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  1. #1
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Liam77's Avatar
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    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



  2. #2
    Normally I take water direct from the pond for testing Amonia, Nitrates etc, samples for the scope direct from the koi.

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  4. #3
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Liam77's Avatar
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    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

  5. #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.

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  7. #5
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Liam77's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doitsusanke View Post
    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.
    sorry mate, by basket do you mean bowl?

  8. #6
    Senior Member Rank = Grand Champion andikoi's Avatar
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    if you want scope practice then scrape the side of your pond,you will find alsorts,andi

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  10. #7
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Liam77's Avatar
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    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?

  11. #8
    Quote Originally Posted by Liam77 View Post
    sorry mate, by basket do you mean bowl?
    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

  12. #9
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Liam77's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Doitsusanke View Post
    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
    ah right I see what you mean now with the basket. Didnt think of using youtube as a reference. Thanks guys

  13. #10
    Member Rank = Nisai AJB's Avatar
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    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.

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  15. #11
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Liam77's Avatar
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    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

  16. #12
    Member Rank = Nisai AJB's Avatar
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    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.

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  18. #13
    Senior Member Rank = Yonsai Liam77's Avatar
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    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

 

 

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