Koi Intro

We're at one of our ponds and this is one
of our best ponds. It has quite a few

plants growing and emerging out of it. But
it's large enough that many of the animals

use it as a water source. So, our deer
drink here, we occasionally find snakes

along the banks, our red-winged black
birds nest here, our crows- you can hear-

come here as well. But we have a problem,
we have mosquito larva. It's cold, it's

October, we're getting down to freezing at
night but the larva are still surviving in

the water. Occasionally the adults are
emerging on warm days and we're not

trying to raise mosquito's. So, we're adding
a fish to the pond, a type of fish. It's

not a native species, which I wouldn't
normally do. But in this case it's a native

species that has not been invasive into
our region. It's a type of fish that we've

enjoyed having in the past. Let's see if I
can scan here. They're getting ready to go

in; it's koi. I know we have quite a bit
of reflection on the water. I'm going to

go close, but they're a little skittish
so they may swim away. It's hard to see

them, but we have four in here. We have
the one that kind of stands out in the

middle there, the white with splotches of
red or reddish orange, that's a kohaku.

That's a very characteristic type of koi.
There are two to the left that are gold

with black spots, those two are bekkos.
They may grow up and lose the black but I

think that they're probably going to keep
it. On the right holding very very still,

I know it's hard to see with the water
reflection, but that's acari muji. Which

is basically a all one color, in this case
gold. So, I got these, I'll see if I can

get a side view of the tank without
scaring them. They're acclimating to the

water temperature right now and it takes
them some time. I got them at a local pet

store, kind of a chain pet store. You can't
really see them there. They were in

mistakenly with the goldfish, so I scored
a great deal. But they did have a parasite-

ick. So, I've had them in captivity for a
few weeks, kind of making sure they got

larger. I treated them with a little bit
of salty water, some formalin and

malachite which you have to be very careful
handling and dosing. But it worked, it got

rid of the ick, at least visibly. They're
breathing well, they're eating a lot. I've

already been training them eating mosquito
larva. We're going to put them in as soon

as they acclimate. Adding water in from
the pond, the tank sitting in the water.

Soon they'll be ready to go.