“Koi Health and Welfare is not a ‘clip-on’ to your hobby of Koi Keeping, something you start to think about when your first fish seems to be behaving strangely. By then, its far too late”.
“Koi Health & Welfare must start from the time you first think about your new pond. It must be an integral part of your planning, design, filtration, materials, construction, water & air supplies, the stocking, the environmental conditions, quarantine facilities and your planned maintenance regime. Get all this right (which none of us rarely manage), then you will have reached the goal that all of us Koi Keepers strive to achieve and you should have a relatively ‘trouble-free’ experience.”
Rod, Gerry & Dave from ‘Healthy Koi’ will be undertaking the usual Autumn Health Seminar at their local Koi Club – the South Hants Koi Club. At the Seminar, they will look at aspects such as how to tell if your Koi is unwell, the water supply, testing, the ‘medicine chest’ & medication, stages of anesthesia, topical treatment, bowling up & lifting, feeding, water quality problems, diagnostics & parasite identification/ microscopy. They will also talk about the latest detection advances and some of the most common problems we have encountered throughout the UK this year.
Following the discussion, there will be hands-on practical work where you can take mucus scrapes (under guidance) and use the microscope for parasitic identification. They also want you to have a go at anesthising a Koi and topical treat any wounds requiring attention, under of course, strict supervision. In all cases, the welfare of the Koi will be paramount. The amount of practical work will depend on the number of unwell Koi available on the day.
Although this talk was previously aimed at South Hants Club members who are new to Koi Keeping, the scope has been widened which should be interesting to all those who are more experienced.
The South Hants Koi Club always welcomes prospective new members to their events. Should any non-members wish to attend, please could you phone us on 01243 572762 in advance as numbers are strictly limited and the South Hants members will have priority. There will be a charge of £10.00 per person to help cover the costs of the venue and refreshments.
Rod & Gerry Isted
