Home | * NEW - Koi TV * | Koi Mart | Koi For Sale | Tategoi | Yamakoshi | Koi Hotels | Koi Store | Koimag BBS |

KOI NEWS: The Great Nishikigoi Giveaway | Post a Message | To the BBS Main Page

meanwhile in the great northern climes---

Posted by JR on 2/1/2009, 2:27 pm, in reply to "Southern fish get a chill!"
205.188.117.198

The deep freeze is very much on! And it is a rare northern koi keeper that needs to struggle with the question of fasting their koi! Those frozen statues of koi lying under the ice have no interest what-so-ever in feeding. It's survival time and koi are in a full 'vital systems only' status as they wait out winter. In their case, they are doing what wild carp have done since the end of the last great modern ice age, they are in stasis. The only question is where will the domestic carp, a weaker version of the wild carp, run completely out of gas? The 'gas' in this case being the conditioning of the fish in general and the level of stores within the liver, brain ( nervous system) and white muscle mass. In addition the external environment will place a level of stress within the koi's system as the winter drones on ( especially if we have an ‘uneven’ type winter temperature). In fact, for the more advanced hobbyists reading this, you can now substitute the concept of 'Aeromonas alley' right here for an event that occurs in koi when the protection provided by winter stores and the condition of stasis begin to be depleted and the winter thaws reduce the protective effect of stasis. How's this??? Well, as the cold blooded fish operates on a need to survive only, most metabolic and physiological systems are shut down or run at a very low level. Things like locomotion/movement and it's associated need to increase blood flow and employ the equilibrium systems associated with the swim bladder, all use considerable energy that would otherwise be held in reserve for other vital services. The fish moving under ice is not looking for food but more likely a warmer area of the pond or a way to escape/explore for a better environment for stasis. And that need to find other climes risks both reserves and the survival benefits of stasis itself. Once stasis is disturbed or passes in thawing periods, the systems within the fish fire up. This is draining as winter stress factors will set in. Cold water, stale water, shifting pH from melting snow and water, shifting of temperature zones as warm water rises and cold melted snow and ice sink, all lead to G.A.S. or general adaptative syndrome. This classic survival response is a purely physiological thing that is meant to help the fish flee stressful circumstances. But a refreeze of surface water and a return to stasis traps the fish, physiologically speaking, in a cycle of G.A.S. This is especially bad if the fish has progressed to stage three of the syndrome. We have all seen the ‘pink’ skinned fish found hovering in the shallows with an obvious loose of balance and a abnormally rapid breathing rate for associated water temperatures. In addition, the elimination of stored glycogen soon has fish using ammino acids and proteins that should not be pulled from the body. Please note that fish have puzzled fish physiologists for decades in that they do not become hypoglycemic or emaciated during winter? Yet they do experience GAS after too long a period of starvation/stasis. The best visual example of this would be the story of the salmon journey to it's spawning grounds. Total starvation and still the glycogen levels only drop modestly. And the fish does not look starved. Yet the fish dies. Many other reasons for this of course when it comes to salmon. Considering the fact that nishikigoi are a weaker/weakest race of common carp, we would want our koi to experience winter for all the benefits a fasting and cooling down period offer a four season fish, but at the same time we do not want to awaken all the negatives associated with a long, survival testing winter. The degree of success or failure of the winter experience will be judged in spring by the general health and condition of the spring season koi. - JR

---

Responses: There are no responses to this message. « Back to thread

---

Post a Response

Home | * NEW - Koi TV * | Koi Mart | Koi For Sale | Tategoi | Yamakoshi | Koi Hotels | Koi Store | Koimag BBS

Copyright 2004 © Nishikigoi International, Ltd. Innovation House, Parkside Business Park, Golborne, Warrington, Cheshire, WA3 3PY Tel: 01942 777879 ~ Fax: 01942 777876 ~ nikoimag@aol.com

Nishikigoi International Ltd does not qualify any of the material posted for accuracy and so accepts no responsibility or liability whatsoever either direct or consequential for any information posted on the message board. Acceptance of the aforementioned is a complicit term of viewing and or posting messages on the board