Carp care – please use an antiseptic!

Why we should all use Klin-ik 

Klin-ik is a Laboratory Formulated Fish Care Product. Dave Chilton of Kryston tells us why and how the totally safe and laboratory formulated fish care product Klin-ik was introduced.

This is an issue that many carp anglers still ignore, especially when they come to France.  I see anglers turn up with tiny unhooking mats, undersized landing nets and no carp care medication.

Dave explains in great detail the history of carp care solutions and how to use his own product… here are some extracts from the article;

What does it do?

When we remove a hook we leave behind a puncture hole. In certain cases that open cavity could lead to secondary infection setting in. The treatment is purposely designed to be an extremely searching liquid that immediately seeps and travels in a capillary action down to the base of the wound instantly cleansing and sterilizing the immediate area. The medication is rapidly absorbed into the blood cells and this is where the other ingredients kick in, speeding up the healing process and helping the regeneration of tissue. Thus giving the fish a flying start on the road to recovery.

Would you then use a sealant or gel?

I would never use a gel or ointment. If I use a gel following hook removal I am sealing in the wound. Unless the hook was sterilized, which they cannot be after lying in silt or decaying matter, the puncture could already be harbouring harmful micro-organisms or any micro parasitic nasty leading to infection. The last thing I want is to lock in anything that could cause harm especially in an environment that has not been thoroughly cleaned.

Once the area has been totally sterilized it should be left open allowing the water to circulate and reach the base of the cavity. The fish is then allowed to recover under its own natural healing process. When you grazed yourself as a kid your mother cleansed it and left it open to let the air get to it to make it scab up quickly. Cut your finger and put on an Elastoplast, keep it on for five days and the cut remains open, it requires air to heal. Fish live in water; they are the opposite of us. If I believed a gel would aid the fish any better than Klin-ik then we would sell a gel.

I have noticed the odd fish flinch when I have applied the solution. Why?

That is the signal that the solution has penetrated to the base of the wound, it only takes a second and then the fish calms down. Its similar to a cut finger, apply Dettol or TCP and it instantly stings as it sterilizes, but there is a lot more in Klin-Ik than just antiseptic. It contains an anti-parasiticide to ward off parasites that feast and breed on newly exposed tissue.

Anglers say the treatment washes off after a period, that’s why they use gels.

They think it does but that is only the visible carrier that washes off. Because it is water based product the essential ingredients are delivered immediately and absorbed into the cells/bloodstream. In the few seconds it takes to apply it will totally cleanse and sterilize the immediate area. There is no long or short-term advantage for the solution to remain on the fish, the job has been done within a split second and the fish’s natural healing process will now get underway. Once it’s sterilized it’s sterilized, period!

How long will a bottle of solution last and what is its shelf life?

In one bottle there is enough medication to treat hundreds of fish, I have seen well meaning anglers literally swamping and almost bathing the fish in the solution. There is no need. All they are doing is wasting the product. The fish will come to no harm using excessive application, but in areas where scales and surface tissue remain undamaged and intact there is no requirement for treatment of any sort.

Shelf life is dependent on storage. As long as it is kept in cool conditions, fridge, garage floor, etc, it should remain effective for at least a couple of years.

Finally… Is there anything dangerous or harmful in it and why the green colour?

The product is totally safe and environmentally friendly.  The greenish colour comes from our updated version, which contains the powerful anti-viral agent, which is all-important. There are no aniline dyes contained in the solution, there is not a single trace of malachite green or gentian violet in Klin-ik. Regardless of market forces and the ever-changing pharmaceutical directives coming from Brussels we purposely keep down the price of the solution. The low price (which it is, if you knew the cost involved) of the product has been maintained over a ten-year period. That’s my way of putting something back in the sport that has given me so much pleasure. We sell tens of thousands of bottles each year world wide without advertising; therefore we do not have to promote the product.