Fundamental points for Nishikigoi breeding
The most important art of breeding is creating quality water for Nishikigoi.
You should maintain the suitable water quality by circulating the pond
water, so that dissolved oxygen can activate aerobic bacteria to purify
the water.
Let us introduce some points which we are often asked.
| ①Volume of a pond or an aquarium |
To prevent koi from catching diseases or exterminate parasites on koi,
we sometimes use salt or medicine. Too much dose will harm and too little
will have no effect.
Here is a standard use of salt 5 kg per 1 ton of water. |
It is commonly said that Nishikigoi doesn’t secrete digestive enzymes when
the water temperature drops below 12 degrees Celsius. Therefore, in Japan,
we reduce the amount of koi food when the temperature begins to drop in
autumn until winter seasons. On the contrary, we gradually increase the
amount starting in spring toward summer seasons. We also change the feed
according to the seasons: easily digestive, low protein food for winter
and high protein, colour enrichment added food for active growing. When
the seasons change, you must be attentive to the change of water temperature.
Water temperature is also important when taking countermeasures for fish
diseases.
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| ③Daily observation of koi |
You can have a pleasant time viewing koi swimming calmly, but please pay
attention to your koi’s health.
Fish diseases don’t make significant progress in a usual environment. Please
make it a rule to check the following points.
1) Movements of your koi (they aren’t floating on the water surface, jumping
out of water, rubbing their body against the pond wall, or in a stationary
state on the pond floor?)
2) Quality of pond or aquarium water (Please check floating excrement,
cloudy water, odour and foams.)
Don’t be oversensitive about these, but if any unusual condition lasts
for a while, cut back the amount of feed and add to the amount of fresh
water supply. Check and see if the amount of feed is proper, the filtration
system is clean, otherwise there might be a foreign invasion and deal effectively
with them.
Please pay the closest attention to a newcomer in your pond. The koi may
contract diseases or parasites easily because of its environmental changes. |
| ④Countermeasures for fish diseases |
Congestion or growing of white mucus on the fish surface, or standing scales
are signs of your koi suffering from a disease. Please consult your koi
farmer of nearby aquatic shop keeper and take a proper measure to deal
with the condition. When using medicine, pay attention to the change of
water quality as well. There is an infinite variety of ways in keeping
koi: according to the size and shape of the pond or aquarium, ages, sizes,
number of the koi in it, the situation of equipment, water quality, and
the amount of ingredients of feed and so on.
You can find out the best way to keep your koi, while observing the conditions
of your koi carefully.
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