ISSUE 238THE WORLD'S BEST SELLING KOI MAGAZINE

WWW.KOI.CO.UK | WWW.NISHIKIGOI.CO.UK | WWW.KOICARPMAGAZINE.COM | WWW.KOIMAG.CO.UKJULY/AUGUST 2015

JULY/AUGUST 2015 £4.20WWW.KOI-CARP.COM

PACKED WITH HINTS, TIPS AND ADVICE FOR HAPPY, HEALTHY KOI!

GENETICSTHE HUMBLEST OF BEGINNINGS

AquaForte is the exclusive brand from SIBO BV. The brand off ers a range of reliable, professional products for water treatment in ponds and swimming pools. A complete package of specialist products and systems. As well as the AquaForte range, SIBO is also the exclusive European distributor for Microbe-Lift Pond Products.

AQUAFORTE IS A TRADEMARK OF SIBO BV, HOLLAND

PROFI HEATER STAINLESS STEEL POND HEATERIndispensable during the fall and winter months: professional stainless steel pond heater with thermostat.www.aqua-forte.com

MICROBELIFT AUTUMN WINTER PREP AWPSPECIAL FORMULA FOR FALL AND WINTERAWP maintains your pond during the fall and winter months! Also eff ective in darker conditions, like under ice and snow. This makes AWP perfectly suitable for the last season of the year. The special formula accelerates the decomposition of leaves, sediment and other organic matter. AWP off ers even more benefi ts. It also helps to maintain a healthy immune system of your fi sh during the winter.  www.microbelift.nl

AQUAFORTE HEAT PUMPSWould you like to stabilize the temperature of your pond energy effi cient? This is possible with the new AquaForte heat pumps. These pumps will even work with outside temperatures as low as -10°C. The low-noise heat pumps are easy to install and easy to program through the control panel at the pump. www.aqua-forte.com

CONTENTS

8 GENETICSHow they may influence the future of our koi.

14 KOI BREEDERThink jumbo Yamabuki Ogon, think Izumiya.

July/August 2015

32 KOI ESSENTIALSMaster the microscope and it’s no longer a guessing game!

MARTIN SYMONDS

THIS MONTH’S CONTRIBUTORS

Mark Nuttall, editorTel: 01929 459288

Email: mark@koi-carp.comYour comments welcome at

www.koimag.co.uk

Follow us on Facebook www.facebook.com/koicarpmagazine

8 How they may influence the future of our koi.

14

PAULA REYNOLDS

KEITH HOLMES

54 MAKING RIPPLES All the latest news and views.

59 CLUB LISTINGS Comprehensive list of koi clubs in the UK.

62 BKKS UPDATE The latest news from the British Koi Keepers Society.

68 KOI SERVICES DIRECTORY A regional guide to koi businesses around the UK.

ALL YOUR FAVOURITE REGULARS:

36 HOW TO....Add extra air to your pond in the months it is most needed.

30 KOI HEALTHThe breeding season adds another dimension and need to be extra vigilant when monitoring the health of our koi.

23 QUESTIONS & ANSWERSYour questions answered on any topic.

46 REAL PONDSThere are as many different varieties of pond designs as there are koi varieties!

CRAIG BALDWIN

STEVE GIBBINS

It always amazes me how so often we completely get our priorities about face.

Hands up how many people, when starting out in the hobby, budgeted for a microscope, when working out the costs of owning koi? I would be surprised if more than 5% could legitimately raise their hands at this point.

How many had already worked out which koi they were going to buy, maybe already bought them and a friend’s looking after them, maybe before the pond was even built! I bet well over 75%.

As koi keepers we have a massive responsibility to look after the fish, keeping them happy and healthy. Every single koi keeper is going to experience health issues at some point or another, and diagnosing the problem and hence the cure is fundamental to successfully keeping koi. Early intervention can be so effective before any issue becomes out of control.

Mastering the microscope and having some knowledge of what to look for is, in my opinion as essential as having a water test kit. You would not pour treatments into your koi pond without knowing what the issues were and you can’t medicate for fish until you know the cause of the poor health.

You simply can’t keep koi successfully unless you have access to these basic tools.

...ABOUTFACE

Pg 003 Koi Contents Feb.indd 3 19/08/2015 14:02

Full details can be found by seeing

Email: info@koiwaterbarn.com Tel: 01689 878161 Fax: 01689 877554

Selected Sansai and Nisai - ID number relates to website for full details

ALL MAIN POND KOI25%OFF

ID52 ID55

ID36

ID63

ID102 ID203 ID208 ID353

ID8 ID9 ID10 ID12 ID17 ID20

ID21 ID22 ID23 ID24 ID26

ID61 ID64 ID74

ID201

ID358

ID216

Opening times - Koi Water Barn is OPEN ALL BANK HOLIDAYS 10am to 4pm

Closed Mondays - Tuesday to Saturday 8.30am to 5pm and sunday 10am to 4pm

55cm Sanke£3995

Hirasswa 60cm+ Female 3yr Benigoi£1495

50cm Tancho £2995

53cm Kohaku £3195

Momotaro 55cm Female 2yr Showa£3995

Hirasawa Sansai Karasagoi 70cm+ Female 3yr £2295

52cm Sanke£POA

50cm Kohaku£1995

55cm Sanke£2295

60cm Sanke£2295

51cm Tancho£1995

48cm Sanke£1595

53cm Sanke£1795

53cm Showa£1895

50cm Showa£1495

53cm Sanke£1895

53cm Showa£1595

57cm Sanke£POA

55cm Showa£POA

54cm Kohaku£POA

55cm Showa£1995

50cm Asagi £2995

52cm Shiro Utsuri£POA

48cm Kujako£POA

00cm Ogon£POA

FULL RANGE OF DRY GOODS ALWAYS IN STOCK PLEASE CALL FOR BEST DEALS

8 Koi Carp Magazine JULY/AUGUST2015

The Niigata prefecture was an isolated,

mountainous region that suffered from

several metres of snow cover for up to four

months of year. However, despite these

difficulties, the farmers of this prefecture were renowned for producing some of the

finest quality and highly prized rice from the shallow paddies that were chiselled from

the mountain sides.

Unfortunately, the rice based diet was

responsible for a number of dietary defi-

ciencies which led to a number of the rice

farmers and their families suffering from a

range of health problems. A small number

of traders who visited the area to buy rice

sent members of their families to live among

these farmers as a means of securing their

valuable cereal commodity.

Many of these traders were used to

consuming a common species of

freshwater fish, Cyprinis Carpio – the common carp – that inhabited the more productive lowland areas of Japan and

decided to bring a small number of this

extremely tolerant fish species along with them. Consuming these fish provided the amino acids or proteins that were lack-

ing in a rice based diet and prevented the

occurrence of many of these dietary based

diseases.

The fish were packed in barrels of wet moss and transported for many days

along the mountain tracks that led

from the productive lowlands

and into this mountain-

ous region. Despite the

harsh conditions,

the carp survived

and were

GENETICSThe chance application of genetic management techniques by Japan’s rice farmers developed our modern Koi. In the first of a two-part series, Craig Baldwin reviews the environmental and genetic factors that led to the genetics and how they may have an influence on the future of our prized Koi

stocked in small pools for the traders’ fami-lies to consume.

The rice farmers soon began to recognise

the benefits of consuming carp and began to introduce carp into their shallow, muddy

rice paddies. The fish thrived and rapidly be-

gan to reproduce and became an essential

supplement of the diet of the region.

Amazing adaptabilityThe amazing adaptability of carp meant that the farmers only had to introduce a small

number of fish into each pool where they bred successfully and, inevitably, they soon

began to interbreed with their some of their

genetic relatives. For reasons we will look

at later, this interbreeding soon led to an

increase in the number of mutations within

the resulting offspring. While many genetic

mutations can be lethal, the most common

mutations relating to carp is associated with

their colour and generally results in a red or

orange coloured fish. During the late summer or

autumn, when the

ponds where

harvested, the normal coloured fish were retained and culled for eating whereas the

brightly coloured or mutated fish were often re-introduced back into the pool to breed. The

policy of returning the coloured (or mutated)

fish and removing or killing the normal ‘dark’ coloured fish led to the pools slowly becom-

ing populated with more and more mutated

fish which, as they began to breed, led to a >

THE HUMBLEST OF BEGININGS

SubscribeTODAY!

Click Here