Koilady

A pond store that sells Atlantic or Savio products will have black fish safe silicone.

Here in my Koi business where i import over 5000 Koi a year..I rarely use Mela-Fix or Pima-Fix. They just aren't a good enough treatment because they don't give very good consistent results. I have in the past used Mel-Fix on a couple Goldfish that had been attacked by a Raccoon and literally lost 80% of the scales and their fins shredded so bad they looked like hair. They were swimming somewhat ok and i always give an animal "it's chance" so i treated with salt and Mela-Fix. The repair was quite amazing! In 10 days the fins were normal and in 3 weeks, the scales were all coming back. I would never have believed it if i hadn't seen it myself. So, why do i not use it very often? Because it doesn't give consistent results and usually i can't wait (actually the fish can't) for me to find the right treatment to save it's life..time is of the essence! This is something that just happened this winter and was quite scary! I had a couple big female Koi with a bit of fin damage from the summer and another that was injured in a late breeding. I'm a firm believer that water quality is everything and the fish are quite strong and don't always need intervention. This one Koi just wasn't getting better, not worse just not progressing. So i decided to dose the entire system with Mela-Fix..nothing changed. So i switched to injections of antibiotics. Day three of injections i thought i'd put some tea tree oil from the health food store on the Koi. Once i put her back in the tank, she flipped over and was in shock and dying. Imagine my panic when a $15,000 fish is dying right before my eyes. I worked on her to try to snap her out of her shock by rubbing her and smacking her tummy. She was very wobbly but started swimming on her own..thank God! On occasion a Koi will not take the injection and go into shock..i assumed this was the case, so let her be and no more injections. A couple weeks passed and i though i'd try at least to treat it topically with the tee tree oil again. As soon as i put her back in the water..same thing as a few weeks ago..a dying fish...OMG! So, from this i take it she is sensitive to the tea tree oil...she did come back, barely..from the shock and is still alive and fine today. I have used the tea tree oil on fish before with no issue. I have used the Mela-Fix with no issue and i use it with a pretty high salt level in the water. Lesson learned..some fish..like people are sensitive to certain things. I can't imagine Mela-Fix to kill an entire population but rather the odd sensitive one. As a side note, with the salt it makes it foam more and looks like the fish are in a day spa and i love the smell..lol

Welcome!!! 180..i'd love that!

Welcome and if you want big..build a pond...lol. I'd love to live in the tropics..i'm sure i'd have an outdoor pond stocked with aquarium fish :-)

I've never heard or Agar..hmm..i'd rather do this with the Koi too. I have been using tofu but seaweed would be better. Being a vegetarian myself, i'd rather not use meat products only plant or fish. I try to keep their base diet closer to what they eat in nature and then add to that. Pretty sure my Koi and Cichlids aren't eating cow hooves in nature..lol..having said that, i'm pretty sure they aren't eating soy either :-)

Thanks everyone! They are cool..i like different stuff so they appeal to me for sure. They seem to get moved by the fish so not sure they will get a brown bottom. Apparently they can get quite big. Mine are about 2" across right now, i just hope they get enough light. My tank is bright but it's doesn't have lighting that is geared toward plant growth..guess time will tell.

Does anyone have these? I have seen them online a few times and think they look pretty cool. I found some at Petsmart in the US when i was there and bought 2 of them. They are in my Cichlid tank and seem to be doing ok. Any tips or pointers to keep them healthy?

Interesting topic! I deal with this issue of food quality and it's ingredients all the time with Koi. I guess it's a lot like finding a good dog food. Some people just won't spend more than $20 for 40 pounds of food..the argument about what's 'in" the food and why it's garbage is lost on them. With Koi, it's kinda the same thing. I personally prefer to feed an excellent product to get excellent results. So...based on this..have you guys ever made your own food for your Cichlids? I make food for my Koi all the time and i was thinking about doing it for my Cichlids. I must admit, i'm one of those kinds of aquarium people that mix all kinds of "pretty and interesting" varieties together. So far for the past few years it's worked out ok..no one has killed anyone and other than a PH crash last year, every thing's been great! If i was to make homemade food as an addition to their diet, what binding ingredient do you think would be good..gelatin or tofu..or neither? Suggestions would be great! I currently feed about 5-6 different foods like i do with my Koi. That way they get all their nutrient requirements...something for everyone...lol

Hi guys! Thank you for your kind welcome. Looking forward to meeting everyone and contributing to the group!

Thank you!!

Why don't you guys used crushed coral? I think it's better to keep your KH up, only thing i did notice was i had a low salt level. Sat about .2% (point 2) then with regular water changes it's stayed down to pretty much nothing but my KH doesn't shift like it used to. I also have lots of stacked chunks of mountain coral and wood for everyone to hide in.

Hi everyone!! Just wanted to introduce myself. My name is Dayleen and i own Okanagan Koi in Kelowna BC. I have been a pond hobbyist for 25 years and a business owner since 1999. Obviously Koi are my thing but i also love Cichlids and i'm an avid scuba diver and especially like shark dives and cave diving. I'm on Facebook with Okanagan Koi and I have a web site, not sure if i'm allowed to post it here so i'll let you figure it out...lol