More than 120 years ago, the grandfather of the current chairman of Hikari®, Mr. Shigezo Kamihata, was raising carp as food fish in southern Japan. Eventually his father took over the company and when he joined it he quickly realized that diets available from other sources were not producing desirable growth rates that would allow his business to be as successful as possible. Therefore, he developed his own food and discovered that by adjusting the ingredients of the diet he could also influence the colors and conformation of the fish. This was the beginning of a life-long fascination with Koi, their breeding and food manufacturing. Within a few years, he was an established Koi breeder, as well as the producer of what came to be known as Hikari® Koi Food.
Hikari® was one of the originator of exporting Koi food to the United States in the late 1960’s, and Herb Simons the chairman of Hikari Sales USA, the exclusive agent for Hikari® products in the US, worked to educate American Koi hobbyists on the value of using a food specially developed for the nutritional needs of Koi. Now, there are over 60 competitors to Hikari® Koi foods, yet Hikari® is still recognized as the leader in quality and nutritional excellence and today is the only fish food manufacturer in the world that breeds koi, tropical fish, marine fish, goldfish and produces premium aquatic diets too.
Hikari’s Yamazaki Koi Farm is one of the largest koi breeding facilities in Japan, producing over 2 million Koi per year. Hikari® also boasts the largest Koi research facility, where a full time staff lives on the premises while conducting research directly related to fish well being and long term health. The tosai are monitored for growth rates and the health of their internal organs. The brood stock is also monitored for their long term health; some have been evaluated for more than 10 years to ascertain the long term effects of diet. Numerous Koi are dissected each year and checked for fat deposit buildup. Hikari® discovered early on that they could easily achieve heightened growth rates, but there was a tradeoff; they found the Koi’s internal hard-fat deposits and their deformity rate increased as well! Hikari’s focus on koi health and their responsibility to the koi breeding community required a strict policy that their products must achieve the best possible Koi health over time with no negative affects on the fish fed their diets. To this day, no other company has exhibited such a strong commitment to the research and overall fish health issues of today and years to come as they relate to diet. Hikari® is the only company that has developed lab-verified proof that their diets can produce show quality results without danger to the Koi’s internal organs while maintaining excellent growth rates and superior coloration. Hikari’s approach has always been to focus on providing the optimum balance of necessary ingredients while developing diets that always provide the advertised results. For this reason they were chosen by NASA to provide a diet for space shuttle experiments. No other company has ever been chosen for such a prestigious project! When a Koi keeper is looking for outstanding nutrition, no company’s reputation for excellence can rival Hikari’s.
In an effort to find a place in a crowded field, some Koi foods currently being sold are medicated or include immune enhancing ingredients. Hikari® has evaluated many Koi foods making claims related to these ingredients, and while they do not publish their research as part of their marketing, they have come to some interesting conclusions. The Hikari® scientists feel that medicated food is not the best option for treating bacterial infections, as continuous daily medication will weaken the inherent immunity koi have and limit treatment options for the future. Also, continuous oral medication (using antibiotics) could terminate the “good” bacteria in the koi’s intestine which helps digestion and brings natural protection against pathogenic bacteria.
Additionally, they have found that most immune boosting additives cause a Koi’s overall resistance to improve temporarily but actually decrease their immunity over the long term. This process leaves the koi in a weakened state with a reduced chance of fighting disease. They also studied the effects of Spirulina on Koi, and have determined there can be negative impacts to the koi’s appearance when heightened levels or lower quality spirulina is used in a koi’s daily diet. Corn is another ingredient that has been a talking point for years within the koi keeping community. Hikari® found that processing the corn to convert the starch to a more soluble and assimilated form improved the nutritional benefits of this suspect ingredient to the point it could actually be a beneficial part of a well balanced diet. Their findings indicated that too many foods were solving one problem by creating another with long term health implications to the koi.
The Hikari® researchers constantly are looking for new formulations and more beneficial ingredients to improve Koi health with no side effect or undesirable results. The latest discovery is in a food called Saki-Hikari™. Saki-Hikari™ was the first Koi food in the world to contain beneficial living micro-organisms (Hikari-Germ™) that become active in the Koi’s digestive tract. The Hikari-Germ™ allows for more complete digestion while reducing the amount of waste excreted and changes the consistency of the waste allowing for easier removal by the filtration system. The micro-organisms allow for better utilization of the nutrition in the food, and they actually out-compete undesirable (bad!) bacteria for their food source, thus reducing their detrimental effects on the Koi. Studies have found that in younger koi, one pound of Saki-Hikari™ can actually increase the Koi’s weight by more than one pound. The product should be available in the US in April 2005. It has been used and extensively tested in Japan since 2001. As a testimonial to its success, both the 2003 and the newly crowned 2005 All Japan Koi Show Grand Champion winners have been fed Saki-Hikari™.
For Hikari®, the key word is balance. Their mantra is that there must be no negative impact on the koi from the use of any of their products. The company uses sophisticated quality control to test each production lot. A sample of each lot is kept up to 3 years to evaluate how the nutrition degrades over time and to assure there are no negative findings. This process also allows for traceability should there ever be a question about a specific product they produced. There are many ways to cut costs and increase profits while manufacturing Koi food. The impact of a poor Koi food may take a very long time to see – but when it becomes noticeable, it is often too late to rectify. A change in diet may take up to 9 months before most of the effects may become visible in the fish, and with older Koi that are growing slower, problems caused by poor nutrition are often permanent. Hikari® wants every Koi owner to realize the importance of the saying “you are what you eat.” If you’re looking for the next Grand Champion in your pond, Hikari® should be a part of your feeding regime.
Hikari Sales USA has recently created a line of water and treatment products that are made here. Their premier product is called Ultimate®. Their research showed that many problems occur in American ponds due to poor water quality – including parasites, bacterial diseases and viruses. Many of these problems are caused or exacerbated by overcrowding. The stress created by overcrowding can and does reduce the slime coat on fish making them susceptible to health issues caused by common pond inhabitants. Hikari Sales USA wanted to create one pond additive that would simultaneously remove Chlorine, Chloramines, and Ammonia while maintaining a healthy slime coat on the fish. There are a number of misconceptions that surround products that improve slime coat. Some products aggravate the Koi’s skin to increase slime production. Others coat the entire fish, including the gills, potentially impacting the Koi’s ability to breathe efficiently. The skin slime replacer in Ultimate® is 98% of what a fish’s natural slime coat is made of and it replaces and fills in areas of missing slime-coat through an ionic process. Ultimate® also buffers the water, detoxifies heavy metals including copper, adds essential electrolytes, reduces stress and instantly “ages” water making it 100% safe for immediate use!
Cloram-X®, sold in a buffered liquid form, is the Hikari Sales USA product which replaces the original version of Amquel® and is used to eliminate ammonia (whether produced by the Koi or by Cloramines) from the water. It does not bind ammonia into a non-toxic form for removal by the filtration system. It actually removes the ammonia! To test this for yourself, put a drop of common household ammonia on a cotton swab and note the overpowering odor. Then wet the swab with Cloram-X®, wait 2-3 minutes and smell. No odor is detectable, as the ammonia is removed. Again there is some confusion in the marketplace regarding this product. Aquascience Research Group is the laboratory that holds the patent on the Cloram-X® molecule which was originally brought to market in a product called Amquel®. Kordon® marketed Amquel® and owns the trademark rights to that name. Within the last year or so Kordon® went to another lab and created a new product called Amquel® Plus using a completely new formulation. Kordon® did not have the rights to the old Amquel® formulation, as the patent to it was held by Aquascience Research Group but they did not have the rights to the name “Amquel® to continue selling the original formula in the market. Thus, Cloram-X® is the technology of the original Amquel® – and we can think of it as performing the same tasks as the product that we used to call Amquel®. Actually, Cloram-X® is an improvement on the formula as it does not have a detrimental effect on dissolved oxygen and has a better buffering agent so as not to impact pH.
Stress-X® has all the benefits of Ultimate® without the Chloramine and ammonia removal. It is developed for initial use in areas where Chloramines are not an issue. Ich-X™ is a formulation of Malachite Green Chloride and Formalin which won’t negatively impact your biological filtration. It’s highly effective on many parasites yet gentler on the fish than the Malachite Oxalate based products on the market. PraziPro™ is a ready-to-use liquid preparation that treats diseases caused by flukes, tapeworm, flatworms and turbellarians. It is much easier to use than the difficult-to-mix and store powdered form many are accustomed to using. PraziPro™ can also be used as a preventative when adding new fish to a pond. PraziPro™ is another product that does not negatively impact the biological filtration of the pond, and is consistent with Hikari Sales USA’s goal of not solving one problem by causing another!
The newest products in the Hikari Sales USA pond care arsenal are CyroPro™ and GermGone™. CyroPro™ is a treatment for conditions caused by anchor worms and fish lice. It does not negatively impact biological filtration, and is used once a week for 3 weeks. It contains Vitamin B12 to repair the holes left in the skin from the parasites and also replaces any damaged or missing skin slime using the same technology in Ultimate® and Stress-X®. GermGone™ is a non-alcohol based, perfume-free hand sanitizer. Current hand-sanitizers leave detrimental residue, as well as leaving hands slippery – a definite problem while working with fish! GermGone™ has a patented delivery system that pumps a foam ball into your hands, kills 99.99% of common germs and requires no water to use. Best of all it won’t dry out your hands or cause any adverse reactions to your koi and can be easily carried in your back pocket.
Hikari Sales USA advises everyone to keep in mind that Koi are long term pets! Koi can, when cared for properly, outlive dogs, cats and most any other pet. We should understand that what we do today can influence the health of our pets for many months to come. When considering a Koi food – Hikari® recommends thinking about Balance, Quality and Reputation. Having been in business themselves for over 110 years, Hikari® is dedicated to helping you keep your Koi for many years of enjoyment. Hikari® has proven by their longevity they will be there, and hopefully, so will your Koi! There are many misconceptions about pond water quality. Many problems cannot be seen with the naked eye, nor can you smell them. The most important thing is to help you’re koi defend themselves by keeping up their slime coat so they can naturally resist the problems that exist in every pond.
“Feed good food and maintain a good defense against unwanted visitors (slime coat), and you’ll find your pets will live a longer and healthier life and you’ll enjoy them much more than you ever have!”
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Late last year, Hikari Sales USA introduced Bio-Bandage®, which was the first underwater bandage for the treatment of Koi bacterial ulcers and fin rot. Bio-Bandage® contains Neomyacin to attack the bacteria, and has vitamins and minerals to facilitate the development of new skin growth. It also contains Methylene Blue which acts as an antiseptic that is non-destructive to healthy scales (unlike Mercurochrome). Bio-Bandage® stays on the fish a minimum of 45 minutes after application and can be used as needed every 24 hours. Healthy new skin formation is often seen within 24-48 hours, and it has the ability to cure really bad ulcers with little or no stress on the fish.