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Quality guaranteed?
Quality perception of koi food starts with opening
the packet – Lourens de Wet emphasizes what to look
for.
The label on a koi food packet often gives a great deal of
information about the product inside the bag. According label
claims, koi pellets are formulated to provide the best possible
nutritional package to the koi. This nutritional guarantee
helps koi enthusiasts to confidently choose koi food and protect
them against possible disappointments or losses due to certain
nutritional deficiencies. To make sure that these label claims
can be trusted, locally manufactured koi food has to be registered
as legally required to ensure that it meets all the necessary
requirements to support the health of your koi. For example,
through these stringent registration procedures, the inclusion
of damaging waste products is prevented. Although this registration
is already a good indication of the food’s potential
value to your koi, it must be kept in mind that the food quality
cannot be fully defined until the package is opened and fed.
The general appearance and freshness of the koi pellets should
be a inspected directly after the purchase - special attention
should be paid to the following:
- Food pellets should be uniform in size and appearance
– colour variation is usually an indication of inadequate
grinding and mixing of ingredients. However, since us humans
eat “with our eyes”, we often believe that our
animals’ food should also have an attractive, appetizing
colour – do not be misled by this myth.
- Just like old butter, nuts and oil, old and rancid food
has an unmistakable unpleasant smell. Such food should be
discarded and not fed to koi – it will most probably
contain harmful components that may lead to retarded growth
or even death.
- Staleness and fungi may appear in koi foods that were
not properly dried, or that were stored under undesirable
conditions in retail outlets. Some of the staleness and
fungi may be poisonous and may lead to severe damage of
intestinal organs or tumor formation.
- Since koi food is not eaten from food troughs like other
pets, excess dust and crumbs are just wasted in the water
and may cause serious pollution problems (bad water quality).
The dust content can be determined by sieving the food over
a mesh of a size that is 25% of the pellet size.
- Any evidence of insect infestations or the presence of
bird and rodent droppings and feathers etc can increase
danger of infectious micro-organisms in the food and should
be taken seriously.
- Food should have good buoyancy and be able to float to
ensure optimum consumption by the koi. However, if koi food
has a tendency to sink, precaution should be taken to not
feed it close to the bottom drain of the pond since it will
be wasted, and causing the biofilter to suffocate.
- It is important that the food should keep its form until
eaten by the koi in order to minimize leaching of valuable
nutrients into the water. Foods that are not water stable
will disintegrate quickly, with consequent wasting and water
pollution problems.
- The palatability and acceptability of the food to the
koi are of critical importance for complete consumption,
and consequently optimal health and vitality and good growth.
A sudden change in food type can cause a decrease in food
intake or even total refusal to eat – this can of
course present a misperception about the tastiness of the
“new” feed. Therefore, if a change from one
feed to another is considered it should be gradually phased
in over a minimum period of four days while replacing 25%
of the previously used food daily.
It will be terribly injudicious to buy the best quality and
fresh food without taking into account that optimal conditions
in which it is to be used should be maintained. Develop a
trustworthy relationship with your koi food supplier and continue
to set high expectations from food quality to maintain it
your No.1 priority.
Lourens de Wet
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