June 2002:

June for me is probably the best month of the year. On the 21st June we reach the longest day. Unfortunately this year the weather appeared to deteriate daily! In recent years it seems that if we have a mild spring we then have a wet summer although some of our garden plants do benefit. I particularly like Camellias and rhododendrons. These plants form their buds in July and August and need plenty of water or they suffer from bud wilt so this weather certainly helps.

Last month I mentioned koi foods, I currently feed my fish  (and of course some of Chris Pinchen's fish that are taking temporary residence) a combination of Medicarp, Shokoi Impact and Hi Silk 21.  I have also used Miracle Koi food that Dave Rice can supply, but my only concern with this food is that there are lots of small particles that the fish seem to miss and these end up in the skimmer as waste!!!   I do not feed any food that contains Spirulina as I read in Nishikigoi International last autumn that Spirulina slows growth in tosai and I have also read many times that the Japanese breeders do not feed their fish Spirulina and this appears to be the reason why.

My feeding regime is little and often as many times as possible each day. My wish list would be that more koi foods would sink slowly. Carp do not feed of the surface naturally. I am sure that all of us have noticed our koi do not appear to be able to coordinate eye to mouth easily and often miss pellets.

I also recently attended two Sunday morning koi seminars with Geoff Kemp of Connoisseur Koi along with Chris Pinchen, we would both highly recommend these seminars, so look out for Geoff's adverts in the Koi magazines.  These seminars are always fully booked, Geoff teaches koi appreciation and koi health. The cost for each seminar is £10 and you have to pay this in advance to secure your place. However you do receive a voucher for the full cost which is redeemable against any purchase made.

One really useful tip from the koi health seminar is to soak your food before feeding to your fish. The reason for doing so is that during research at Exeter University it was discovered that carp did not begin to break down a dry pellet until it was two thirds through there intestine, however a softened pellet began to break down one third of the way through the intestine. Geoff’s advice is to mix 1 kilo of food with 50ml of Clay. Add to this 230ml of pond water and mix until the water is absorbed into the pellet / Clay mix. The mixed pellets last about week in an air sealed bag kept in the fridge.

Reading my Southern Koi Group Newsletter (another section that both myself and Chris Pinchen belong to), Dave Rice of Worthing Koi advised that Potassium Permanganate is that best way to eradicate Trichodina and Costia.  I personally have had a problem with this treatment. My advice would to treat your fish with PP in the morning never in the evening and before doing so add extra aeration, never treat when the water temperature is above 21 centigrade.

I have twice experienced a reduction of oxygen levels with in our pond despite having two turbo air domes and air stones in the filter. On one occasion the water temperature was only 18 centigrade. I for one will not use PP again or with extreme caution.  I might add that I know exactly how many gallons I have in my pond and I weighed the PP with accurate digital gram scales, I also treated on both occasions, 1.5 grams per ton of water, (220 gallons). I might add that I did not ever experience any problems with PP with our last pond, I do not know why it has caused problems with this pond, but that's all down to experience of a koi keeper....