Children of the Sun Koi - Koi blog and Koi postings

Koi Health and Koi Care

2011-02-24T21:08:00.000-08:00

Lets Talk Koi Care, Health and Quarantine

I have seen many people needing quarantine systems for their koi. Here are some of the basics and I will try to make this as brief as possible. Here are 7 great reasons to have great koi care:

The koi you have now are more than likely healthy.
If you plan to purchase more Japanese koi, you put the koi that are healthy at risk.
Birds, Frogs, Raccoons and anything else that can get to your water have the ability to bring in unwanted parasites and/or bacteria.
Your koi are no doubt valuable to you, probably even your most loved pet.
Your koi may be large and worth more to you than a simple quarantine set up.
If your already healthy koi do get sick, then where would you put them?
Do you also have koi medications and a medicine cabinet for your koi as you do yourself?

There are many more reasons. Your koi are valuable to you. Believe me, you do not want to be pu in the position where you need a system and then not have one. In comparison to your current pond stock of koi, a quarantine system is pennies on the dollar. Depending on how big of a system you need, a small pond can get away with spending around $100.00. Large koi and ponds can run up to $1500.00 and up.

We are seeing a major need for this so we are providing Taylor made quarantine systems to our customers. Price would be depending on how big your need is and what you would like to add to the system. We will do everything we can to get you into a quarantine system as cost effective a possible.

Try and always quarantine your new koi for at least 21 days before entering them into your current stock of koi.

For more information please see the other blogs on this site.

Koi Food - Whats the deal?

2011-02-24T20:42:00.000-08:00

Whats exactly in a food?
Whats the difference?
What should I feed my Koi?

These and many other questions go through the minds of koi hobbyist and professionals alike. There are many different brands of koi food out there. What claims to be the best koi food to feed is not always the best. Here is some "food for thought" when feeding your koi and picking out the ideal koi food for your budget and the koi health.

Koi eat alot of worms bugs and water born insects in the wild. Koi are not cannibals and therefore will only eat food the appeals to them if they are in the wild. Our koi that are kept in captivity in our ponds are destined to eat whatever they are fed. They are hungry and will eat it.
Feed koi food that you would consider to eat yourself or feed another one of your animals. I have tried many brands of food over the years and have found that I read the ingredient label very close and examine the food. I feed only the food that have minimum ingredients and all or most that I can reconize and not some unpronounced name unbeknown to man!

Koi food must have Ascorbyl-2-Phosphate in it. This is stabilized Vitamin C. This type of vitamin c will be in the food for 3-6 months before breakdown. If your food claims vitamin c, then find out what kind of vitamin c it is. This is very important to koi health and immunity.
Protein level should be between 33-38 percent in the cooler (50-65 Degrees) months and 35-50 percent in the summer (65-80 degrees).

Spirulina will bring out the Beni (red) of the koi.

Wheat Germ will bring out the Shiroji (white) of the koi. This will also make for better digestion and therefore better growth and health.

Some koi food will not be digested as much from the koi and that make for unclear water and more filter cleaning, more often. This also constitutes more water change due to poor water quality.

Avoid Corn in any food
Feed the correct food at the right time
Food must have ascorbyl-2-phosphate
Feed the highest quality food your budget will allow

The koi food that fits this criteria the best is Dainichi Koi Food. We are not paid to endorse this brand. We simply have the best results with it. Cotskoi currently feeds over 600 koi this food.
Alternative koi foods of high quality include: (all of the koi foods below we stock, use, and sell at cotskoi)

Hikari Koi Food
Saki Hikari Koi Food
Shinju Koi Food - Kodama Koi Food
Tomigai Koi Food

Another koi food of good quality Hai Feng Koi Food and Nozomi Koi Food.

If you feed your koi a highest quality food your budget can afford and present the right conditions you will see high growth, great skin and color quality, healthy koi with limited filter cleaning, and better water quality.

If you need more information you can contact info@cotskoi.com

Japanese koi care: Quarantine.

2011-02-24T20:22:00.000-08:00

Preventative Measures

It is that time of year for the quarantine of your koi to ready them for winter/spring. This is a practice that we have done with our koi 2 times a year and it works. The worst thing a koi lover can do is leave their koi open for parasite and bacteria problems. Make sure you take the needed steps to keep your koi healthy. A simple quarantine will leave your koi healthy and ready when spring comes around.

If you choose to have a Bi Annual quarantine, this is what I suggest:

FIRST Make a 25 percent water change in your pond(s)
Treat with Prazi
Treat with salt - make sure you remove your plants if you salt. I(f you cannot salt there are a few options. Email us for further information.)
Feed a wheat germ based food and/or medicated food if needed

You need to know:

The gallons approx gallons of water of your pond/ or ponds
The amount of medicated food you need if you choose (1.25lbs, 3 lbs, 8 lbs)
Wheat germ based food if you choose ( 1lbs, 4 lbs, 11lbs)

PRAZI comes in many sizes sizes. The dose is about 1 gram per l00 gallons of water. Praziquantel is really safe so you can overdose many times the amount without harm to the koi. We have dosed 4X the normal amount and the koi did fine. They did fine, but the koi fish did not like it.

If you treat with salt then the best purchase is at walmart. It is about 4 dollars. a blue/white MORTON 40 lbs bag. Make sure it is 99.5% free of everything When you treat with salt treat accordingly:

1 pound of salt per one hundred gallons / 10 pounds of salt per 1000 gallons etc...

Treat 3 times over 3 days
Total 3 pounds of salt per one hundred gallons / 30 pounds per 1000 gal etc

If you own a salt meter it will show .3%. This is the therapy level for koi. Leave the salt level at this percent for 21 days then make water changes weekly to remove the salt. You may make your weekly water changes within the 21 days just add more when you remove water.

If you are heating your water over the winter you should perform this quarantine the same way.

For the koi lovers that have plants we recommend using Malachite Green & Formaldehyde. You can get this mixture that is filter safe from Koi Care Kennel: Proform C and Aquameds: Terminate. As said both brands are filter and koi fish safe.

You can find all of these products at a koi dealer. Check www.cotskoi.com for all of the need Koi Care medications.

When you treat your koi this way ( two times a year ) then your chances of having a parasite drop down really low. Doing this you will kill:

Flukes
Ich
Trichodina
Costia
Oodinium
Epystilis

For those of you with Anchor worm of Fish Lice use: Proform LA.

For more information please contact us at info@cotskoi.com.