Results 1 to 13 of 13
Thread: Microscope samples
-
20-10-2018, 11:37 PM #1
Microscope samples
Hi all, no issues at the moment but some advice needed. I have a microscope and my setup is a combi drum gravity fed and jap matting as the bio filtration. UV before the drum. My drum is also mains fed so the drain gulley from a drum clean won’t work. Where is the best place or where do you take your water samples from? Or am I totally missing the point and a microscope is only really used for scrapes?
i find the whole microscope thing very interesting and hope to find nothing ever lol
-
21-10-2018, 01:31 PM #2
Normally I take water direct from the pond for testing Amonia, Nitrates etc, samples for the scope direct from the koi.
-
Liam77 Thanked / Liked this Post
-
21-10-2018, 04:14 PM #3
I thought so. Just wanted to get a bit more scope practice and an idea of bugs without annoying the fish. I suppose that’s the problem with good filtration, there are no dirty places to collect a bit of crud from to investigate. Cheers though
-
21-10-2018, 08:53 PM #4
Most of the nasties need a host, hence scrape the koi.
if it helps, I find a koi basket works well, float the basket, net the koi, into the basket and scrape, they seem to be much calmer in a basket.
-
Liam77 Thanked / Liked this Post
-
22-10-2018, 10:03 PM #5
-
23-10-2018, 02:03 AM #6
if you want scope practice then scrape the side of your pond,you will find alsorts,andi
-
Liam77 Thanked / Liked this Post
-
23-10-2018, 06:39 PM #7
Cheers andi, it’s quite new but I’ll give it a go this weekend. Do you just look online to find out what’s what?
-
23-10-2018, 06:50 PM #8
nope, I meant basket,
https://www.koilogic.co.uk/japanese-...cond-hand/p456
they float so no need to remove koi from the pond.
your basically looking for anything that moves, especially if it moves against any flow, look up the various parasites on you tube to get an idea.
https://youtu.be/xhd3SJVh4OU
https://youtu.be/pLutCwGeX38
-
23-10-2018, 11:32 PM #9
-
24-10-2018, 06:42 AM #10
You may already be aware but you can buy sets of prepared microscope slides that show stained and cover slipped examples of a wide range of pond life. I think a set of 25 slides is around £35 and this gives you an excellent comparison. I think they are made by SPA but they are certainly distributed by Brunel microscopes. Brunel also do a kit for Koi keepers, which is around £22 plus VAT I think, which includes slides suitable for scrapes, as well as other useful tools. The kit includes microscopy pictures of exactly what to look out for with Koi.
I have just upgraded my microscope from an old school one, to a Leica lab microscope off eBay. I am well used to using them - just not on Koi ! My understanding is that viewing the samples within a couple of minutes of taking them is optimal, as movement will often have ceased within 20 minutes.
-
Liam77 Thanked / Liked this Post
-
24-10-2018, 07:26 PM #11
Cheers AJB. I got the Brunel scope with the fish pack but it wasn’t all that to be honest. Didn’t have much to do with koi parasites but was a general fish pack. Not great...brilliant scope though so still happy with the purchase
-
27-10-2018, 08:29 AM #12
Fair enough. I am fortunate to have a set of aquatic microscopy slides - though not especially Koi specific. I have just bought a book on Koi diseases, parasites and treatments, (Koi Heath by Keith Holmes and Tony Pitham (2004). It's enough to put you off keeping Koi at all!
Checking Koi properly works put quite expensive. A decent microscope, plus ancillary equipment can easily be £200+ if going binocular, even second hand. Plus an inspection bowl. floating net, sock net and a big "herding" net (not sure of correct term) can be another £200. And that's before stocking a medicine cabinet. Clearly prevention is better than a cure, and I plan to up my game on water quality next year.
-
Liam77 Thanked / Liked this Post
-
27-10-2018, 08:55 AM #13
I haven’t looked to much into the net situation yet as I have my hardy fish in the pond for the winter. Perhaps that will be Xmas present ideas. I went for the Brunel sp22 with eye cam so that is perfect for what I hopefully won’t be looking at but I know I will need it at some point. And I suppose a few books can’t be a bad thing to have. Your right though the costs do start adding up and I suppose people need to be aware that it’s not just a pond with fish that you will be purchasing
Best plants to remove Nitrate
pug has a very impressive veg filter on his pond, have a look at some of his his youtube videos....