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How To Keep Your Koi Healthy
Koi health is very important if you want to enjoy your fish for a long time. Koi fish are known to live for decades even though the average life span is 20 to 30 years. Koi are hardy and tough; but, they can get sick. Their life expectancy depends largely on genetics and living conditions.
The modern day koi are tough but they have lost much of the toughness of their ancestor, the magoi carp. They can thrive in the poorest water conditions and stay unaffected by the presence of parasites. This is because of the inbreeding process that started long ago when nishikigoi was first being established. Breeders have had to pair koi with parents and siblings to get the perfect body shape, intense colors and beautiful patterns that make the present koi so admirable.
Nevertheless, the koi of today rarely get sick and if they get sick or perish, you can trace the underlying cause to water quality problems. Similar threats to koi health are parasites, ulcer disease, predators, medicine overdose, jumping out of the water, virus infections, toxic pesticides, and tumor.
Water Quality
Poor water quality is the main cause of koi death. You will need to watch out for the pH, ammonia, nitrite, nitrate and also oxygen levels in your pond. Even marginal alterations in their levels can adversely affect koi health. PH pertains to the acid and alkaline levels of your pond. Koi need a pH of 7.0 through 9.0. Ammonia is produced by your koi in the form of waste. It can be extracted effectively by using biological filter system that makes use of the nitrification cycle.
Bacteria will convert ammonia to nitrites. However, nitrites are still toxic to the koi and must also be converted by other bacteria into nitrates that are relatively safer to the koi. Nitrates, in turn, are consumed by the plants as well as algae in the pond. You already know how oxygen is needed to support life. As your koi grow in size, they will require more dissolved oxygen. To Make sure that there is a lot of oxygen in the pond water set up a waterfall, jets or air pump, or put air stones to add oxygen to the water.
Parasites, Ulcer Disease and Bacterial Infections
If the koi fish perish or display irregular behavior despite the good quality of your water, you could expect the reason to be either parasites or bacterial infections. Parasites such as anchor worms and fish lice can be harmful to your fish. The initial signs are red or white pimples that rapidly turn into sores. The ulcer can get into the muscles of the fish so you need to discover the disease while still in its early stages.
You will have to keep you koi clear of parasites. Hold the affected fish in salted water and supply with medicated food. You can swab the sores with betadine to help them recover. Consult with a veterinarian on how best to cure your koi.
Quarantine
You will have to isolate any new fish for at least three weeks before introducing them to the pond. Throughout this period, you will need to treat the fish for parasites. If you don't have a separate quarantine tank, be sure to purchase your koi only from reliable dealers that guarantees their fish to be parasite-free. Also carefully pick the plants for addition to the pond which also has to be parasite-free.
Overcrowding
If you continue having koi health troubles (like stunted growth or perhaps erratic behavior) even if your water is of top quality and you bought only parasite-free fish, you may want to evaluate your koi population. Your fish may be experiencing stress because of overcrowding.
What Makes Koi Very Koi?
Koi are very popular fish bred and cared for by hobbyists the world over. Koi is a Japanese word that means "carp" and includes the dull gray wild carp caught in rivers and lakes for food, as well as the brightly colored varieties.
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Koi breeding is not easy if what you aim for is to produce high-quality fish for competition purposes. Before you can obtain a prize-winning koi fish, you will have to cull and discard several thousand fry. The koi breeding process is long and difficult but it is all worth it.
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