. Then you will start killing the fish by feeding them cheap low protein food, and by neglecting or assuming water quality is holding up without your intervention. Nitrates will come to haunt you.
Your dog will unplug the filter power cord and suffocate the fish. Your primary pump will seize the bearings and die, and you won't have a back up running to aerate the pond.

But do not despair, it can only get better.

But the above few words certainly describe the common woes suffered by some new koi keepers. Koi keeping can be easy and fun, but do not try to re-invent the wheel.
Listen to advice given to you by experienced koi keepers, most of them have learnt the hard way.

A two minute look at their own pond, and the health of their fish will tell you if you should believe them or not, or buy fish from them or not.

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