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Camellia Koi Club |
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Koi Resources
As with any pet, it's a good idea
to learn about what you are getting into with koi before bringing
one home for the first time. Is your pond properly equipped to
care for it? Do you even have a pond? Are you committed
to testing your pond water regularly to ensure a healthy environment
for your fish? What are you going to feed it? What will
you do when it gets sick? Exploring the links provided below
are a good first step on the path to owning happy, healthy koi.
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Feeding -
Talk to 20 koi
hobbyists and you will hear 20 different answers about what
you should and should not feed koi and how
frequently/infrequently you should feed them. Here are
some resources for feeding your koi, but it's up to you to
sort out a common ground that works for your own pond.
What is generally agreed upon is that:
- One feeding
should consist of no more food than koi can eat in five
minutes; - As pond temps decrease in fall and winter,
feed koi less; - When ponds temps drop, feed koi an
easily digestible, wheat-germ based food; - Below
50F
you should stop feeding you koi altogether
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- Water
Quality - Keeping
your pond water of ideal quality for your koi is the most
essential (and often most challenging) aspect of koi keeping.
For the sake of your koi's health, you need to acquaint
yourself with appropriate pH, hardness and alkalinity
levels, "The Nitrogen Cycle" (related to fish waste
breakdown and levels of ammonia, nitrite, and nitrate in the
pond), and the make-up (including chlorine, which is bad for
fish) of the city or well water with which you will be
filling your pond. Imagine being responsible for every
aspect of the air you cat or dog breathes--that is a good
analogy for maintaining a koi pond. You should own at
minimum a pH test, ammonia test, and nitrite test, and
proceed from there.
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Webmaster's note: Not wanting to upset
anyone new to the hobby, this is one of the least
disgusting pictures illustrating a fish illness that I
could find. |
- Health -
What are you going to do when a fish gets sick?
Unfortunately, you can't just put it in a Ziplock
bag and bring it to the vet. Because you love your aquatic friend, "flush it down the
toilet" is not an option, nor is simply
continuing to watch it suffer. Here's what you can do:
1)
Call the UC Davis
Fish Health Clinic at (530) 752-1393.
From Dr. E.
Scott Weber, DVM: “We see fish appointments at the veterinary hospital
in Davis so please forward the telephone number in case your members
need to bring their koi down for an exam or treatment. We have 3
appointments opened every week for fish patients. The clinic can also send someone to your home if you are not comfortable
bringing your fish in.
2) learn
what you can reasonably do on your own
3) educate yourself about
preventive care and
quarantining
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Further Reading
There are several quality koi magazines
that you can subscribe to.
Local fish dealers/pond
builders -
Although CKC
can not endorse any business
in particular, the following is a list of local fish dealers
and pond builders (North to South):
-Mamason
Koi (Auburn/Grass Valley)
-Sacramento Koi
(Rocklin)
-Lincoln
Koi Farm (Lincoln)
-Placer
Ponds (Lincoln)
-Nimbus
Pond Supply (Rancho Cordova)
-Koi Enterprise
(West Sacramento)
-Majestic
Koi (Elk Grove) -Flora Tropicana
(Elk Grove) - Gives 10% discount to CKC
members -Pet Fish Ponds (Stockton/Lodi)
-Peters & Sons
Koi (Martinez, CA) -Champion Nishikigoi
(San Jose) -Genki Koi
(San Jose) -Cherry Hill Koi
(San Jose) -Fancy
Koi Outlet (San Jose)
-Tse Koi
(San Jose)
-Simi Koi
(Santa Barbara)
Pond Building
Resources
Ideally, you
should also educate yourself about what elements your pond will require
for optimal koi keeping. The last thing you want to do is
start
digging a hole with a shovel and little forethought.
- Mechanics - The basics: bottom drains, waterfalls,
skimmers, jets--what do you really need???
- How big should my pond be? How deep?
Where should I put it?
- What kind of plants should I put in my pond?
- Trick question!
Koi eat plants. They root
around in the pots and subsequently get the water dirty. Plant
water plants in a second, koi-free water garden (or
veggie filter)
- These people (Robyn,
Bonnie,
Werners) have some suggestions if
you insist.
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These plants are possibly toxic to
koi.
- If I'm not building the pond myself (particularly if
concrete is involved), how do I
select the right builder?
If you've checked out the above links, you should now be
more educated about koi and ponds that when you first arrived at this page.
However, there is no substitute for experience. Come to one of our
club meetings
and talk directly to some pond owners there. Ask what they
would do differently if building another pond. What unexpected issues
popped up once they got into the hobby? Has it been as rewarding and
stress-relieving a hobby as you've been led to believe?
If you want to experience more than just a club meeting,
come to the Sacramento Koi Show in
September! Or to inspire your own pond design, go on one of our
May Pond Tours.
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