250 Showa Koi Fry

[ed2]

Hi guys,

I apologise, it's been a while since I've had chance to get on here to give an update to my progress. Sadly, I've been doing a lot of university essay work over the last week so I haven't been able to get the photos sorted before now.

So, firstly, the bad news. I found a dead fry this morning on the bottom. It had been completely stripped to the bone by the other fish so I'm not sure how long it had been dead for and have no idea of the cause? I did retest all the levels and they were fine this morning. The other bit of annoying news is that I started to try to wean the fry onto some high protein fry granules/crumb today and my ammonia levels have shot through the roof! I've used ammolock and I've done a 15% water change, which has reduced the ammonia back to untraceable levels. But as you can guess, this is a bit frustrating for me!

The other thing that is a tad frustrating is that I've spent an age (and a small fortune!) getting my water up to 25 degrees celsius. Now, it won't stop going up!! lol!

Ok, so I have adapted the set up in a few ways and made amendments and additions in order to get things right. The first biggy was that my pressurised filter decided to blow an O ring seal and it leaked all over the place - behind my wardrobes, under my desk, under my bed... I woke in the morning and thought I'd accidentally stepped into the actual paddling pool! lol! So to fix that, I just simply placed it gently inside the actual pool and now it just leaks gently back into the pool rather than all over my floor! It really isn't worth any investment to fix this as it is so old and destroyed anyway!!

I have also added a 400W aquarium heater to the pool. I have lay this inside a cat litter tray which I have sunk to the bottom of the pool. The heater element gets very hot and I was concerned that this could weaken or melt the bottom of the paddling pool, so I decided to take this small precaution! The heater seems to be holding the water temperature well at the moment but I am experimenting by gradually lowering the room temperature (this morning before the aquarium heater went in my bedroom was 38 degrees celcius ) and seeing how well the pool can sustain the temperature with the heater in it. I'm guessing that I could safely bring my room temperature down to 25 degrees?

Another thing I've changed is I've added a total of 5 air stones pumping 40lpm into the pool. I have placed the airstones staggered throughout the pond to help to circulate the water and to oxygenate it more efficiently. The fry certainly seem more active now!

I decided that my original idea to hatch brine shrimp in a breakfast cereal tub wasn't such a great one for removing the hatched shrimp, so I found a new method online. I simply got 4 x 2 litre water bottles. I cut two in half and the other two about a third away from the base. The two bottoms from the half bottles form the base for the hatchery. I then got myself a couple of cocktail pouring/salad dressing bottle stops/pourers and passed the airline through these. I used a silicone sealant to seal the airline/cap. I stood the two 2/3 bottles upside down in the 'stands' and set an air pump going on both. When the shrimp hatch, I just clamp the airline near to the bottle with a pair of forceps and then leave to stand for 5-10 minutes. I then just release the forceps and let the gravity pour the shrimp containing water through the airline into a clear plastic bowl, which I set on top of a vivarium heat mat to keep warm.

I decided that I wanted to make myself a trickle shower for the pool too, again to further aid with aeration. This was a bit of an experiment more than anything else but it worked quite well!

I bought myself a 4 tier storage drawer unit from Poundstretcher for £12.99.

I took each drawer out one by one and turned it upside down. I heated a stainless steel fork over the gas hob (very carefully!) and used the burning hot forks to simply melt through the base of the drawers. This took about 2 hours to do all of the holes in the four drawers, but I didn't mind too much as it is fishy and anything fishy I can do! (I just wish I had such enthusiasm about my degree!! ) I then just passed the outlet pipe from the filter through the side of the top drawer and hey presto. I'm not sure really what I wanted it to do, but it is certainly aerating the water and I have put sponge/scourers in the trays to try to breed some beneficial bacteria - advise on this would be appreciated!

This picture shows how the water is raining through the drawers:

This picture shows all of the new additions I mentioned:

And finally, the fry seem healthy and happy! All are swimming around and are constantly pecking away at the brine shrimp on the bottom! There are copious amounts of shrimp for them to eat in there. I have been overfeeding the brine shrimp but of course I do need to disperse quite a lot of them to ensure all the fish get some, with it being a very large pool. The filter seems to be handling it fine, although I have cut right back on the shrimp today as I want them to have a reason to try eating the crumb food!

The fry don't seem to have grown much to me, but here is a picture of them anyway! Please bare in mind that they are a foot deep in the water!

Thanks for reading

 

[j.w]

Well you have been busy trying to keep them fat and sassy. Looks like it is paying off cuz they are still surviving. What a surprise waking up to a flood. Glad you were able to figure out all the tweaks to make them comfy. Neat idea w/ the drawers and the brine shrimp concocter! How long do you have to keep all this up? And how old are they now? Never seen anything like this setup but it is working good!

 

[addy1]

Very nice and inventive! great job

 

[ed2]

Thanks for the compliments It is a bit bizarre I must admit, but it is hopefully working ok! I had a foul smell in my room today when I returned and it took me forever to work out where it was coming from... then I found it.. a pint jar which my 'assistant' (my house mate who has actually taken such a strong interest that I frequently find him in my bedroom cleaning the pool, feeding the fish, harvesting brine shrimp or doing water changes and tests!!) had left on top of my wardrobe after cleaning debris from the bottom of the pool into it that was pretty vile! It had been there about a week I'd guess and was nicely decomposed and stinky. Needless to say it all went in the glass bin outside lol.

I have actually got some videos just of the fish feeding. It isn't the most exciting but when I get them on YouTube I'll post a link mainly so you can see the noise I am sleeping in at night! I am keeping them here for another 3 weeks and then they are going back home. They are 4 weeks old now

 

[ed2]

Sorry guys, the video was made on my iPhone and it has stayed portrait instead of landscape... does anybody know how to edit this??

Anyway, it still shows the set up working and some of the fry and the noise

 

[ed2]

Right, I finally got fed up with doing water changes using a bucket and so I've adapted my set up a little bit more. The first thing I have done is made an extension pipe so that I can simply disconnect the pump from the filter and then push the two pipes together and pump water out of the pool and into the little plant bed outside my front window... I have also bought myself a hosepipe. The only problem with this is that I had to get the water to the correct temperature for adding it to the pool, so that meant the only water source I could connect it to was my shower. Upstairs. At the opposite end of the house!

I swear despite their lenience so far, they must be getting close to losing their tempers?! Just to really annoy them I decided to attach the shower head to the end of the hose and coil all 15 metres up in the shower Oh I LOVE being at university


On a serious note - How many water changes and what volume would you recommend on a daily basis? It isn't that my filter isn't handling it but of course there is a lot of ammonia going in and thus a lot of nitrates coming out so I want to neutralise everything as much as possible.... I read some research yesterday that indicated the skin development of the koi can be effected by raised levels of nitrates so whilst not toxic like ammonia and nitrite, it is still harmful to the fish's development. I want to avoid this!!

Also, do I need to use dechlorinator every water change if I change a smaller volume? I will if I have to but this is getting expensive as you'll understand I'm sure!


Thanks,

Ed

 

[j.w]

I had to laugh when I read the part about the hose hooked up to the shower! This gets more entertaining as it goes on but seems to be working quite well. I think you still have to use the dechlorinater unless you leave the water sit I think about 24hrs but not sure as I only have well water. Somebody else will help you on this whenever they read it. So how you gonna transport all those little fishies and how far do they have to travel to get to your home away from school? Do you have a place all set up and ready for them there? I wish you the best of luck and keep on updating their progress as I really am enjoying this thread!

 

[ed2]

It is quite funny to be showering through a hose pipe lol!

I'm going to be moving the fish in another 3-4 weeks time when hopefully they will be a bit more hardy. I'm going to put them in a large bag or two with brine shrimp in it for them, put them in a box and transport the fish carefully home. I do have oxygen to transport them and it's a 90 minute drive. I think they should be ok, they managed an overnight courier journey at 2-3 weeks old!

Ok so when I get them home.... I haven't yet had the opportunity to set them up a home. I have two options... one is to take them home with the pool, set the pool up on the decking/patio next to the pond and to fill the pool straight from the pond filter. It will be very easy to fill the pool from the filter outlet and it is good quality water but has also gone very green - lots of food for them!!

The other option is to buy another cheap pool and fill this with water from the hose this weekend and leave it for a month to go nice and green ready for my return. The ONLY differences I can forsee are that by using a new pool I will be able to establish the water and keep it isolated from the pond. However, the downside to putting them in the pond water would be any parasites, although my fish seem in very good health! I could get a scrape taken to an aquatics centre though for analysis first.

I could also combine the two? I could leave water to go green in a new pool, bring the fish home and put them in this. I could then fill my current paddling pool and leave this with the filter running overnight to re-establish itself (theres LOADS of mature bacteria in the pool and filter now I think, and the pond water should sustain this? I'll transport the media home in pond water to keep it submerged with some turbulance.

What I am considering is splitting the best fish into one pool for raising and selling on, then I would put the slightly less quality ones to grow on in my established pond to grow on, and the ones I plan to give away (that could surprise me?!) in another pond. This way I have spread them out to allow growth, I have them all looked after and can do easy water changes of 10%/day in the pond, and then use this water to change the water in the two pools... Or alternatively leave the fish out of the pond to keep the levels perfect, then just pump fresh water from the filter outlet and into the pools to do daily water changes, and then top up the pond to the correct level - thus the pools get their water change daily and so does the pond!

Oh the possibilities are endless! Feelings on this guys???

 

[ed2]

Hello all,

I have yet again decided to procrastinate by going to the local aquatics store and buying some new bits and pieces. I have made a few additions.

I have added 4kg of alfagrog media to the trickle shower which isn't all that exciting but I am using filter boost bacteria and the media that was already in there to help to build it up more quickly.

Another thing I have added is a home made bottom drain. I melted the bottom of a plastic bowl using a heated kitchen spoon, and slowly made this large enough to use the thread of the pond hose to screw it through the base. I then added a net, which was just a section of a net curtain like you hang on your windows, to prevent the fish getting too close to the pump. I sat it lip side down and weighted it by adding a few alfagrog stones in tights to hold it on the bottom. It is really working well to draw the crud off the bottom!

I have also added a few plants into the pond now for the fish to nosey around in and to have a bit of a natural hiding place

So, another productive day in fish keeping. I really should concentrate on my degree....

Ed

 

[j.w]

All good ideas Ed. I think I like the idea of transporting some of the bacteria media from your current pool into the new pool set up so that you will be sure it is using the same conditions they were in at the university site. I like that new crud sucker thingamabob you made and the fish will love the plants. Wonder if they can nibble on them yet? My goldfish love that Anacharis plant!

Yes you should work on your degree some..................keep up your grades!

 

[ed2]

I only have 3 essays left and to be fair I have done 5000 words this week but I will get back on with it tomorrow I think!

The fry are doing well..: they are taking pellet crumb off the surface and eating a heck of a lot! It's getting expensive to keep them fed lol! Seriously though, they are eating a lot... They now have brine shrimp added regularly, high protein pellet crumb, salmon paste as a treat and orange segments floating too which they seem to really like

Ed

 

[j.w]

Geez I bet they eat better than you do ed..........being a student and all,lol!
Go eat your pizza and finish your essays now

 

[ed2]

Haha up bright and early (by student standards at least - 10.30am) to feed the fish, do a water change and to crack on writing some more about pharmacology and pharmacokinetics :/ lol

 

[thematt311]

If u add a current they will grow faster Nd poo less not to much current but keep them moving so they use all the food to grow and not just turn it all into waste just my 2 cents at some point u wiill have to do something about the unwanted fry they always end up being the ones tht eat the mot in my opinion good luck

 

[ed2]

Thanks for the info again Matt, it's appreciated. how are yours getting on?

I have seen a massive development in the last couple of days... The bacteria have really seemed I establish now because my water changes are becoming far less frequent. Since I added the trickle tower with Alfagrog a few days ago and seeded them with some mature media the fish have become loads more active?! I have also settled the temperature at 23 Celsius and got them started on pellet crumb. Since this and the addition of the plants their activity level has gone through the roof. It is probably more of a coincidence though since they have recently becoming fully developed in terms of their anatomy and physiology! Now all they do is eat and swim constantly.

As for the turbulence, I have 5 air stones which form 5 areas of turbulence for the fish, along with 3000lph being taken in one end and pumped out through the trickle tower at the other - there are no static areas for them to rest or lie dormant!

Ed