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Hello Koi Enthusiasts!
This blog is here to provide a spot for various things that do or might pertain to Koi. This stuff is intended for your entertainment, and is not meant to meet the stricter standards of our ebooks and courses, so use this info carefully and at your own risk. The short articles here may be descriptions of techniques that have proved effective, an introduction to new fish research, facts, graphs or just something FUN about fish! This information can be a springboard for your imagination and an entertaining place to learn something new. Information that was first published in Question of the Week can be found here.
The more we learn about Koi, the more FUN this hobby is - and we always say - if you're not havin' FUN, you're not doin' it right!
One of the first things my Koi mentor taught me was to be a good detective!
When I read headlines like this, I think about bacterial infections in Koi. Don't add to the human health risk - please use antibiotics responsibly!
Treating bacterial infections in Koi and in humans usually means using antibiotics, and resistant superbugs like MRSA have become killers. The original article was published in Nature on June 18, 2014.
In a meeting recently, one of our instructors said he was "At sixes and sevens" about that. There was a long silence, before I asked - "is that a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing'?" Below the picture is a compilation of words or phrases (and their meaning/translation) that have actually been used by K.O.I. instructors. The list below is alphabetical, and includes South African, British and other idioms. The picture is handy for those of you interacting with Dunc or Syd!
I saw this cartoon on the web, and it's PERFECT! Just like trying to catch Koi in my pond...
This information was first posted in a "What Do YOU Think?" article.
There are more freshwater fish as pets in the USA than another other species!
The following is an article excerpted from NPR. If you were to get a foot of rain overnight, how would that affect YOUR Koi Pond? Maybe we all need to start thinking of how to keep the Koi IN the ponds...
Here's some more information that you might be interested in!
Congrat and WELCOME to all the WWKC/K.O.I. Scholarship Winners!
Found this on the web - what a GREAT idea! OK - maybe too small to keep the Koi you bring in for the winter, but what a cool way to raise some fry or even keep a few Goldfish in your living room!
Everything we do affects our environment, and sometimes the unintended consequences can be incredibly harmful. We know that antibiotics have found their way into nearly all natural streams and lakes, but now there are other drugs causing problems too, according to Inside Science News Service.
This information was first posted in "What do YOU think?" This question tests your knowledge of water quality, and it’s affects on Koi Health. If you don’t know how harmful Ammonia, Nitrite and pH swings are (all can kill Koi!), download our FREE K.O.I. 101:
http://koiorganisationinternational.org/?q=koi-101
To read the full article, click on the picture or title...
Aquaculture industry may be vulnerable to disease outbreaks, according to Inside Science News Service.
Did you ever notice a difference in Koi behavior between Koi raised in mud ponds versus those raised indoors? There may be a scientific reason behind this!
Discover Your Inner Fish!
SOAP is not just a lard based hand scrub - it stands for Subjective, Objective, Assessment, Plan. Richard Carlson, wrote a very useful article on this, and it can help ALL Koi keepers to deal with problems.
My ponds are finally coming out of winter, and the endless pursuit for better water quality this year has started! I found this great article from Don Harrawood, Southwest Koi and Pond Association El Paso, TX. It's great, detailed info on how to build one yourself, and I wanted to pass it along to all our readers. There are lots of commercial versions available for sale (see one in use in the picture below) - but DIY is so much cheaper and more satisfying!
BY BETH BROGAN Bangor Daily News
CKKs (and other knowledgable hobbyists) are always telling others that they have to be careful about the use of antibiotics in our Koi. The problem is that if you use an antibiotic and it is the wrong one (you can find out the correct anitbiotic to use by doing a swab of the infection site and sending it to a lab to be cultured), or if you don't use all the recommended doses, then you don't kill all the bacteria. The remaining bacteria are the ones that were hardest to kill, and they multiply. Now what started as a simple bacterial infection has become a problem, and when the local dog or bird or frog (or fill-in-the-blank with any critter that visits your pond) passes the resistent bacteria along, we end up with bugs so bad that they can't be killed with any known antibiotic, and that kills people.
This article was first posted in Wired magazine by Maryn McKenna on April 15, 2011. It is not about Koi, but about resistance in food animals. SCARY stuff, and I think it illustrates the point!
Someone asked me this question, and I researched the following answer.
Ultraviolet lamps are comprised of two electrode filaments (the spring looking wire at each end), a glass and quartz combination vacuum tube, several inert gases and approximately 3 mg of mercury (Hg).
A little humor from Spike Cover...
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!If you're not havin' FUN, you're not doin' it right
