Random Koi Notes

Note I redid this so the newest posts are at the top.

7/8/07- Well it's been a long time since I updated this. Since January I have been fighting problems in both ponds due to excess copper and zinc in the water. I must say this has not been an easy year thus far. Anyway check that story out under Koi Info.

1/30/07- Ok well it isn't a warm winter anymore. Earlier this week I lost my goshiki. Not sure what happened as she just floated to the surface when I had the pump off on the main pond. The water was green so I had no idea there was a problem. Want to know why I had the pump? Replacing the uv light so the water would clear. Day late and a dollar short. Omosako motoguro koi are doing well in inside. Lots of promise for those little guys. The experiment seems to be a hit with many people at Koi-bito so hopefully it will be a good learning experience for everyone. I'll be updating the pics of them next week. I've been giving them some time to settle in and de-stress from the shipping.

1/15/07- I really need to update this more often...It's been a warm winter thus far. Hell it was almost 70 today when it should be in the 30-40 range. I'm not complaining but the koi sure are confused. Getting ready to get started another long experiment. This time it's all about motoguro. See the experiment section. Lets see...what else. Looks like the first event of the year will be a ZNA Potomac trip to Quality Koi in march. Not sure what else in on the agenda for the year. We'll see how it goes. :)

11/25/06- Wow its been a whole year since I started the random notes section. Been a heck of year huh? So anyway the heron seems to be gone. Lost my best kohaku and sanke to it :(.  In case you are wondering where the Quality Koi pics are...don't worry I will post them. I just want to see which ones Brian at Koi-bito will be using first. Speaking of Koi-bito...if you found this website by clicking on my link in my sig there, how about signing for Bito and do some posting? We don't bite. If you found this site by clicking on the link in my sig on another web forum well hey go over to Bito and post there as well. Nobody ever said you could only post at one koi forum.

10/11/06- I haven't seen a heron in a long time but one came today. It got my best little kohaku....Man am I pissed!!!!!!!!

10/2/06- Wow what a month this is going to be! Just got back from the Allentown. Next weekend I hope to pull the mudpond for the mudpond project. On the 22nd I'm going to the ZNA Potomac pond tour. The final weekend of the month I will be headed to Jersey for the Quality Koi mud pond pull. Busy month! Tell you all about though as we go!

9/24/06- Been awhile since I added any notes so I thought I would go ahead and put something here. The ponds did real well over the summer and I will be pulling the mudpond soon. I joined ZNA Potomac and volunteered to be there webmaster so I have that site to update now as well. Actually I had to build it from scratch. It's getting there. I've added a link to it in my links section. Lets see awhile back I added some shots of my small pond that includes my Nexus install. It's working really well!! Show next weekend in Allentown. As usual I will post pics when I get back. Thats it for now.

6/8/06- Just got my 4 koi in from CA that have been there since ABAKS. I also replaced the UV and added a sheet of Matala to one of my DIY filters.

5/29/06- Been awhile since I updated this. Been really busy this spring. I put shades over both ponds. Been fine tuning the settlement in the larger pond. Unfortunately the young koi show was cancelled so all that work conditioning koi for that show went right out the window. Oh well there is always the ZNA show in September (if it doesn't get cancelled that is). Project Mudpond is under way. Check out the link to it under experiments.

 4/9/06- Spring is here and I have been way busy. First show of the year for me was ABAKS. What a great show. Anyway I'll update this more later!

2/12/06- The weather is back to being cold, in fact it even snowed (see my special section on that). The koi inside are doing well. I had a problem with flukes that cost me dearly but that is all resolved now. Can't wait til spring!!!!

1/22/06- Alot of controversy over the GC of this years All Japan. Still I wish I could have been there.

Weather has really been strange lately. We had super high winds the other day that destroyed my greenhouse covering one of the ponds. I was going to write that up on the site but maybe not until next year when I redo it.

Added another "Koi in action" page. Look under "My Koi" to find that.

1/3/06- Been almost a month since I updated this. In that time I became a mod at Koi-Bito. Takes some time to mod a forum but its fun and its not like its anything new for me since I have been mod'ing a Chevelle board for years.

Got the dome for the smaller pond completed the other day sort of. It's not like I really wanted but it will do for this winter. Next winter I will take a different approach.

Added a pond section to the site.

12/8/05- The board wars rage on. So stupid.

Gonna get a bunch of snow tonight. Hopefully it will melt by Sunday and I can finish my hoop house for the small koi pond. Thanks Mickey for the email. The pics really helped me see where I have been going wrong :).

Updated DVD reviews.

12/3/05- What to say....For those of you that follow along with the drama on the web forums it has been a drama filled few days. A real shame cause its just gonna get stupider from here on out.

Did a water change on indoor QTank. Oh yeah the koi from Socal arrived last wed.

Watched a couple more koi dvds. New reviews coming soon!

11/26/2005- Thanksgiving was a couple days ago. That was real fun...not. After enjoying a fantastic meal I went out to check the ponds, like I usually do, and low and behold the smaller ponds level was off by a foot and the pump was not running! Seems a piece of PVC busted off of my bubblebead filter and spilled a couple hundred gallons of water. Fortunately I have a shutoff switch that works and it shut the pumps down. If you don't have one..GET ONE!

Did a bunch of work on greenhouse. Tape doesn't work well with plastic. Off tomorrow to search for better clamps. When I finally get it done I will post pics under experiments or maybe a new section who knows.

11/23/2005- Man what a great weekend I had in Socal at the Koi Kichi Show! My koi won best in size 3, best in variety:tancho, 1st place size 1 sanke, first place size 4 goshiki and 2nd place size 3 showa. What a blast. Big thanks to everyone at the show and all my buddies I hung out with all weekend...you guys know who you are! :)

Greenhouse is kinda stalled. I hope to work on it tomorrow. Unfortunately for me life got in the way so I had to put it off to take care of more important things.

I hate snow. It's snowing right now. Sigh.

Hopefully my koi will come back from Socal next week and then they will go into the Q Tank for winter. Pay attention newbies!!! You need a Q tank!!!

11/11/2005- Moved some of my better koi today to my smaller pond. I'm going to cover it with a greenhouse made from plastic and pvc to try to keep it warmer this winter. You can see updated pics elsewhere on the site.

Bakki Showers- Ok so mine doesn't use the BH media but it works and I love it. I really don't know what the big deal is on all the forums. People that own them really seem to like them. Who cares about FIR? I don't.

Koi varieties- Do yourself a favor and become an expert in one or two instead of trying to have them all. Trust me I should know.

11/5/05-It seems that alot of you really liked my notes section in the Bakki Experiment. How do I know that you ask? Because I got lots of email about it. So I decided to do this notes section with some random thoughts about Koi and ponds. Nothing special but I thought I would go ahead and put it on the site. Warning: These are my opinions and nobody else's.

Rock bottomed ponds- Strangely enough I've received a few emails regarding these. So to save you the hassle of emailing me here is what I think. If you want koi then get rid of the rocks. If you want to keep the rocks then stick with Goldfish...you can buy Goldfish for like 10 for a $1 so when they die because you don't clean your rocks its not a great monetary loss.

Bottom drains- You went through all the trouble of digging a big hole for a pond why wouldn't you use them? Think of your pond like a big toilet that the koi swim in. If you built it right then the crap goes down the drain. With no drain the koi just swim around in their crap.

KoiUSA Magazine-  I bet the American Kennel Club doesn't have articles about cats in their magazine so why do I have to suffer through all those non Koi related articles in a Koi magazine?

Koi Forums- Can't we all just get along?

If you are wondering what my idea of the perfect koi pond is- 20,000 US gallons, inside a greenhouse, no water plants.

Looking forward to the Koi Kichi Show. 2 more weeks.

More notes to come so be patient. :)