Koi

With Johan's sister Elmarie and family returning from 4 years in Canada and his other sister Mariana and family now moving to a new house the koi they had were needing a new home, which Johan accepted when offered them.  We had some beautiful big koi when we lived in KZN and when we moved up here, Johan transported them too.  I remember him putting them into special plastic bags with oxygen pills to last them the journey.  These were then packed into tubs to help keep their temperature at a constant level and he drove almost 600km with them like that before releasing them into the reservoir.  We had them in there for quite some time before the comorants discovered them swimming in there and decided they would make a good meal.  I think they were too big and heavy for them to take out of the water though and so all they did was injure them.  Sadly it was the beginning of the end for the koi as the water became infected.  Johan tried everything he could to try to correct the water and eradicate the bacteria but we watched daily as one by one they died.  We have learned from that experience though and now know why big businesses that have koi in ponds have them either indoors or at least under cover.

Johan decided to 're-cycle' our JoJo tank that was blown away in that huge wind storm....remember I blogged about that sometime last year....  He cut off the top portion that was most broken and was left with the bottom of a now open tank.  Little did he realize that the bottom section also had some damage done to it, but after two attempts with different 'patching' he managed to seal it to be water tight.  It is now filled with water, which took weeks to settle, clear and get to the correct ph - just by adding vinegar and salt mind you.  The pump has been fitted and is relaying the water well and the koi are in.  All he still wants and needs to do is fit a UV light above the water and cover it for protection.