Medicated food for winter maintenance

[Pondmaster]

Do you feed your Koi with medicated food, as a preventative. because winter is approaching?

 

[carolinaguy]

medicated food isn't necessary for winter preparation. it's also not that great as a medication unless you make your own. the standard medicated food is still run through a heat treatment extruder to solidify the pellets, and heat damages antibiotics.

we use the Dr Johnson bed down method, and it works great for us. i'm not a salt fan, so we also use malachite green and formalin as part of the preparation to lower the bug population. that just helps koi resist parasitic and bacterial stresses between 62 and 48 degrees where their immunity is weakened but the bugs still thrive. if you add medicated food in that temperature range, its a waste of time, because a medicated food is intended to help the immune system, but in that range, there is no active immune system in a koi. we have been using medzyme as a competitive treatment too, and i think it helps but can't prove the case. once the water gets below 48 degrees on the bottom the bacterial problem goes away for the season, and you should be okay.

 

[DrDave]

No food below 50 degrees F. Koi cannot digest it and it rots in their stomach.

 

[Pondmaster]

No food below 50 degrees F. Koi cannot digest it and it rots in their stomach.

I understand that, it wasn't my question.

 

[Pondmaster]

Carolinaguy, Thanks helpful indeed!

Could you give us a link to this Dr Johnson's bed down method. I'm not a salt fan either by the way, never have used it.

 

[carolinaguy]

No food below 50 degrees F. Koi cannot digest it and it rots in their stomach.

Dr Dave's point is the most important one concerning feeding during the winter months. thanks for covering that Dr Dave.

koi guts have bacteria similar to ours that aids in digestion just as ours does. since koi are poikilothermic, cold blooded, their bodies register the same temperature as their surroundings, and the bacteria in their guts becomes dormant just as parasitic and opportunistic bacteria does below 48 degrees. food rot is a real problem, especially during the spring warm up where this food can become the breeding ground for the bad stuff in your pond too. undigested food is expelled over the winter months and can raise the bacterial breeding capability of the surrounding water in that temperature range where koi have no active immunity but the bad guys thrive.

dont worry about feeding when its cold. these guys will eat wall algae if they feel like grazing. we had fish last winter that added 20 percent body weight from algae alone. interestingly algae is 70 percent protein and will do just fine as a koi nutrient in the winter.

 

[carolinaguy]

Carolinaguy, Thanks helpful indeed!

Could you give us a link to this Dr Johnson's bed down method. I'm not a salt fan either by the way, never have used it.

it might be on Dr johnson's website www,koivet.com. otherwise its in his book. the process involves a good general cleaning and a series of potassium permanganate treatments to burn of excess organics and kill off some of the bad bacteria before the winter season starts. his method involves three treatments in three days followed by a day of rest and a fourth pp dose on the fifth day. turn off the filter during the active pp period. we also hammer the bacterial population with formalin and malachite green treatment. the whole idea is to take away a possible food and population advantage from bad bacteria before the 48 to 62 degree window returns where bad bacteria gets a head start before koi immunity kicks in. just make sure you accurately measure your pond's volume before pp dosing. only count the water in the pond exposed to pp since you shut down your filter and the pipes, filter and waterfall areas don't count in the dosing equation.

 

[Pondmaster]

Hey Thanks Carolinaguy for the link, I just visited the Koivet site and there is a wealth of information there.