If this, then that... My morning rant

[Lisak1]

I stumbled on this video this morning - very pretty water feature build from June 2020 - but I see they've tagged the video #koi and think "oh please no... NOT a koi pond!"

They do indeed introduce a number of koi into the water feature - a "4 in 1 Pond filtering system" (basically a fountain with a basket on it), a few floating hyacinths, and he says in the comments they "waited a week and tested the water" when someone expresses concern that they put fish into an un-cycled pond... zero hope for these pretty fish.

So I poke around a bit on their channel and, shocker - here's the video they posted a few months later:

Essentially all their fish have ulcers by this point. "How did this happen" they ask? They attribute it to "we didn't quarantine new fish!" (They added MORE fish? It's hard to count in the first video but there had to be at least 10-12 fish originally.) So he then goes into a demonstration on how to give a salt bath to fish with ulcers, how to do a scrape and how to treat ulcers with medication... he mentions water quality being critical to fish health, but doesn't seem to apply it to their pond situation.

I'm not picking on this particular YouTuber - this is just an example of what I see ALL THE TIME on the internet. People watch these videos, fall in love with the idea, and make the same mistakes. It's sad for the fish but it's also sad for people who get into ponding this way and will become very discouraged when they constantly have sickly fish.

Thanks for coming to my TedTalk.

P.S. Oh look - he built and EVEN SMALLER POND and put koi in that one, too! And shares the importance of adding salt to your pond... sigh.

 

[brokensword]

thing is, if those that know don't put out videos and market them a bit, then the clueless will continue to entertain the newbie idea of what a pond makes. But, this happens in almost any venue where those with 'half knowledge are the most dangerous' in more ways than one. What's that statement? 'Stupid is as stupid does'? I don't think you should have any problem 'picking on a particular youtuber' as you're looking out for the innocence of nature. Then again, think about it; we send our kids to a driving school/class and then give them a license. We don't do anything when our kids want to get married (those that do). Course, by this time, they're old enough to know they know everything, right?

Okay, Lisa, now see what you did? Got in my own personal rant! Well, I at least echo your thoughts!

 

[Lisak1]

Haha! The internet - and the world in general I suppose! - is kind of the Wild, Wild West right now - buyer (or reader) beware! Luckily this particular channel has very limited viewership right now. I may go back and share some helpful tips!

 

[JamieB]

Please do. If those that do know more don’t inform those that need to know, then countless fish lives will be lost. If the one who posted the video doesn’t read your comments , perhaps someone who’s interested in trying the same thing will, and your comments may save them from a bad mistake

 

[Mmathis]

It seems that when you say “pond,” a lot of folks automatically think “koi pond.” When I tell people I have a pond, they reply with, “Oh, you have a koi pond!” No, I have a GOLDFISH / GARDEN POND! It’s like “Kleenex” is a brand of tissue, but the name is used interchangeably. For some reason no one knows that there ARE other types of ponds, and some of those ponds are meant for SMALLER fishies, not giant koi!

It’s just amazing how the public is mislead by “advertising.” And sadly, they are going to believe what they choose to believe, “because they saw it in a YouTube video,” without ever doing their own research to understand the science behind anything.

Do y’all remember the chick from Louisiana (yes, my great state) who was all over the media because she thought it would be OK to use GORILLA GLUE instead of hair gel? Gotta wonder how many dumb__s people have since tried it. No common sense at all!

 

[TheFishGuy]

I will chime in quickly, the thing that I find most problematic about this, is the how to names in their videos, as an internet user myself, when I see the name "how to" or similar I generally assume they are experts, not people doing something for the first time who have absolutely no idea what they are doing.

( though I will say don't get information from the hashtags, even I tend to use many slightly relevant hashtags on things like youtube as it really pushes the videos out to a wider audience )


and in my opinion, the worst part is that stock music they slapped over the whole thing, at least use something that matches the theme, like bloody horror film music in this case to match how the fish feel about the size of their pond.

 

[Lisak1]

@TheFishGuy - exactly! If you watch the second video, it's interspersed with these "informational" slides about salt baths and so on, with "we recommend" and "here's how you do this" kind of advice - with no citing the source of the information at all. At least link to some sources so I can go check them out for myself. In the 3rd video I posted, of the even tinier pond build, they have a "koi stocking advice" slide that gives the old 1 inch per 10 gallons of water aquarium advice. Where are all those fact checkers when we need them!

 

[BKHpondcritters]

Wow. Well, I couldn't get through more than one & a half of the posted videos before I just shut down & could not watch anything more. I (sadly) remember being in such an uninformed position a couple of decades ago & thought you could put koi into whatever side water feature you had at your disposal, without any negative repercussions. Live & learn, as they say. Unfortunately it's us humans who go on to 'live' after we learn, while the fish put into totally inappropriate conditions who are forced to 'live' (and most likely will not actually 'live') Ugg.... Mostly I hate the advancements in social media. Some of it is good, but most of it is really bad ("It was on the internet so it has to be true")

 

[GBBUDD]

What I don't get is in this day and age all the information that is available you tube google. How people keep spending so much time and energy on the concrete or even rubber trough.
Throwing a sponge or a net in the filter thinking they can keep mother nature at bay.

 

[GBBUDD]

@TheFishGuy - exactly! If you watch the second video, it's interspersed with these "informational" slides about salt baths and so on, with "we recommend" and "here's how you do this" kind of advice - with no citing the source of the information at all. At least link to some sources so I can go check them out for myself. In the 3rd video I posted, of the even tinier pond build, they have a "koi stocking advice" slide that gives the old 1 inch per 10 gallons of water aquarium advice. Where are all those fact checkers when we need them!

That's where buyer beware comes to play. We all know the internet has all kinds of advice and experts or at least in there own mind. You never know how or who is giving the advice. Like myself I'm no marine biologist but I have kept fish for many years in many ways. It's just my opinion. So of those opinions are from people first attempts or an old school poor method or even someone with a GREAT IDEA that has no merit. The fish always loose.

 

[GBBUDD]

Haha! The internet - and the world in general I suppose! - is kind of the Wild, Wild West right now - buyer (or reader) beware! Luckily this particular channel has very limited viewership right now. I may go back and share some helpful tips!

As you know I am still relatively new to ponding. But being the stubborn guy I am I love to build and create habitat. Which speaking of is almost DONE. Pics and videos to come soon.

 

[Lisak1]

It's so frustrating to me that people can just walk into a fish store and buy a dozen koi and no one says "oh hey! How's your 5000 GALLON POND coming along? What's that you say... you only have 500 gallons? Well let's go look at a couple of goldfish... " These are the people who could be doing some educating, instead of just slamming the till closed and counting the money at the end of the day.

We all know the internet has all kinds of advice and experts

A former colleague of mine loves to tell the story of the early days of the internet when he was writing for his masters degree and he found a "great" piece of research on his topic so he used it and quoted from it heavily in his paper. Turns out it was written by a twelve year old kid who just copied and pasted all of it from other sources. It's funny now... not so funny then!

 

[GBBUDD]

Exactly.

 

[Bluerooster]

Bad information is not limited to ponds. I've seen many YT videos that attempt to show "how it's done", but simple common sense tells me that it's not right. Now when I see one that shows a different way, that works, well, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Mabe we should attempt to assist these folks who are putting out dis-information so that they can succeed.

 

[Mmathis]

Bad information is not limited to ponds. I've seen many YT videos that attempt to show "how it's done", but simple common sense tells me that it's not right. Now when I see one that shows a different way, that works, well, there's more than one way to skin a cat.

Mabe we should attempt to assist these folks who are putting out dis-information so that they can succeed.

So true! When I first joined GPF, one of the first lessons I learned and took to heart was that there are different ways of doing things and everyone has an opinion — but that not every “opinion” has a basis in science, reality, or practicality! I quickly learned that you need to do your own research. You really need to understand the SCIENCE behind the hobby. I may not understand the nitrogen cycle on the purely molecular level, but I know enough to use my brain to figure things out! Just ‘cause something is pretty, doesn’t make it right.