Sunday 13th January 2008
On Sundays through the colder months although I still have to go to the farm, I tend to take it a little easy. I just do the standard daily chores and then spend time with the koi. Everyday I set aside time for koi viewing, I consider this a most important exercise and believe it is a practice every koi keeper should do.
This is not just time spent looking at the koi, it should be carried out in several ways and is a vital way of ensuring your koi are healthy. I think of myself as the farmer, leaning on his gate looking at the sheep. He's not wasting his time, but instead he's looking for problems.
When looking at your koi, first stand well back and make sure the koi do not see you. This is important and is the best way to check the health of your koi. They should be active all the time and not still for long, check out for any koi which are head down.
As soon as your koi see you, they will be heads up and looking for food and at that point you will have missed any chance of spotting the early warning signs, but this is a good time to check up close for any signs of heavy mucous or damage.
If you follow these steps, problems with koi are far easier to deal with if you catch them early on before they really look sick.