it’s hard to believe that we are now entering the third year of Beginners' Class. Throughout the aim has been to try and dispel some of the old-fashioned ideas of Koi-keeping and to introduce simple, common sense advice. By deliberately repeating ourselves we have tried to emphasize that the great majority of common fish health problems can be avoided by good fish-keeping practice.
Fish health problems abound in the hobby. But why?
Koi do not spend their entire lives looking for reasons to die - in fact, it is quite difficult to kill them. The fact that problems and fatalities are so common in the hobby just confirms, in my opinion, that many Koi-keeping notions and practices - despite their failure - are still practiced with almost sacred reverence! I believe the most important aspect of successful Koi-keeping is to recognize that it requires some degree of skill and knowledge, and we should be realistic about our individual capabilities, especially when it comes to stocking. My experience of helping Koi-keepers with problems is that while almost all of them acknowledge the importance of environmental conditions, the basics of water quality, stocking levels and pond husbandry are still not applied in all cases. Whether this is because the basics are not fully understood or because most koi-keepers believe they don't apply to them, I don't know.
Over the past two years we have covered many of the basics of successful Koi-keeping, from buying fish to installing a filter. It is easy to look at these aspects in isolation and yet fail to see how they all link together. I suspect this is often the case and, despite feeling that he or she has done everything right, problems still occur. At this point, frustration and disappointment can set in and it is easy to see why some Koi-keepers adopt the view that problems and losses are inevitable. But in most cases, it is not the preventive approach which has failed them, it is simply that they did not adopt it properly in the first place. Over the next few issues I shall try to clarify the importance of the various aspects we have covered and show how they fit together. While it may seem that we are going over old ground, another look from a slightly different viewpoint will hopefully underline just how important these basics are.
So far, we have not touched on a subject dear to many Koi-keepers' hearts - disease and treatments. This was deliberate, as I believe that the headlong rush to get involved with real "hands-on" Koi-keeping lies at the root of many a Koi health problem. The overwhelming majority of problems can be prevented by good pond husbandry and, with few exceptions, the remainder can usually be resolved by early detection and taking corrective action. The next, but equally important, stage in successful Koi-keeping is learning how to detect when something isn't right, and what to do before it becomes a serious problem. It would be easy to compile a checklist, similar to the one we drew up for buying healthy Koi (in Issue 1), in fact one similar to the type of list found in most hobbyist magazines. However, in my experience, while this is helpful in buying Koi, for a variety of reasons it is rarely fully adequate when it comes to disease prevention and treatment.
A very common problem in disease prevention is a simple failure to spot or confront a problem soon enough which of course means that it becomes harder to solve and often leads to other fish in the pond being affected. In many cases, Koi-keepers seem blind to problems which may be obvious once pointed out! My own theory is that while we spend a lot of time admiring our Koi, we spend very little time "examining" them. (To drawn an analogy, perhaps it's similar to the difference between judging a beauty contest and conducting a medical examination!) There is, of course, the added difficulty that we are often unsure about what we are supposed to be looking for. Another common failing in hobbyist fish-keeping is the tendency to underestimate the seriousness of an injury or lesion. For instance, bacterial ulceration’s are often attributed to the fish knocking or cutting themselves, and the fish are left to "get better". In reality, the problem often worsens and spreads to other fish. There is also a failure to appreciate that the true extent of a problem is not always apparent when the fish is in the water, and almost always looks worse when the fish is examined close up in a bowl. I recall an occasion when I was asked to look at a cut on a Oki’s head, which it had had for several weeks. When we put it in a bowl we saw that the fish had an ulcer that had gone through to the skull, as well as severe ulceration on the underside of the body. It was kinder to put the fish down than to attempt to treat it.
We will look at the subject of diseases and treatments more fully later but it's essential to realize that chemicals are not magic potions, and the most important consideration in disease treatment is early detection. Invariably, when I am asked to help with an problem I end up finding other problems that the owner wasn't even aware of. The classic case this year was being asked to look at two fish with ulcer problems. A full examination of the pond revealed that out of 22 fish, 16 had bacterial problems! I wish I could say that this was the exception, but unfortunately it's all too common.
Determining the full extent of a problem, be it parasitic or bacterial, has serious implications for the type and success of any treatment. It is this failure to establish how many fish are affected, and the magnitude of the problem, that leads to stories of people losing large numbers of fish over a period of months. When fish are lost in this way it gives the impression that a succession of fresh outbreaks has been caused (perhaps by some mystery superbug) when in fact all the deaths had the same original cause. Had the problem been diagnosed and treated originally the losses would probably not have occurred.
It is crucial for successful Koi-keeping that we Koi-keepers are aware of the condition of our fish, especially during spring and early summer. This means taking the time to have a critical look and carry out a systematic examination. Understandably, our eye is drawn to their colors pattern and graceful body shape as well as their appealing faces but it as all too easy to overlook the tell-tale signs on other parts of the body. Unfortunately, the charm and attraction of these living jewels can, in this instance, be to their undoing! In the next issue, just in time for spring, we will go through some critical Koi health checks. Until then my best wishes for some successful healthy Koi-keeping!