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Koi pond and water garden information, pet information, pet care and Koi and Goldfish care from the nation's leading Koi health veterinarian.
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Koivet.com
Koivet is a venerable, long lived koi and pond fish health site started by Dr Erik Johnson in 1994 as an off shoot of his first few websites at Mindspring.com. Now Koivet is full of information and movies and more.

Koi Beginner
Once you've leapfrogged through this tutorial you will have a solid, working concept of the Koi hobby and what it's all about. This is done just about exclusively with video and very little written material.

DrJohnson.com
More than koi health, this site spans all things animal, by a real veterinarian who shoots you straight.

Fishdoc.co.uk
By Frank Prince-Iles. A UK authority who put this site together some time ago and which is still relied upon as a major source of good Koi and pond fish information

Fish Medicines
Learn about fish medicines, what they do, and where to get them.

PondCrisis.com
If you have a koi, pond or fish problem, this site takes you through twenty easy questions and at the end you know what you need to fix in your pond to create restored Koi health.

KoiCrisis.com
Koi Crisis has a symptoms chart by system you can choose the symptom by fish part, and resolve a lot of Koi pond fish problems or at least, learn about them understand how to remedy them.

Buying Domestic Koi
What does "Domestic" koi mean? Why would you buy that kind? How do you pick good and healthy ones? Who sells them and where do you find the best ones?

Buying Imported Koi
A Japanese or Israeli imported Koi is a beautiful thing. Why would you buy one of those? How do you identify a "good one"? And what kinds are there? Who would you buy one from?

Koi Filtration - Bead
With a little bit of management every week or so, you can have gin clear water in your koi or fish pond. Bead filtration is more than ten years old and defines the state of the art in Koi and pond fish ponds.

Koi Filtration - Natural
Requiring no weekly management but one big yearly overhaul, natural filtration is the easiest there is. Relying on live plants and organic processes, water quality is usually superb. Described and common mistakes illustrated, visit this site!

Koi Food & Feeding
What should you feed your koi? How many times per day? Is Corn really that bad in a Koi diet? What are the most common feeding mistakes people make? What's the best food?

Koi and Pond Hard Goods
So many places these days, are pure ripoffs. Finding a reputable dealer of koi and pond hard goods isn't as easy as you would think but there's ways to tell. The product line should be to-the-point and not contain shams. Who's doing it right? Visit this site!

Finding Reputable Dealers
The fish are only as good as the dealer holding them. Quarantines, guarantees and fish quality all factor in. What to ask, what to see and how to handle your new fish.

Books on Koi Diseases
You will be introduced to Dr Johnson's Koi Health book but also to other books he's reviewed.

Help With Koi Problems
Koi Community rates a variety of forums and message boards on ease of use, friendliness and quality of help. Not all boards are created equal. Not mincing words here.
Koi Medication - Formalin - Formaldehyde 37%

Formalin

Formalin is a mixture of formaldehyde gas in water. It's not an easy mix to stabilize and sometimes they use Methanol to make it more stable.

Formalin and Formaldehyde are essentially the same things. Formalin, by definition, is Formaldehyde at a concentration of 37% in water.

To use this, try to get Methanol free, but if not, expect some trouble from your smaller treated fish. Never use Formalin that contains a white preciptate - this is the toxic paraformaldehyde.

Use 2 cc per 10 gallons to create a 50 ppm concentration in the system, wait two hours and flush out the treatment water, sucking the outlet water from a bottom drain or vacuum if possible. If possible, remove the biological media to a fishless vat for the treatment period. Treat every day or every other day for three to five treatments for best results.

For plants, use 3 cc per 10 gallons for a mere 12 hours to eliminate pests that the plants may carry.

In the treated system, formalin binds oxygen and so you need to aerate.

* Formalin will kill weak or piping fish.

* Formalin will kill filter bacteria.

* Formalin will consume massive amounts of oxygen while in use.

More information, and specifics on three different ways to use Formalin with minimal side effect, as well as a regimen for the Salt Resistant Costia; are available at:

This book has pages and pages on this subject and the book requires no electricity!

Notes From Doc Johnson

"Don't expose any fish to Formalin for more than one hundred and twenty minutes. Use half dose for Goldfish. That means you'd only use 25 PPM for one hundred and twenty minutes then do a massive water change." ~ Doc Johnson

If the pond is very large and cannot be changed that fast, drain the pond halfway, and treat at fifty PPM, then at the half-hour mark you'd begin refilling to dilute the Formalin as fast as you can." ~ Doc Johnson

Click here for pages and pages more, on this subject and many others...

Learn More

Did this article seem sort of brief, or overly simple? If so, you might like reading over the pages at Koivet.com - Koivet.com provides detailed, up to date Koi and Goldfish Health & Disease information with complete treatments and instructions revealed.

You really should visit KoiCrisis.com and PondCrisis.com - These two sites offer you the following, respectivly:

KoiCrisis will help you find out what's wrong with your fish and recommends treatments.

PondCrisis will help you assess your pond or tank, while educating on the Top Twenty Causes of Fish Diseases.

NOTE: 
If you need fish medicines fast, and you want professional results with clear instructions, you should consider finding your way to PondRx.com or Fishmeds.com

What You Should Know About Water Quality:
What You Should Know About Parasites

What You Should Know About Medications
Links You Should Use.

What You Should Know About Bacterial Infections

Welcome to Fishbug.com !

We offer this search engine to help you search the entirety of the DrJohnson.net Network. Sites ranging from Petlibrary to KoiBeginner.com - you can find what you need to know!
Site Sponsor
Koivet.com
Koivet is a venerable, long lived koi and pond fish health site started by Dr Erik Johnson in 1994 as an off shoot of his first few websites at Mindspring.com. Now Koivet is full of information and movies and more.

Koi Beginner
Once you've leapfrogged through this tutorial you will have a solid, working concept of the Koi hobby and what it's all about. This is done just about exclusively with video and very little written material.

DrJohnson.com
More than koi health, this site spans all things animal, by a real veterinarian who shoots you straight.

Fishdoc.co.uk
By Frank Prince-Iles. A UK authority who put this site together some time ago and which is still relied upon as a major source of good Koi and pond fish information

Fish Medicines
Learn about fish medicines, what they do, and where to get them.

PondCrisis.com
If you have a koi, pond or fish problem, this site takes you through twenty easy questions and at the end you know what you need to fix in your pond to create restored Koi health.

KoiCrisis.com
Koi Crisis has a symptoms chart by system you can choose the symptom by fish part, and resolve a lot of Koi pond fish problems or at least, learn about them understand how to remedy them.

Buying Domestic Koi
What does "Domestic" koi mean? Why would you buy that kind? How do you pick good and healthy ones? Who sells them and where do you find the best ones?

Buying Imported Koi
A Japanese or Israeli imported Koi is a beautiful thing. Why would you buy one of those? How do you identify a "good one"? And what kinds are there? Who would you buy one from?

Koi Filtration - Bead
With a little bit of management every week or so, you can have gin clear water in your koi or fish pond. Bead filtration is more than ten years old and defines the state of the art in Koi and pond fish ponds.

Koi Filtration - Natural
Requiring no weekly management but one big yearly overhaul, natural filtration is the easiest there is. Relying on live plants and organic processes, water quality is usually superb. Described and common mistakes illustrated, visit this site!

Koi Food & Feeding
What should you feed your koi? How many times per day? Is Corn really that bad in a Koi diet? What are the most common feeding mistakes people make? What's the best food?

Koi and Pond Hard Goods
So many places these days, are pure ripoffs. Finding a reputable dealer of koi and pond hard goods isn't as easy as you would think but there's ways to tell. The product line should be to-the-point and not contain shams. Who's doing it right? Visit this site!

Finding Reputable Dealers
The fish are only as good as the dealer holding them. Quarantines, guarantees and fish quality all factor in. What to ask, what to see and how to handle your new fish.

Books on Koi Diseases
You will be introduced to Dr Johnson's Koi Health book but also to other books he's reviewed.

Help With Koi Problems
Koi Community rates a variety of forums and message boards on ease of use, friendliness and quality of help. Not all boards are created equal. Not mincing words here.
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