This meeting was set up to be a practical evening for the club members.

Fraser Smith and his father Jack kindly set up a large range of new and reconditioned microscopes so that the club members could use them to view some pre-made slides with koi parasites.

Fraser gave a very clear summary of how a microscope works and all the key features. Some were more simple and others were very high-end scopes with digital images onto a TV screen or a laptop. One thing was apparent – a good quality scope doesn’t have to break the bank and to correctly identify which medication to use, it really is a necessity to find out the exact parasite to use the precise medication.

Another thing which I had not really contemplated before was the care and maintenance of the microscope. One thing I will now do is keep mine indoors and in a better (and more dustproof) case.

The second practical part of the evening was a demonstration by yours truly on how to correctly scrape a koi and how to present the mucus onto a slide for microscope observation. Some small koi were duly bowled and members were shown how to hold and the optimal places to scrape the mucus layer. Luckily, the fish were clean. If they were not I’m sure that I would have been embarrassed!

Next month, the Chairman will be hosting another practical session at his pond on the correct netting, bowling a bagging of koi. From May onwards, we return to visit club member’s ponds for the evening. Roll on the summer...