In reference to Chris Neaves' article-
No disrespect to Chris, but I am troubled by the complete lack of any citations of scientific literature to substantiate some of his statements.
In particular, he states "As water temperatures decline body activity decreases. At or around 12°C the koi's metabolism is reduced to the point where the immune system has virtually shut down." I question the temperature of 12C/54F being used as being the benchmark temperature. Immune function is directly related to metabolic rate. If we are to believe Chris' statement then we have to infer that the fish's metabolism has also "virtually shut down" at this temperature. He then continues by stating "Different koi have different tolerances. Some will be more affected by temperatures than others." which somewhat contradicts the previous statement and seems more of an anecdotal note.
Sadly I cannot answer you there Meyer I'm not the epert never have been I just go of what they say Chris would be the best person to ask in that area , all I dd was look at the advice of three Differing governibg bodies in the koi world as a comparison to see if their advice differed which it didnt.
As to the regional variations Meyer, may he be mearly stating that koi who are bred in differing climes , tend to react to cold at a faster or slower rate than say their Israeli cousins or Singapore, Japan, Malayisia, China and the miriad of other breeding centres supplying the koi and Garden pond industry from all around the world just to mention but a few.
A tale of one of your fellow Floridians Meyer "one day I was walking the streach of Florida coast by the US Naval Airstation Mayport Florida on a bitter cold day, when I happened upon these crazy people using canoes to surf with .
One of the guys came out of the water for a coffee and sandwich so I approached him and asked if he was crazy it being so cold and all" .
"I replied that the temperature was acctually quiite warm for that part of the year and the temperature we were surfing in was the equivulent of that of a mild British summer , true story that Meyer from my distant youth as a young sailor on his second visit to the US aboard the Capital British Ship HMS ARK ROYAL
So you see, even humans feel cold differently to others ,.
As such then it stands to reason, that koi bred in differing Regions around the world would react differently.
Have you ever had a koi that hated Soft Water ?
"We had one koi bought from Yeovil a Hard Water Area and during QT it suddenly lost all its Yellow pigmentation , the reason we later learned from the Dealer , was we have a Soft water Pond , it quite simply didnt like the water.......so if differences in waters Chemical signatures that can effect different koi in differing ways?......then surely its logical to say , that differences of temperature can also effect different koi in differing ways also and as such then surely he would be correct in saying so yes ?
popular advice is to stop feeding at 50*f, but many koi food manufactures say to merely switch to a wheatgerm food at that temp for its high digestability.. and feed down to 39*f. .. I always stopped at 50* and let the fish feed on the pond. but its always 2"-4" fish left outside. larger fish and most others winter inside in the basement pond, so these recommendations have never mattered to me anyways.
Why all of a sudden the change of advice by the food manufactureres , I know not Koiguy , we cant see a difference can you my friend ?
However if what Chris Neaves is saying is true?, are we not then wrong to feed the koi , they are our pets are they not ?.
I dont know about the US Laws Governing animals but in the UK we have a tough new set of animal welfare rules" As such we have a duty of care to our koi yes" ????
It then leaves us with a quandry who do we trust "the feed companies or koi higherarchy and who is acctually right"?
Dave
