Koi Deaths and water quality
Hi All
On Friday of last week Dean the manager of a local Fish outlet in the Plymouth area contacted me.
He was very worried about a cluster of Koi deaths in the area of St Budeaux Plymouth all the pond owners are non Section or BKKS but all ponds had higher than normall PH at 8.5 and all the fish had damage to the gills fins and were very slimey (from what I gather the problem started after water changes).
He stated he had been on to South West Water on a number of occasion's and each time the company stated that the Water only had to be safe for human consumption.
I've passed the details on to our HLO but I would like to know just where do we stand when the problem is through no fault of our own,and the Water Company through it's answer just won't help and admit it's their problem?
Under the new Animal Welfare bill we have to ensure the health of our charges but it appears that this dosen't extend to that of the water companys?
Any Idea's
rgds
broxandval
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Koi Deaths and water quality
Hi Dave or Val,
If I play Devil's Advocate for a moment and put the viewpoint that I believe is adopted by the Water Authorities, I think it would go something like this.
1/. We have a legal duty to provide water that is fit for Human consumption. It is.
2/. From time to time we add different treatments to counteract any problems that may arise. During this treatment, it still remains fit for Human consumption.
3/. If we did not add these treatments, the water would become unfit for Human consumption and we would be in breach of our statutory duty.
4/. If any consumer wishes to use our product for a different purpose other than for Human consumption, it is their responsibility to ensure that it is fit for this new use not ours.
5/. The owner of livestock has a duty of care to that livestock, but this is their responsibility, not ours and they are free to have our product tested in a Laboratory to ascertain whether additional treatment is needed to make it suitable for this new use.
This is a pretty hard line approach on their part, but I doubt that a Koi keeper will ever get anywhere trying to make the Water Authority accept responsibility, so I am about to see if I can be put on the "Critical Users List" in my local area. This will, at least, give me warning of events such as this, so that I can suspend water changes and top-ups during extraordinary treatments. If I get anywhere, I will let you know
Manky
Koi Deaths and water quality
Hi MankySanke
Great to have you back on line again, I must say you play the Devils Advocate very well indeed.
But if they sell fishing licenses so that people can fish their reservoir's,then that to me smacks of double standards.
Also where do people in the fish trade come in this, fish are their livelyhood so they must need to know that the water coming through the taps is safe which means they must by law update these Business's it's part of their reponsibility to produce safe water.
Unless these fall under the "Critical Users List"(but then Dean would have to be to be informed and not fobbed off, or is it because its customers ponds).
It will be interesting to see the result of this request to them.
By the way how much does a decent purifier cost? I know you can just fit them to your hose and it does so many thousand gallons, it'd be worth it.
rgrds
broxandval
Koi Deaths and water quality
I'm not quite sure how the "Critical Users List" works, or whether anyone can get onto it, just by asking.
As I said in my post, I went straight off to see if I could be put on the list. It was a pig of a job to find any information on the website of my local supplier, other than a water report for 2006, and a lot of waffle telling me how wonderful the Company is. Eventually, I got to a "Customer Enquiry" form. I filled it in, added my request, and pressed "Submit". I immediately received back an e-mail, saying that my complaint would be attended to, in the next seven days! I'll let you know how my "complaint" progresses!
As to water purifiers, I've just answered an e-mail from someone who came to my talk at the Show on Saturday and has sent a follow-up question about water purifiers. Since I copy and paste quicker than I type, this is what I answered.
With water purifiers, there are many claims that say: "Mine's the best", but if anyone ever designed something that was genuinely superior, they would dominate the market. I chose Purity On Tap because it seemed to have the best overall performance figures that I could find for the price of the original unit and the replacement cartridges. I am quite happy with it's performance.
The KP2 Super costs £215 and will give 40,000+ UK gallons for a set of cartridges which cost £58. To me, this is far less than a pound per week running cost.
What I would add is, water purifiers remove a whole range of the usual contaminants that normally exist in the supply. If the Company suddenly deals with a problem by adding ChloroDiMethylHypoOxalicTriEthanolMonoSodiumGlutimate, (I just made that up, but you know what I mean), then the purifier may not be able to remove it.
Manky
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Hi Manky Sanke.
Thanx for the information will keep my eyes peeled for your post to see if you managed to get onto the list or not, speaking of big words Val suffer's from a condition that goes by the name of Fascioscapularhumeral Muscular Dystropy and I didn't make that up we call it FSH for short so do the Doctors (and I dont blame them do you?)lol.
rgds
broxandval