USA Koi's Blog

Dog Days of Summer are Here!

2010-07-30T22:05:00.000-04:00

It seems like I was just complaining about the cold and now we are burning up with the heat. A good way to help your koi cool down might be to add an air pump and air stone to your system. Medo is one of the best air pumps made. We use them through out our store and we never have a problem. The best thing is there are no diaphrams to replace due to it's awesome liner piston design. Even if you have a big waterfall or stream it is still benificial to your koi and to your biofilter.

Koi, Pond Plants and Koi Food!

2010-06-30T20:20:00.000-04:00

Summer is here time to start complaining about the heat!

The new koi are out of quarantine and are ready to go.

Check out some of this year's breeders:

Koi, Pond Plants and Koi Food!

2010-05-27T09:47:00.019-04:00

Spring is early but I'm not complaining. The weather is getting warmer everyday and my koi are starting to get very active.

The new koi are out of quarantine and are ready to go. I'm trying to get the Reserve Tosai updated so please keep checking it.

Check out some of this year's breeders:

On Sale Now!

2010-04-30T20:48:00.002-04:00

Spring is early but I'm not complaining. The weather is getting warmer everyday and my koi are starting to get very active.

The new koi are out of quarantine and are ready to go. I'm trying to get the Reserve Tosai updated so please keep checking it.

Check out some of this year's breeders:

Now that it is time to start feeding your koi you might want to pick up some Hikari Wheatgerm and Hai Feng Quick Grow to get started. I also have Saki-Hikari All Season which is an awesome staple food for your koi.

I'm sure I sound like a broken record but please be prepared this spring with a "Spring Health Care Kit". The kit contains everything you will need to make a preemptive strike against parasites and harmful bacteria this spring. One single kit contains enough ingredients to treat 2,500 gallons for $119.99 or buy one kit at $119.99 and get a second kit for only $109.99.

Do your koi already have ulcers? If so you might want to try Aqua Meds Ulcer Aid Rx a proven way to get rid of ulcers on your koi. Use it as a dip or a spray to get rid of deadly ulcers. The kit contains an easy to use measuring spoons and spray bottle for a topical treatment. There are two sizes to chose from:

Ulcer Aid Rx Kit - 50 grams $34.99 makes two gallons plus
Deluxe Ulcer Aid Rx Kit - 130 grams $54.99 makes five gallons plus

This is another great addition to any koi medicine cabinet.

Starting in April we will be open Wednesday through Saturday 10 to 5, Sundays from 10 to 4.

The New Koi are here! 12/08/09

2009-12-08T12:36:00.027-05:00

My new koi are here and can be vied any friday or saturday during our winter hours. As soon as they have settled in I will start to take their pictures and video for the New Koi Pages. These koi are from Hiroi and are 2 years old. They are mixed male and female, Doitsu and scaled. There are Kohaku, Ochiba, Sanke, Showa and Goshiki.

Check out this new product from Aqua Meds. It is called Arctic Blend!

Removes deadly Ionized Ammonia and toxic Un-Ionized Ammonia
Removes toxic nitrites and nitrates
Works in very cold water (35-50 degrees F)
Reduces and digest bottom sludge all winter
Helps maintain a healthy immune system
Arctic Blend will not deplete the oxygen level in your water
Reduces spring clean up
100% natural, NO CHEMICALS, safe for pets and wildlife

ON SALE NOW! $69.99 a gallon!

Don't forget that we are on our fall/winter hours so please keep this in mind if you are planning a visit!

Japan 10/24/08

2008-10-24T08:02:00.002-04:00

Brenda and I visited a monkey park in Yudanaka. There were monkeys everywhere.

That's it one day off back to koi.

2008-10-17T03:07:00.003-04:00

I watched Yasuaki Kaneko his father and sister harvest some good grade Nisai.

Fujio Oomo 10/10/08

2008-10-12T04:13:00.001-04:00

Fujio Oomo harvesting some Doitsu Kohaku, Sanke and Showa. Out of 120 koi 4 were kept as Tategoi and 8 had lost their color or had some type of damage or deformity. The rest of the koi were graded and put in tanks for sale.

Marusho Tanaka, Yasuaki Kaneko and Kobiashi all helping in the harvest.

2008-10-10T03:33:00.000-04:00

Here are a few koi I picked up at Otsuka. Over the next 2 weeks there will be plenty of koi to choose from.

2008-10-10T03:31:00.000-04:00

I have been in Japan for a few days now and I'm seeing some fish but not a lot yet. I was at Hiroi picking out some Goshiki, Doitsu Kohaku and others and I saw one of my favorite cats having a nap.

October 7th 1st day in Japan

2008-10-07T16:05:00.004-04:00

Hi Everyone,

I'm back in Japan for the fall harvest. If you are looking for a special koi please email me at mark@usakoi.com and let me know what you are looking for. The weather is warm here and I'm looking forward to seeing some nice koi. I'll be visiting Fujio Oomo, Kaneko, Marudo, Torazo, Nogami and a bunch of others. Check back often for updates or if you want to see Koi for Sale go to http://usakoi.com/koiForSale.php?KGroup=200375. Or visit http://www.usakoi.com/ thanks for looking.

New Evolution Aqua 70 Air Pump Kit

2008-05-17T20:54:00.002-04:00

I just started carrying this new airpump from Evolution Aqua. Not bad for $180.00.

EA AirPump 70 LPM Kit. UL and CE approved - fully safety rated for outdoor use!Kit comes complete with 70 LPM air pump, 4 port air manifold, 30 meters of airline tubing, and 2 high quality air stones. Check our "Aeration for Ponds" section for more details.

04/05/08 Koi Video

2008-04-05T09:44:00.005-04:00

The koi at the shop http://www.usakoi.com/ are up and swimming. The water is holding at about 55F so I started the koi out on some Manda Fu and also some Hiari-Saki Multi Season. I'm feeding one time a day in the afternoon just to be on the safe side but the koi seem to be very happy about it. You might have seen some of these koi on my website under the New Koi For Sale pages. My favorite is the Showa from Nogami SKU# 200090

Niigata 03/02/08

2008-03-02T20:38:00.007-05:00

Well it is my last day here I'm sitting around waiting for my train. I was off yesterday from koi anyway instead I went to a Shinto Temple near the sea port of Teradomari. Here are a few pictures plus one from my hotel room.

I have seen a lot of temples on my trips to Japan and this one was interesting and also the largest in the Nagaoka are.
These girls are tying their hopes and prayers onto this simulated tree in hopes they will come true.

Niigata 03/01/08

2008-03-01T17:13:00.003-05:00

These workers are clearing some snow from the roadway in Yomagihira.

There is still a lot of snow everywhere. This lady is moving it from her garden.

A few koi from Yozimon.

02/27/08 Japan

2008-02-27T14:46:00.005-05:00

I'll be in Japan from 02/25/08 to 03/03/08. There is about 2' of snow up in the mountains and it seems to snow some everyday.

One of my first stops was at Fujio Oomo's koi house. The water is about 22c or 70f and the koi are plenty hungry.

Oomo happens to use Saki-Hikari which we now carry in our shop.

KHV Testing 12/10/07

2007-12-10T13:13:00.000-05:00

I had to do some KHV testing on some of our new arrivals over the weekend. This is part of the setup. We knock out the koi and lay them up here while we draw the blood.

The koi are labeled and photographed to keep track of their blood samples. This koi is about to get knocked out.

In this picture I'm drawing out the blood. Fortunately not much is required. It isn't too hard to draw the blood after you have done a few.

Another candidate. We can do KHV blood testing at your place or ours email me for more information.

12/07/07 Another polyurea spray liner

2007-12-07T11:25:00.000-05:00

I had a polyurea repair to do in Long Island NY over the last few days. The pond is about 10,000 gallons with one bottom drain, a skimmer and a mid level suction. It was sprayed a year or so ago but the prep work wasn't done perfectly and some of the polyurea started to peel off and clog the drains and skimmers. This pond has a window into the basement which is going to be a living room in the future.

The pond originally had a spin drifter bottom drain installed in it but this drain leaked from the airline so I replaced it with a Rhino II aerated bottom drain. This seemed like the perfect time to replace the drain.

I sprayed the pond in blue first which makes it easier to see any pin holing or misses when I go back over it in black which is the finished color.

I forgot to mention before spraying the new polyurea spray liner the existing polyurea had to be scraped to remove any lose product plus the entire surface was sanded and wiped with primer.

It snowed while I was spraying but this awesome winter cover stopped any of the snow from getting in. This is one of my helpers on the job.

Blue Burst! It looked kind of neat and would make a good color for an aquarium but this pond was going to be finished in depthless black.

This is the black going over the blue.

Inbetween coats I fill any pin holes or inperfections that show up from the rough surface on the concrete.

Finished with the Rhino II bottom drain installed.

This is the view the koi will have from inside the pond.
This is a return and below it is a mid level suction point. Normally these would be placed farther apart but in this case the return was installed after the fact by tunneling under a finished sidewalk and patio so there weren't a lot of options.
The finished product ready to be filled minus the puppy.

2007-11-06T12:09:00.001-05:00

When I was at Kaneko's fish house I took this video of some Tosai. I have seen and taken this same type of video many times before but I can't help myself everytime I see baby koi feed.

2007-11-05T10:04:00.000-05:00

Before I left for Japan I was finishing a job in North Jersey. I have done a lot of work for the home owners and this job should finish their pond. It was a liner pond that always had a leak so now that we can spray polyurea pond liner we finished the inside of the pond and sprayed liner on the inside. We also installed Koitoilet aerated bottom drains and new returns with wider flanges.

The pond was made from wall pavers and then I attached stucco wire to the pavers and then covered the wire with stucco type mortar mix. After the mortar was attached and it dried it was primed so the polyurea would adhere without any problems.

In between coats we check for pinholes and imperfections. They are marked so we can pay extra special attention on the next coat.

2007-10-29T05:43:00.000-04:00

2007-10-29T05:42:00.000-04:00

Marudo giving me and my group a little lesson about koi selection.

2007-10-29T05:39:00.000-04:00

2007-10-29T05:38:00.000-04:00

The koi show was packed on sunday.

2007-10-29T05:34:00.000-04:00

There is road construction pretty much everywhere and I saw this sign and thought it was funny.

2007-10-29T03:25:00.000-04:00

This is Yozimon's cat. It is really pretty and I can't resist taking it's picture every time I see it. I don't know much about the different breeds of cat so I was shocked when I asked the type and they told me it was an American short haired standard.

2007-10-29T03:19:00.000-04:00

It is getting close to the end of my trip so I wanted to make sure I posted a few more pictures of different things I've been seeing.

2007-10-18T18:30:00.000-04:00

This is my new friend Aloe. He is the grandson of Hoshino but some people call him Teradomari for the name of the seaport town he lives in.

I helped him catch a few butter flys after he ran into a snag.

After shopping at Hoshino we took a quick trip to the seafood market at Teradomeri. There was plenty of selectoin of all kinds of seafood. I guess it is all noormal to the Japanese but to me some of it seemed pretty exotic.

Squid on a stick seemed to be a favorite.

Shrimp and fish on a stick seemed to be pretty popular also.

Here's looking at you.

Some of the staff at the fish market.

2007-10-14T04:15:00.000-04:00

There are dragon flys everywhere.

2007-10-13T04:55:00.000-04:00

I went to a local koi show in Yomogihira. All of the koi were bagged in special bags and lined up according to their size and variety.

All of the koi at the show ranged in size from 6" to about 20"

Gin Rin Showa

2007-10-10T20:11:00.000-04:00

I sold this Gin rin Showa last year as a Nisai (2yr old). At that time it was 18". The customer wanted to leave the koi in Japan to grow for 1 season in a mud pond. when we harvested it the other day it was almost 23".

Smile!

Tosai to Nisai

2007-10-09T19:23:00.000-04:00

Yesterday I went to a mudpond harvest that held a few customers koi. This showa was bought as a Tosai (1 season old) and at that time it was approximately 7" now after a summer in a mud pond it is about 19". Not bad growth rates when you think about it. There were about 15 other koi in a 1/3 acre pond. They were fed daily as well as all they could eat from the natural food supply in the pond. To see other koi like this that are for sale please go to http://www.usakoi.com/

This is a shrine down the street from Marusho Koi farm in Yomagihira. There are shrines like this one everywhere here. They provide a little something interesting to look at besides koi.

Japan 10/07/07 Asagi Mud Pond Harvest

2007-10-08T18:08:00.000-04:00

Mud pond harvest of Asagi.

Japan 10/08/07

2007-10-07T17:45:00.000-04:00

I took this picture at Marusho Tanaka's Koi farm. I should have been taking pictures of koi but I couldn't resist.

2007-10-01T08:54:00.000-04:00

This has to be one of the creepiest things I have ever seen. This spider was about the size of a 50 cent piece. The back of the spider was covered with baby spiders.

Another moth

2007-10-01T08:32:00.000-04:00

This moth was on the side of the shop and I was able to get a good close up of it.

2007-10-01T08:29:00.000-04:00

I saw this Praying Mantis hanging around the koi tanks.

Moth?

2007-10-01T08:26:00.000-04:00

I'm not sure what this is but it was on a bottle of Terminate at my shop.

Close up

2007-10-01T08:22:00.000-04:00

Here is a close up,

10/01/01

2007-10-01T08:11:00.000-04:00

I took this picture right after the butterfly hatched. I thought it was cool so I posted it here. This reminds me that we sell butterfly koi at http://usakoi.com/koiForSale.php?KGroup=200050.

Polyurea spray pond liner

2007-07-13T16:21:00.000-04:00

I have several display ponds at my shop http://www.usakoi.com/. I just refinished one of the display ponds with polyurea spray pond liner. Check this one out.

USA Koi 07/05/07

2007-07-05T20:57:00.000-04:00

Hi,

Flying around my shop www.usakoi.com I saw this red tailed hawk. We seem to have a large number of rabbits which attract the hawks.

www.usakoi.com 1st blog post

2007-07-05T14:14:00.000-04:00

Hi,

I'm Mark from http://www.usakoi.com/. We import and sell Japanese show koi. I go to Japan several times a year to aquire the koi and then resell them across the USA. I take a lot of pictures while I'm in Japan and also here in the USA so I thought this would be a neat place to share them.

-Mark