Jo Ann is a certified diagnostician of fish diseases.  She took course work from some of the top fish disease experts including Drs. Floyd and Noga at the U of Florida in the Department of Fisheries and Aquatic Sciences.  Before Jo Ann, nobody had specifically wanted to study Goldfish.  When the U of Fl Mitchell Aquaculture farm in Blountstown hosted an international conference on Goldfish in March of 1998, they invited their former student, Jo Ann, to be one of the speakers.

Jo Ann took the opportunity while there to attend a tour and presentation of the results of the food trials done by Geoffry Wallat.  The presentation including a tour of tanks containing the Orandas grown in the trials.  Jo Ann proceeded down the line of tanks checking the Orandas in each trial tank ... then she came to the tank containing the fish that had been fed Biokyowa.  And there she saw big, gorgeous orandas that looked like they had been raised in China, like those she imported.  Jo Ann returned home, tracked down a supplier of Biokyowa and started feeding this to her own fish to test it out.  After seeing how well her fish did on the food, she began offering the food to her customers.  Jo Ann points out that Biokyowa is NOT a color enhanced food, and like ALL high protein, high quality food that CONTAINS NO PRESERVATIVES, she cautions people to keep the food frozen and keep the small quantities in use refrigerated. This food must not be left out on the tank like cheap flake food.

Now the controversy.  In 1998, Jo Ann sent me (Ingrid) whatever conference information she had and I summarized the food trial as best I could and posted it to another GF list.  At the time this information was not yet published either as a paper or thesis.  For unknown reasons,  a couple of people started a personal attack and made several accusations one of which even suggested that I had made the information up.  Around this time I was offered the opportunity to start a new goldfish list, which I did.

Periodically it seems that one person involved in the 1998 attack subscribes to Puregold using various aliases, lurks a short time and then goes on the attack over any one of several issues, this last time it appears it was the "food" issue.

The distributor of Biokyowa in the US said that it was specifically formulated for koi and goldfish, but breeders of other fish use it as well.  Biokyowa is not sold to "private" individuals.  Evidently, private individuals have tried to purchase it using false credentials in the past.  I have no way of knowing, but perhaps someone was turned down when they attempted to buy it and is now angry.

Below is the abstract of the food trial made available (and made public knowledge) at the Cleveland Goldfish conference.  Again, anyone interested can purchase the thesis from the U of Florida.

Jo Ann saw the results.  All that was obvious to her was that the biggest and best looking Orandas were in the tank fed Biokyowa.  She was not then, nor is she now concerned about the survival rate of fry fed other foods.  Those who are concerned with survival rates from fry to adult should certainly try those feeds ranking highly in that area.  It might actually be best to order the thesis and read it to get a thorough understanding of the total implications of the trials.