Now with that said, you have to understand however that adding ammonia binder for ammonia, and salt for nitrite, does not make these toxins go away. They will however protect the fish until they do go away through the nitrification process. As for ammonia binders, they to will not make ammonia go away as stated, but they simply bind it and/or turn it into a non toxic form. There are however some ammonia removers on the market, so know which you may be using. You will still read ammonia  with the ammonia binders on certain types of ammonia test kits., and this is what you desire. Whether bound or not, you need to know when the ammonia is still there, and when it goes away. For example, AP make a Nesslers type of ammonia test kit. This utilizes only one reagent for testing and if you add certain ammonia binders or inhibitors you can get false readings. This is why I recommend the salicylate type of ammonia test. AP offers both types so make sure you get the one that incorporates two reagents for each test. This is the salicylate type that has two liquid reagents you need to add for each testing of ammonia.

Now talking specifically about the AP test kits, let go over some hints and suggestions I have for you. Firstly let's discuss how to properly look at and  compare the test color to the chart colors. Any of the AP kits that have a color chart can and should be read this same way. One of the most important things is to hold the test vile just at the top of the colors on each chart as shown in the photo below. Actually I usually  position it so that the bottom of the vile is even with the top of the color we are comparing the sample to. In the photo it is shown  positioned slightly above the color on the chart and this can make it tough to compare at times. So  try holding it the way I describe and make  the bottom of the vile even with the top of the color on the chart.

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Another important aspect of testing with the AP kits is to follow the directions exactly when it comes to the times you must wait for certain tests to complete. For example, the ammonia and nitrite tests require that you wait five minutes after mixing the reagents with the test water. It is very important to time this accurately because if you do it too soon or too late you will get incorrect readings possibly.  You need to wait the five minutes to read the colors not 4 minutes and not 6 minutes or longer.
Another important test is kH. AP also makes a good kit for this. However, sometimes there is confusion with their direction sheet. It seems they use the same direction sheet to discuss both kH (carbonate hardness) and GH (general hardness). These are not the same so make sure you follow the correct directions for kH. With this test there is no color chart. Instead you add one drop of reagent to the test vile and count the number of drops it takes for the water to turn from blue to yellow. It is therefore critical to do this test one drop at a time because the exact drop it takes that turns the water from blue to yellow is the number your kH is. As an example, the first drop should turn the sample water blue. If it does not turn blue on the first drop then your kH is too low to measure with this test kits, and you surely need to increase it with baking soda. You can read about this in the article on my website entitled "The Science of Water" So for the sake of this example let's say the first drop you put in the sample turns the water blue. Now take the cap off the vile and add the second drop, recap and invert the vile. If the water is still blue you continue these same steps (one drop at a time) and be sure to count the number of drops. Whatever number drops it takes to turn the water from blue to yellow is your kH reading in degrees of German hardness. So for the sake of this example if on the third drop the water turns from blue to yellow, then your kH would be 3 degrees of German hardness. You can refer to the article above to read more about kH and its importance in your pond. It is one of the most important parameters to monitor and it needs to be maintained at certain levels with the addition of baking soda.

  
As most of you are aware, every year at some point after spawning we start the culling process of the fry. Culling is where we look through each and every baby and pick only the best to grown on further. This is done for a multitude of reasons.

On average Koi lay from 10,000 to 30,000 eggs for every kilogram of body weight.  The largest fish can lay upwards from one half million! As you can imagine that is a lot of eggs. In nature most of those eggs would not survive past their first day as just about every living critter in the water eat them. This includes the parents! As a matter of fact, I would say that the parents are responsible for eating most of them. Then, even when some make it to hatching there are still lots of critters that gobble up on the fry. This includes even certain insects. This is the reason that mother nature allows the females to lay so many, as this leaves better odds of some surviving.

Well in a controlled spawn as we do here at the farm, the largest percentage of the eggs hatch because we control predation and also supply optimal spawning and hatching conditions. This leaves us with way too many fish to deal with because of the larger percentage of hatching success we achieve as compared to what would occur in nature. It is for this reason we must play the role of mother nature and sort through the weak and inferior fish and cull them out of the population so that the strong and higher quality fish may thrive. In nature these inferior fry or eggs would not have survived anyway as nature always weeds out the weak.

Here at the farm all of our culls are fed to the game fish we keep in our largest mud pond. So as you can see nothing is wasted. Some farms even process the culls back into Koi feed and other pet industry feeds.

Depending on the variety of Koi in a given mud pond, we do anywhere from three to six separate culls throughout the summer growing season. Each variety develops differently and and varied time frames so this means that we can cull certain varieties at a younger age/size than other varieties. Culling usually begins when the fry are at one month old and one inch in size, but again this all depends on their growth as well as the type/variety of Koi we are culling. Because each variety develops at different time intervals, it is important that we put the spawn of like varieties in a given mud pond. In other words we try to put varieties that will develop at the same phase in a given pond as this makes the culling process much easier and more efficient.

The culling process is very tedious and amazingly physically demanding. As shown in the photo above, we put a small number of fish in a specially set up tub to sort through them and pick the good from the bad. There are many deformities as well that we need to look for. After looking through thousands of fish, while humped over this tub it is amazing the wear and tear your back goes through. As well, it can be vary difficult on your eyes as you are straining and concentrating on looking closely at these small fish.

Every season we invite a small number of customers to participate in the culling process. So if you think you would be interested in trying it, simply watch my website in the "News and Events" pages for dates and times we plan to cull. It lots of fun and we always have a good time. I will say however, that it can be a long day, as we have to finish once we start. At times we are looking through hundreds of thousands of fish in one day!