Dr Erik Johnson - Veterinarian
Companion Animal & Fish Health
Inherited a Koi Pond III We are not going to talk about viruses at this point, you just inherited a pond you have plenty to worry about. But you should know that there is a virus that can kill all of your fish in under a week if you don’t prevent it with quarantine. It’s … Read more
“I’m going to break down, and sterilize the tank, gravel and plants.” It’s promised often and it’s USUALLY unnecessary. Sterilization of Environments is suggested as “The Way” to prevent diseases. This is widely advocated at the retail and wholesale level. They logically feel that a sterile environment is preferable to one that might harbor a … Read more
Cruel or Cool? The Fish Bowl The two-gallon fish bowl is ubiquitous in our society and has seen the residence of literally billions of Koi, goldfish and pond fish. I would estimate that almost all of us have had a two-gallon fish bowl. The original fish is usually some hapless Comet Koi, goldfish and pond … Read more
You should be aware that in the normal scheme of things, phosphates cause algae to flourish. As such, phosphates became ‘the enemy’ to marketing weasels who would have you believe that algae are the bane of our existence. Phosphates are not considered overtly harmful to fish in naturally occurring amounts. Phosphate removers will attempt to … Read more
What Is In Each Video? Table of Contents: Twenty Koi Health Video Tutorial Handling Stress -Have the fish been handled recently? Why that matters. Winter Stress -Temperature. Is it winter? Summer? Why that matters Feeding or Underfeeding – Feeding and Underfeeding. Why that matters. Ammonia Toxicity -Ammonia and it’s super common, why it matters and … Read more
Many Goldfish keepers are unaware that the highly selected Asian “carps” are very well suited for warmer waters. Ranchus, Orandas, Bubble eyes, etc all do better in heated systems, e.g. 74-78 degrees at a minimum, which *might* mandate a heater, especially during the winter. The problems you can encounter with Goldfish kept too cool include: … Read more
Winter in the mountains of Niigata are cold. Some Wintertime Koi Management Considerations Winterizing Koi and Wintertime Koi Care – by Doc Johnson This is the time of year that we consider our Koi as being “dead asleep” and we do not worry too much about them because water temperatures are so cool that parasites and … Read more
Bil Wight’s Paste Food for Koi and Pond Fish Some ingredients, like the seaweed flour, can be difficult to obtain, but if you persist, you can get lucky. when I bought the flour for the first time, because the animal feeds dealer had to buy a 25 kilo sack, which no-one else wanted, I bought … Read more
Levamisole can be added to the diet at 0.1% of the amount and fed for 7 days for removal of nematodes. So if you used one pound of food – you’d want 450mg to 500mg of Levamisole in that food. Or, ON IT – you can crush up Levamisole and put it ON a food … Read more
This post concerns ‘How To Care For a Brand New Fish Straight From The Pet Store or Pond Shop’ and represents a simple, one page download that will ensure your success when you buy a new fish. How to take it home, what to do when you get there, how to prevent the introduction of … Read more
Abstract: Changing water all the time, continuously, is easier than dump type water changes. It’s better for the fish because the water quality remains constant. Constantly good. Chlorine and Chloramine are not a problem because in any given hour, about 0.5% of the water will be “new”. Read on…. Water changes can be a total … Read more